Ep. 077 – Learn to Play an Instrument

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Jason Pyles

Good morning and welcome to Episode 77 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

This morning Dr. Trayford shares tip number 77 which is to actively learn to play a new instrument. Learning to play an instrument will develop your brain in wonderful ways. Plus, it is so rewarding! Listen in to hear all of the ways your brain health will benefit from studying music.

Jason: I play piano and a little bit of guitar.

You’re going to be giving Prince a run for his money. I admire anyone who knows how to play an instrument. I didn’t grow up in a musical household. My exposure to music came from turning on a radio and enjoying it that way.

I had a recorder in third grade and took up trombone for a minute in sixth grade. My daughter was playing guitar for a little bit and I used to play it with her but she fell out of it.

Music, particularly in children, is incredibly important for enhancing brain development. It’s just you do a Google search on music and the brain there will be a plethora of links extolling it’s many virtues. There was an article in Time Magazine a while ago, about actively learning an instrument can improve a child’s academic achievement.

The key is actively engaging in the instrument, because that’s what has been shown to improve neurophysiological function beyond usual enhancement. When we look at our ability to excel at mathematics and our ability to develop motor skills and manual dexterity. People who play music are better at these things than people who don’t.

You’re learning to interact with the instrument, read music, which is very mathematically in nature. These things can only help and to serve developing a much more advanced human brain. There are all kinds of anthropological studies that show how music taps into various culture and is the common thread amongst all cultures.

Music is being studied by a wide variety of fields, including mathematicians, physicist, biologists, and neuroscientist.

There was a commentary that was done looking at the 18 benefits of playing a musical instrument for adults. Children gain even more benefits through right-brain, than left-brain stimulation. In adults there are improvements in organization skills, memory capacity.

This is of particular interest to me, because we deal with a lot of seniors and elderly patients that are looking to improve memory and brain function. It’s not to late to pick up an instrument if you want to try it out.

Also boosting of interpersonal skills and team building and working with other people, playing music.

Have you ever played music with other people Jason?

Jason: Yes I played in a band for a long time. Not so much recently, but I really enjoyed playing in the band. There’s really nothing like it.

That’s great. As a quick aside: we had a professional drummer that came through our brain training program. After he came through he signed a contract with a major country music band because his drumming skills had so dramatically improved. He would show us videos of him pre and post… As a layperson I couldn’t see the difference, simply because I’m not well versed in music.

His ability to improve his mathematical abilities, his focus and attention as well as his improved ability to use his left hand, he was able to sign on this amazing contract and follow his dream.

The benefits of music also extend to perseverance. Coordination and reading and comprehension skills and responsibility like taking care of your instruments and stress relief. Self-expression… There are a lot of folks that struggle with their ability to communicate through words.

Achievement: Once you learn that new song you can take pride in what you’ve accomplished. Once I learned the first few chords of Wish You Were Here, by Pink Floyd, I was very happy.

Also things like discipline and performance anxiety.

Some wood-wind and brass instruments will help improve your breathing and oxygen levels.

If you have any concerns regarding the information and applications discussed in this podcast, please consult your physician and a doctor who is experienced in functional neurology. Michael Trayford DC, DACNB is available for consultation by calling (828) 708-5274. Thanks for listening. Continue reading →

Ep. 076 – Quality Mattress and Bedding

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 76 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

This morning Dr. Trayford shares tip number 76, which is to invest in a quality mattress and quality bedding. Good sleep is so vital to your health that it is absolutely worth it to save up and buy a mattress that is right for you. Dr. Trayford recommends really taking time to test out many mattresses to find the right one!

Having come from a chiropractic background, even though I haven’t treated neck and back pain for many years. While it can be attributed to movement issues. People will always still to this day ask me what type of pillow or mattress they should be using.

It’s such a personal feel, we can’t make blanket recommendations.
The challenge with most people these days is that they can’t sleep.
Everyone has individual needs. The bottom line is that you need to invest in the most important brain health practice and that is sleep. You go into a mattress store these days and it’s like going to a car dealership.
You need to go in ready to bargain and haggle, talk to the managers and it can be a rather stressful process for people. So this is why we can’t make absolute recommendations.

Also, different people respond better to different types of mattresses, but typically, the firmer the mattress the better. Most people will have a better quality night sleep on a firm mattress, as opposed to a poor mattress that has been extensively padded with pillow tops and batting.

You need to invest in a quality mattress with a high spring count of quality springs that allows you to lay as flat as possible, yet conforms to your body. Whether you are laying on your side of your back you don’t want the mattress that is causing any parts of the body being pushed up or sinking down too far.
The bottom line is that you have to go to these places and lay on these beds for a while. When you go in you should assume that you’re going to spend an hour or two in the store. You want to lay down on the mattress for 10 or 15 minutes to see how your body is going to respond.

When you first lay down it takes a little while, before you fall asleep your body will start to shift position. Maybe even go back a couple of times to try a mattress a few times.

I understand that sometimes money can be an issues. But you really do want to buy a quality mattress. Even if it means holding off a little bit longer to save up to buy a quality mattress. Rather than getting one now. It’s worth it to save up more and get a quality one later.

The reality is that your mattress will last up to 5 to 10 years. So you should think of it as being a long term investment.

When it comes to your pillow if you have neck issues like Osteoarthritis, will vary. Ideally you want to find a mattress that will keep your head and neck parallel or in line with the bed.

The bedding. Some people are chemically sensitive. If this is the case, you might want to look at bedding that uses hemp and more natural fibers that are more conducive to not experiencing allergies while you’re sleeping.
Take a look at the materials your bedding is made from, because it can be just as important as how comfortable it actually is.

p. 075 – Avoid Artificial Sweeteners

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 75 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

This morning Dr. Trayford shares tip number 75. So … diet soda is part of a healthy balanced diet? Sorry to break it to you, but diet soda is nowhere to be found in a healthy balanced diet. These artificial sweeteners so readily consumed in the name of cutting excess sugar from the diet are quite harmful. Controversy swirls around this issue, we know, but please search out unpaid research and look for yourself. Artificial sweeteners are likely to cause hypertension and a host of other problems to the brain and body down the line.

This tip relates to a pretty hot topic. Everywhere you go you see people drinking diet sodas and you see stores stocking less and less of the sugar sweetened products. There is a line of good reason, thinking that this might not be the best thing.

There’s a lot of controversy and a lot of money to be made in this business, so nobody is going to go down without a fight. Charge is coming from all different directions to help educate people on what is and isn’t good for them. The beverage industry is coming out saying that these drinks are absolutely safe for you and they have the evidence to prove it. At the same time there are all these other groups coming out saying that all of these artificial sweeteners are not good for you. I’m picking on soft drinks, but this topic extends to artificial sweeteners that are found in many other products.

Because what is it everyone is trying to avoid?

Jason: Sugar!

Absolutely. Sugar is seen as the enemy.

Everything becomes such a fad. In the 80’s the prevailing thought was that it was fat that was bad. So they started putting so much sugar into these foods that a lot of people ended up getting diabetes.

Ultimately, you can’t take one element out of foods and expect it to be productive. Obviously a lot of marketing power and clout comes behind these movements and people make large amounts of money on these trends.

The prevailing thought for the last four or five years now has been to cut back or cut out sugar. There are several diet plans, like the Paleo diet that tries to completely cut out sugar. Not to pick on any one diet plan. But eliminating a single food group can have consequence.

In certain cases, you might see these extreme diets being recommended for people with specific medical conditions. The Ketogenic diets are sometimes recommended to help people with seizure disorders.

As we’ve talked about in the past, our nerve cells need sugar on a constant basis for them to fire effectively. And nerve cells don’t have the ability to store sugar.

We want to focus on high fiber complex carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables with an edible peel like apples, plums and pears. You want to avoid things like a piece of store bought chocolate or ice cream that have a lot of refined sugar and no nutritional value.

A lot of people have heard of saccharine, then there’s Sucralose and aspartame, these are the more common artificial sweeteners you most commonly see in use in soft drinks.

These sweeteners have been under intense scrutiny for decades. And just the fact that they’re under scrutiny is question enough to avoid them. Just the fact that they are drawing so much attention means there is probably enough going on to avoid them altogether.

Some of them have been linked to the occurrence cancer, heart disease and diabetes and neurotoxicity or nerve degeneration. The artificial sweeteners I mentioned are FDA approved with acceptable levels.

Which is another red flag that says these sweeteners might not be so good for you. So there are these acceptable daily intake levels assigned to artificial sweeteners. So again intense scrutiny and they are telling us to take them in small amounts. This alone should be enough of a warning not to consume these products.

But in this 140 character message society that we live in, everyone is reading bits and bites of what’s bad. The idea that you can drink a can of diet soda to lose weight, as we are understanding is not the case.

The brain is being tricked into thinking that there’s food on board when there’s not. So we can actually run into issues with malnutrition when we consume these artificial sweeteners, because the brain is being tricked. Your pituitary gland and other parts of your body is being tricked into thinking that there’s food on board when there’s not.

So then we tend to under eat, or when we do eat we indulge in too many sugars which causes your body to store more body fat.

If you’re drinking these beverages on a regular basis. I don’t want you to get mad at me. But it’s still worth looking around at some of the research and scrutiny surrounding these beverages and foods with artificial sweeteners. Try not to look at the research put forth by manufacturers because they tend to publish these reports with their own marketing messages.

These artificial sweeteners have even been found to be neuro-toxic. Meaning they can have a negative impact on nerve cells being able to communicate with one another.

Ep. 074 – Delegate, if Possible

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 74 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

This morning Dr. Trayford shares tip number 74. Your brain and body are the only brain and body that you’re going to get, so take care of them and carefully calculate the cost of using them in stressful situations. You might have the ability to complete a stressful task, but have you weighed the cost of your stress levels, your time and your energy? Dr. Trayford encourages trying new things and keeping your mind engaged, but make sure to delegate, if possible, to help manage or even decrease your stress levels!

Jason: I’m excited for this tip, because I think it’s one of the most important skills you can learn.

I know it’s been very helpful for me. I know several people and friends that have tried to have their own podcasts and do it alone. I hear their war stories and it makes me appreciate working with you. It wasn’t an area where I wanted to do it myself.

Delegate if possible also extends to hiring out or outsourcing if possible. We had a meeting at the office yesterday where everyone talked about what their number one strength was. And you learn very quickly that you may not know what people’s strengths are. It helps give you a good idea for what people are really good at.

While we need to address our weaknesses, it’s even more important to exploit your strengths.

Jason: May I ask what your strength that you gave?

I’m very good at big picture thinking and keeping a bird’s eye view. But just like with this podcast undertaking that we’re doing here. I get mired in the details and get paralyzed in the details. I’ve learned to delegate or hire out, because I know that it will save me time and money in the long term as well as reduce stress.

If it wasn’t for you I’d be on episode 4 not 74.

Delegating is something we all need to embrace. A lot of people are too proud or in a lot of cases too thick headed to let someone else do something. The bottom line is that most people aren’t going to do things exactly the way we want them to do it. But just let them do it. Whether it’s your children or people at work. While it shouldn’t be exploitative, try to find the things that other people can be doing that you don’t need to be doing to be your most productive self.

This can be an empowering stress-management technique to help unload some things to other capable people who can help you get the things done that you really need done.

When I started having people doing tasks that were difficult for me, but that someone else liked to do, it helped them to feel empowered, because they were solving problems on things that their boss or team leader wasn’t necessarily good at.

When people get the chance to be a part of the process it can be very empowering for all. If delegating can be done in that fashion, then you should absolutely go for it.

If you’re doing projects that you maybe aren’t the best at. Maybe it’s a home improvement project that you have the ability to do, but you’re hurting yourself, or taking time away from their business, then it might be best to outsource and hire someone else to do it, so you can spend time working at the things you’re good at, or getting to spend quality time with your loved ones.
Just remember to be patient with the people you are outsourcing to. Chances are it’s not going to be perfect the first go-round. Try not to micromanage the process, as this just ends up creating double stress.

Ep. 073 – Near / Far Accommodation

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 73 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

This morning Dr. Trayford shares tip number 73. Vision is a precious thing. If you want to keep your vision sharp, Dr. Trayford has another eye-related brain training tip for you today. Hold your thumb up and practice focusing on it, and then try to focus on something about 10 feet away. As soon as you’re able to establish clear vision of the near object, focus on the far object and go back and forth 10 times. This will help you see better while driving and reading!

Jason: Singing theme music to the Movie Titanic

This relates to the eyes and the ability to look close and then far. This is important not just for visual acuity but for brain function. Our ability to see things in our environment, that our ability to look at targets and keep our eyes on that target, look close and far, feeds your brain information that can impact our lives.

These are built into our more instinctual ability to survive, but we’ve also found a relationship to cognitive function. Our ability to move our eyes from close to far has a lot to do with our higher capacity to pay attention and focus.

As an exercise you simply hold your arm out in front of you. Hold a thumb up with your thumbnail towards your eyes. You should look at a spot on your thumbnail; you can even draw a little spot on the thumbnail to help you get a better focus.

Get a good clear focus on it, then take your focus off of it and look at a spot in the distance. What you can do is have a spot on the wall, about 10 to 12 feet away. Then look at the further dot until you get it into focus. Then switch back to your thumb again.

If it doesn’t get into focus it means that spot is too far away. So you’ll want to choose another spot that is maybe 8 or even 6 feet away, so that you have something that is clear. Then you can start to bring it out farther and farther away as it gets bigger.

You can keep doing these for 10 repetitions, then you can do this two to three times each day. This will not only help your visual acuity, it will also improve your ability to read, brain function and so many other things.
This is just a key eye exercise, like stretching the eyes and gaze stabilization. This is the next level beyond these exercises.
If you have any challenges with your eyes, you might want to talk to your optometrist or a physician versed in functional neurology.

If you experiences any dizziness while doing this you should throttle back on the repetitions or shorten the distance of the object you’re focusing on.

Ep. 072 – Bag Breathing

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 72 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

This morning Dr. Trayford shares tip number 72. This tip is specifically for those who experience anxiety. When you feel yourself begin to panic, you may begin shallow, rapid breathing. This flood of oxygen disrupts the PH balance in your body. By breathing into a brown paper bag you will actually restore the balance of carbon dioxide and be able to stabilize your own breathing in just five minutes. Listen to learn exactly how this self-treatment works and how to do it right.

Jason: I was just wondering what bag breathing is.

This is topic where you have to exercise a work with a certain amount of caution, because this tip is primarily aimed at people who suffer from anxiety. What happens is a pretty complex process of pH in the body. People using hear these terms with their pool or maybe the soil in their garden, but it’s also important in the body.

If your pH isn’t balanced you’re going to have problems. What happens with people suffering from anxiety is that they tend to breathe faster than the average person. They breathe very fast and shallow. What happens is that these people in these states are breathing off too much carbon dioxide and they develop a condition known as Hyperoxia. They end up with too much oxygen in the blood stream. They end up with respiratory alkalosis, which just simply means the body has developed a high pH.

Nerve cells do not like high pH and bad things start to happen. One of the initial problems for a person having a panic attack is numbness and tingling in the lips, face and nose. Sometimes they can even get a little bit of a purple color in their limbs.

Thoughts become distorted; they’re not having the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

The benefits of bag breathing are two-fold. First off it resets the breathing pattern. Then it gets more carbon dioxide back into the body to start to rebalance the pH so the nerve cells are no longer distressed.

I’ve always said that the brown paper lunch bag is the best and cheapest neurological treatment tool ever invented.

I don’t use it for lunch I always use it for getting people to breath better.
The lunch bag is the perfect size. With a single full breath you should be able to fill up that lunch bag. When someone is breathing shallow, they can’t fill the bag.

It starts to fill up the bag with carbon dioxide, which sets up a reaction in the brain stem that results in a yawning response. Which essentially forces the body to take a deep breath.

Often times within two to three minutes, people experiencing anxiety can reset their pH and hopefully not go into a hyperventilation episode that makes them pass out. So this is a really interesting topic that we’ve used very successfully in clinical practice.

If you have these types of problems you should talk to your physician and who is well versed in functional neurology.

As an exercise you breathe into the bag for a full minute, then you remove the bag from your face and attempt to breathe normally. You continue doing this for up to five minutes. What that does is give the brain time to reset your breathing patterns.

You should find through the course of the exercise that your breathing is getting a little deeper and more relaxed. If it normalizes faster than five minutes, you can stop. You should not do this longer than five minutes.
You should discuss this treatment with a physician before starting this practice as a means to manage anxiety or panic attacks.

Ep. 071 – Exercise and Your Brain

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 071 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. It’s Monday again, so this is our weekly, 30-minute episode. (Tuesday through Sunday we produce five-minute episodes with daily tips.) Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast provides advice for helping you to improve the function of your brain.

In Episode 071, Dr. Trayford gives you every reason you ever needed to begin exercising. There are more benefits to your body and mind than you ever dreamed! You can improve your mood, your blood pressure, your physique, your strength, etc. Most people, however, exercise simply because it makes them feel great. How could you not feel great when you truly understand how much good you’re doing for yourself? Continue reading →

Ep. 070 – Eliminate Refined and Processed Sugars

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 70 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

You undoubtedly know by now that refined and processed sugars are bad for your body, but Dr. Trayford would also like us to know that they are bad for the brain. Brain training tip number 70 is a real buzz kill for your sweet tooth. Setting obesity and diabetes aside, refined sugars are very harmful to the blood sugar levels in the brain. Think twice before your next treat. It’s not worth the damage it will do. We apologize for being the bearers of bad news, but your brain will thank you by staying sharp!

Ep. 069 – Do Not Try to Change Others

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 69 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

Today Dr. Trayford has a tip for you that is a profound truth relating to mental health. Do not try to change others. That’s tip 69 and it is golden. Just imagine how much mental exertion is spent (in vain) and how much contention is caused by trying to change others! Make an effort to catch yourself in the act and redirect your energies elsewhere. You’ll be healthier and happier if you stop trying to change others (and if others stop trying to change you)!

Ep. 068 – Gaze Stabilization

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Jason Pyles

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Good morning and welcome to Episode 68 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

If you are looking for something simple that you can do that isn’t too strenuous, then tip number 68 is the ticket! Today Dr. Trayford teaches about gaze stabilization. Gaze stabilization is an eye exercise where you train your eyes to hold steady while looking at a target. Listen in as he explains exactly how to conduct this exercise. Have someone check your eyes to see how often your eyes stray and then practice this technique several times a day. This will help you develop the ability to track a moving target as well has hold your gaze on a still target. And of course, all of this will help your brain function more efficiently.

This tip is an entry -level tool for helping to build better function of the eye movement system. Gaze stabilization is really important. It relates to our ability to hold our eyes on a target. Now there are elementary speaking, there is so much to get into here.

To hold your eyes on a target deals with more primitive brain function. In the tri-brain theory this relates to the reptilian brain, which helps us to identify if something is a friend or foe.

While holding your eyes on a target relates in many ways to primitive brain stem function it also relates to aspects of our frontal cortex, which is central to defining your humanity and advanced cognitive ability.
Most people don’t necessarily equate eye movements or the ability to hold your eyes on a target with overall brain function. This is something that we’ll elaborate on in the longer podcasts.

The most basic activity is holding your eyes on a target. If you’re looking at a spot on the wall, it might be hard to tell if you’re truly holding your eyes on a target. People often experience square-wave jerks, which are an involuntary movement that pulls the eyes off the target instantaneously. People might not be able to tell that they’re actually doing it.

In the past we’ve discussed the VNG or Videonystagmography testing. But really it can be as simple as holding your finger in front of your eyes and watching to see if the eyes stay on the target will tell you a lot about gaze stabilization.

If your eyes can’t hold a target, they can’t follow a target or catch up to a target. This leads to additional dysfunction in cognitive function and ability to focus. Children with ADHD or has suffered brain injury often struggle to hold their eyes on a target.

This is something you should discuss with your physician or a physician versed in functional neurology. What you want to do is simply look at a target that’s about arm’s length away, at eye level. Then turn your head from side to side, fairly slowing. With about two seconds per turn of the head. Do 10 repetitions, two or three times per day to start training these systems.

If there are challenges that you’re experiencing, you need to get with a physician that can help you with treatment intervention.

How to train your brain 365 days a year for a sharper mind.

Tag Archives: train your brain podcast

Ep. 077 – Learn to Play an Instrument

Ep. 076 – Quality Mattress and Bedding

p. 075 – Avoid Artificial Sweeteners

Ep. 074 – Delegate, if Possible

Ep. 073 – Near / Far Accommodation

Ep. 072 – Bag Breathing

Ep. 071 – Exercise and Your Brain

Ep. 070 – Eliminate Refined and Processed Sugars

Ep. 069 – Do Not Try to Change Others

Ep. 068 – Gaze Stabilization