This is A Brief Educational Summary of Neuroscience 101, Part One. It is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult your physician.
You can help your brain. Unfortunately, you also harm your brain. To help your brain, begin by learning how the brain functions normally, optimally, and pathologically.
The best way to love or nurture your brain is to be happy! Yes, happiness and other positive emotions enhance every brain function, from memory to the growth of critical brain cell networks or connections.
Happiness always includes gratitude. It never comes from what we acquire for ourselves, but what we share with others. At the core of all happiness is a deep, authentic, spiritual, peaceful, meaningfulness.
Happiness can be cultivated through conscious habits and a shift in mindset.
Several everyday habits that support brain health can contribute to overall well-being. It is important to identify effective strategies and apply them regularly:
Keep a gratitude journal. Write a few things you’re thankful for each day—even small items can make a difference.
Savor positive moments. Pause to appreciate good experiences, and recalling them later can boost happiness.
Practice positive self-talk. Replace critical thoughts with supportive ones, and treat yourself kindly as you would a loved one.
Seek purpose beyond yourself. Volunteering for a cause you value can improve your happiness, confidence, and self-esteem.
Most people shy away from frank discussions about the brain. Too often, the bias, fear of, and condemnation of mental illness spills over into fear of the brain, brain disorders, and the brain itself. It is our nature to fear what we do not understand.
The purpose of this article is to build your confidence in understanding how you can help your brain do what its Creator intended it to do. I also want to reinvigorate your hope in the future of your brain’s health.
As the youngest of six children, I remember how curious it seemed to the twelve-year-old version of myself when I first encountered a brain issue in my family.
My brother-in-law broke his neck when a tree fell on him while clearing land on his farm. Frank, an eccentric, energetic man, was thirty-eight when his accident occurred. In addition to his daytime job, he raised hogs, and he fed them at night after work.
He and my sister lived across the street from us. It was a 50-mile round trip from Norfolk to Bird’s Neck Point, Virginia Beach. Every night at 9 PM, we heard his old truck climb over the curb to park in a vacant yard adjacent to his house.
My parents and I were alarmed when 9 PM passed by one night without the expected sound of Frank’s truck. Hewas not found until the following morning.
“Frank is in the Norfolk General Hospital,” my sister said. “He broke his neck, and they are using Crutchfield Tongs to treat him. He is out of his mind.”
I visited Frank in the hospital. He was delirious, thinking, as he said, that he “had been laying bricks all night.” His thin, lengthy frame appeared even longer and thinner, owing to attachments from his scalp stretching his neck by a contraption over the head of his bed.
Dr. William Gayle Crutchfield (1900-1972) was a prominent UVA neurosurgeon. Crutchfield Tongs is a traction device developed by Dr. Crutchfield, used to stabilize fractures of the cervical spine. Burr holes are drilled into the bony skull. Flexible wires are attached to the holes and serve to extend the cervical spine. Pressure from the fractured vertebra is thereby lifted off the spinal cord, protecting the spinal cord and permitting healing to occur.
Frank’s long hospitalization ended pleasantly. Wearing a thick, white, firm neck brace, he slowly recovered at home.
How does the brain protect itself?
The average adult brain weighs three pounds. It is encased in the skull made from the hardest bone in the body.
The brain is covered by three protective layers: the dura mater, the outer covering, which is the thickest. Sometimes, a blow to the head will cause bleeding, forming a clot under the dura. It is called a “subdural hematoma” that becomes life-threatening should it elevate pressure in the brain.
The innermost covering of the brain is called the pia mater. The middle layer is the arachnoid mater. The pia mater contributes to the formation of the choroid plexus, a structure that produces cerebrospinal fluid.
The three protective coverings of the brain, called the meninges, work with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to protect the central nervous system from injury and provide a support structure for blood vessels. Meningitis is an infection of the meninges. Prior to antibiotics, it was often fatal.
The brain’s blood supply consists of arteries and veins that transport oxygen and nutrients, and remove waste. Two main arterial networks meet at the brain’s base to form the circle of Willis, a vital safety system.
The brain has two separate blood supplies: the carotid arteries located on each side of the neck, and the vertebral arteries traversing through both sides of the vertebrae. The two blood supplies meet in the brain, forming the Circle of Willis.
The Circle of Willis is an arterial ring that provides a backup route for blood flow to the brain. If a major artery is blocked or narrowed, blood can be redirected through the circle to reduce stroke risk.
The tunica intima is a single layer of endothelial cells lining blood vessels, including those supplying the brain. It regulates blood flow, prevents clots, and controls substance passage into brain tissue. Damage can cause inflammation, atherosclerosis, stroke, and dementia.
The innermost layer of each blood vessel is called the intima. The take-home message of this educational article is to BECOME INTIMATE WITH YOUR INTIMA!
Functions of the intima in the brain’s blood vessels:
Regulates blood pressure: Endothelial cells in the intima make nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels and reduces blood pressure.
Prevents blood clots: The intima maintains a smooth surface for blood flow and releases substances that stop platelets from forming clots.
Maintains the blood-brain barrier (BBB): Endothelial cells in brain vessels, joined by tight junctions, restrict substancemovement from the blood to brain tissue.
Facilitates nutrient exchange: In addition to serving as a barrier, the intima allows for selective transfer of gases and nutrients such as oxygen, glucose, and amino acids to the brain.
How to prevent damage to the intima:
Protecting the intima is primarily about managing the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which contribute to endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis.
Lifestyle and dietary changes:
Manage Stress by leading a balanced life, attending equally to your physical, mental, and spiritual needs.
Manage blood pressure: High blood pressure increases the risk of intima damage. Regular exercise, a low-sodium diet (like DASH or Mediterranean), and medication help maintain healthy blood pressure.
Control cholesterol: High cholesterol leads to plaque in the arteries, harming the intima. It’s important to manage cholesterol with diet and medication if needed.
Smoking cessation: Smoking poses serious risks to blood vessels and represents a major contributing factor to endothelial injury, stroke, and vascular disease.
Exercise regularly: Physical activity boosts circulation, strengthens your heart, and supports nitric oxide production for intima health. Try moderate aerobic exercise a few times each week.
Maintain a healthy weight: Excess body weight is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol, factors that can contribute to vascular complications.
Eat a balanced diet: A diet that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and sources of healthy fats, while limiting saturated fat, trans fat, and salt, may help support vascular health.
Limit alcohol: Too much alcohol harms blood pressure and vascular health. The healthiest amount of alcohol is NONE.
Manage medical conditions:
Manage diabetes: Elevated blood sugar can lead to damage to blood vessels over time. Regular control of blood glucose levels is important for maintaining the health of the intima.
Take prescribed medications: Taking your prescribed medicationregularly helps prevent vascular damage caused by high blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes.
Consider supplements (after consulting a doctor):
Fish oil helps lower inflammation and boost endothelial function. Salmon twice weekly is a good source of fish oil.
Antioxidants: Vitamins C, E, and flavonoids can contribute to safeguarding the endothelium against oxidative stress. I like a one-a-day multivitamin. If you take a blood thinner like Warfarin, avoid Vitamin K.
L-arginine: This amino acid acts as a precursor to nitric oxide, which functions to dilate blood vessels.
Mental and Social Health:
Reduce stress: Chronic stress raises blood pressure and encourages unhealthy habits. Stress-reducing activities support better health.
Keep your mind active and stay social: Studies show this supports brain health.
Be forgiving, loving, humble, kind, and caring, thinking of others first. This is not easy and is rarely achieved without a meaningful relationship with God.
I attend two weekly Zoom Bible Studies and maintain church membership. I prefer the old hymns, the New King James Version of the Bible, and I ride a stationary bicycle 45 minutes daily.
In addition to the oxygen I breathe, I inhale love from my family, close friends, and a God who never leaves or forsakes anyone who accepts His incomparable love.
I’ve told you all I know about keeping a clean intima of the blood vessels throughout your precious body, created in the image and likeness of God.
A clean life is the best for clean blood vessel intima.
“Be angry but sin not.” Ephesians 4:26.
Anger is a healthy, normal emotion.“Fits of rage”* are harmful to you, others, and most damaging of all, to the intima of the blood vessels in your brain and heart.
*“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21.
Frequent rage can harm the brain by reducing gray matter in areas that control emotions, affecting cognition, and raising the risk of depression and anxiety.
During anger, the brain favors emotional and reactive areas over the rational prefrontal cortex, often resulting in impulsive actions.
Prolonged arousal may lead to systemic inflammation, memory decline, and other chronic health problems.
Above all, be Happy and your brain will be good. Be rageful and you will damage your precious gift from God, your soulful brain.
Robert S. Brown, MD, PHD a retired Psychiatrist, Col (Ret) U.S. Army Medical Corps devoted the last decade of his career to treating soldiers at Fort Lee redeploying from combat. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Education at UVA. His renowned Mental Health course taught the value of exercise for a sound mind.
