Monday, March 20, 2017

Daily Programming To Rewire the Brain


I was away from the beeps and buzzers. No one could step out from behind a curtain and suddenly appear at my bedside. If you thought children could give you a heart attack by showing up by your bed in the middle of the night, then try a nurse in the hospital. They both poke you to see if you are alive. The nurse just uses a needle. I didn't have to deal with that hospital smell, either. Some people vomit just thinking about it.


Stress is a big deterrent to rewiring. Your brain actually rewires to that stress. The above was a stressful environment. I wasn't going to get the kind of rewiring I have now while I was in a medical facility. I would get it at home.


I moved out of the hospital and into a private residence. My environment was minus that stress. I do want to note, a nursing home can do this, also, but not all can do the programming I next talk about.

Programming...you don't think much about home. You think, "I have to go to a program." No, you don't. It can be set up in your home. I've been doing this a while for others.
http://braininjuryknow.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-to-do-all-day.html




This gives you an idea of what I set up for myself,




 

Posit Science recommends that 90 minutes a week be performed. ("Recommendation
Try to fit in at least 90 minutes of effective brain training a week. Many people tell us that 3 times a week for 30 minutes at a time works best for them. http://www.brainhq.com/why-brainhq/brain-training-your-way/brainhq-training-help#A) I plugged it into my daily schedule. This would ensure I got at least 90 minutes a week. I was doing an hour a day, 5-6 days a week. I was getting at least four times the minimum recommendation on the weeks I did the least.



All of this extra training would have promoted rewiring... and possible neurogenesis?  I already believe nurogenesis was started years earlier with the initial injury in a procedure my mother described as the doctor "reversed blood flow." This procedure is not in medical records. Extra training could be responsible for further neurogenesis. This is a new concept that will need to be explored.



The Insight program isn't offered anymore. Alternatively, there is something easier to access. BrainHQ by Posit Science is offered on-line for a charge.  http://www.brainhq.com/welcome#  It is a fraction of the cost of that original program. The old games have been incorporated into this format.



I specifically want to address this type of training and these specific exercises. There is a good deal of research available on them. I am also awed by the amount of time I spent on this. It wasn't much daily, but a lot weekly. This is easily doable by a clinical program.



There is one other piece of programming I did that is not related to computer brain training. I did Range Of Motion (ROM) exercises. There is a great deal of research on the benefits of exercise rewiring the brain. I have also addressed ROM, https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/YnqoY.



Although I hadn't put the two together before (I did them at different times of day), ROM exercises may be the compliment brain training software needs to fully rewire a brain.
After the brain program ended, I changed to Oral-Motor exercises for speech. It would account for what you see and hear.


I added the 'pucker-smile' exercise mostly.

CLICK to enlarge


and I would sing along with the radio if I knew the words.

You end up with rewiring of my face and speech.


You see it.
AND
You can hear my voice.
(This video links to http://thoughtfulveg.blogspot.com/2016/12/yes-i-speak.html.)

There is still more to do. Obviously, I have yet to do gross motor. That one is difficult to do alone. I'm addressing problems one at a time and am in no hurry. I do not address fine motor as I have not formally worked on it here at home. I typed my first e-mails at El Camino Hospital to a Music Therapist.
 

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