The NFL is now forced to look long and hard at the damage done when players suffer from multiple concussions. A settlement has been agreed upon for players who suffered various conditions that are linked to concussions. Players who sustain repetitive head injuries are at risk of suffering "... early-onset of Alzheimer's Disease, dementia, depression, deficits in cognitive functioning, reduced processing speed, attention, and reasoning, loss of memory, sleeplessness, moods swings, personality changes, and the debilitating and latent disease known as Chronic traumatic encephalopathy ('CTE')."^{http://www.anapolschwartz.com/pdfs/nfl-complaint.pdf}

Concussions and brain injuries happen to many people throughout their lives, not just when playing football. They may happen at birth, when the cord is wrapped around their necks and there is not enough oxygen. A toddler tumbles down stairs and gets a concussion. Car accidents and violence from others, too. Older kids get sports-related head injuries all the time. Unfortunately, coaches don't always know how to diagnose a concussion.

Have you or someone you know had a concussion and noted these issues?

• Difficulty with dealing with too much stimulation; for example when driving a car at night in the rain.
• Can't read a 7 digit phone number and then dial all of it without looking back several times
• Someone tells you 3 or 4 directions and you can only remember the last one or two that was said
• Not able to keep as many things in your brain as you used to

So what to do?

I have been working with people of all ages for the past 14 years and noticed a great number of them with poor working memory. Could this be associated with concussions?

According to a study (http://www.neurology.org/content/53/6/1300.short), injury-related changes in ability to activate or to modulate working memory processing resources may underlie some of the memory complaints after MTBI. In other words, yes, there is a reasonable prediction that after a concussion, there may be problems with memory.

Luckily, science has told us for decades that the brain is plastic. In other words, we can improve brain functioning, and we can improve memory, logic and processing speed through cognitive training using a program like the Academic Success Center Workbook every day for a few months. 

Trauma causes regression in other areas too, as noted above: depression and mood swings are related to the Moro Reflex, attention is related to the Spinal Galant and Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex, and processing speed is related to the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex. These can be re-integrated as well! An inexpensive home DVD is Maintaining Brains Everyday, which should be done every day for at least 30 days, and takes just 10 minutes a day. 

Both of these can be found at http://www.pyramidofpotential.com/store/ and are on sale now through January 31. Buy today while it's on sale, and start improving your brain!

Have a great week, 

Kathy Johnson