Tag: memory loss

Brain Facts #10 – NEWS: ‘Fear of Flying’ Phobia Update

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Fear of Flying

Eiffel Tower Paris France

 (Sorry, We were taking a picture of an airplane, but it flew behind the Eiffel Tower.)

FYI: Aviophobia or Aviatophobia – The fear of flying

 

A phobia can be based upon rational and irrational fear.

A classic case of a phobia that has intrinsic value for each side is the Fear of Flying.

Logically, it is hard for the untrained person to believe that a big piece of metal flying through the air, and against the pull of gravity, would have any chance of landing safely. However, this feat has been accomplished numerous times, and has a high reliability that you will wind up safely at your destination.

Even airplane pilots make a few jokes about it:  “Landing a plane is a controlled crash” paints a picture of the stresses the plane undergoes at the most critical point of its operation.

Recent research has shown there may be physiological reasons to consider as well.

Deep vein thrombosis is a regular worry now amongst airline passengers, which is a clotting of blood mostly in the legs due to sitting for long times on flights. But this can mostly be countered by compression stockings, aspirin, and walking around.

Changes in the brain are not as apparent, but can still be felt. Some results can be quite severe. Frequent jet lag produces stress-induced hormones that can result in memory loss and brain damage. Other stress related events around travel can add to an already burdened mental process and cause further problems.

So, the next time you travel to Paris, and forget Iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, you may be suffering from this malady.

Shannon Panzo

Great Things Happen Here!

Brain Fact #4: Underweight People Risk Brain Shutdown

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Are you Starving Your Brain?

Tired Flat Brain

Feeling Flat? Exhausted? Lethargic?
Feed Your Brain!

Did you know…

In the average human, the brain consumes about 17% of the body’s total energy but accounts for only 3% of bodyweight.

Dietitians suggest you should not go below 1400 calories per day, as this is the minimum amount necessary to meet your daily nutritional requirements. (I am keeping this simple, recognizing there is much more involved in maintaining good health.)

Therefore, 17% of 1400 would be 238 calories. That is around the same amount of calories if you were to run 2 miles or swim 900 meters every day.

But what would happen if you are in the process of removing the excess baggage from your body? Most of the time you are told to cut back on the amount of energy (food) you take in, and exercise to burn more energy.

If you remember, the brain controls all types of things happening around your body that are essential for sustaining good health; like your heart pumping blood, breathing, and making sure your bodily functions are doing what they should be doing, and not doing what they should not be doing, like cardiac arrhythmia.

It is important that you maintain proper nutrition going to your brain, even when you are burning more calories than you take in. Otherwise, you can suffer many different debilitating symptoms. You can lose memory, experience inability to make decisions, have decreased muscle coordination and longer response time, and plenty of any number of problems; because your brain controls too many functions to mention. An exacerbated inability to make decisions is a contributing factor why  anorexics have such a problem breaking free of anorexia. They have been starving their brain along with starving their body.

Maintaining your brain’s ability to work for you is paramount. Superior information gives you the edge in life. Both go hand in hand.

From the Heart, for your Heart!

Shannon Panzo, PhD

Great Things Happen Here!