The Intelligence-Creativity Connection

Do you think you’re intelligent but not very creative, or you're creative but not very intelligent, or have you bought into myths around creativity? Three myths can be especially problematic. One: Only special people are creative. False. Every human brain contains tremendous capacities for creativity, although not every person develops those capacities. Two: Creativity involves special activities only, like art, design, or advertising. False. You can be creative at anything including math, science, engineering, sports, running, a business, and handling relationship. Three: The human brain is either creative or not. False. You can hone creativity skills and become increasingly creative in your life and work. Creativity and intelligence are first cousins, blood relatives. When you are acting creatively you tend to be acting intelligently. In a similar way, the highest form of intelligence is thinking creatively. Avoid underestimating your brain. Take a step back and realize that your own unique power of imagination is a fundamental feature of human intelligence and, therefore, of creativity.

Liver-Brain Connection

Did you know that fried foods may impact your liver much as does hepatitis? According to Dr. Drew Ordon of “The Doctors" and author of the book, "Better in 7," new information has shown that fried foods impact more than just your over-all weight and levels of cholesterol. Studies showed that consistently eating fatty foods from fast food restaurants for just one month led to significant changes in liver enzymes similar to damage seen by hepatitis¾and these changes can ultimately lead to liver failure. Three key offenders were French fries, fried onion rings, and fried chicken. And the relationship of the liver to your brain? The liver is designed to cleanse the blood of neurotoxins and other substances that could potentially damage brain cells. The liver also is believed to provide some specific nutrients that the brain itself does not seem to produce. Bottom line? Normal brain functioning appears to depend on several aspects of normal liver functioning. I rarely ingest fried foods—they pretty much have just gotten bumped from my menu!

Food Brain Messages

As I'm sure you are aware, more and more information is being released about nutrition and the brain, including an emphasis on moving toward Mediterranean cuisine as an anti-aging strategy. Along with that, it's time you dumped some of the food messages you brain may have received during childhood. For example: "Clean your plate before you leave the table." With the portion size in many restaurants this advice is a prescription for overeating. Or how about, "Finish your vegetables if you want any desert." The message to the brain is that desert is desirable and there is something basically boring with vegetables. You might want to take a close look at the admonitions running through your brain. Record positive messages as needed, such as: "I put appropriate amounts of food on my plate, eat slowly, masticate thoroughly, and stop eating as soon as I am satisfied."  Or, "I am enjoying vegetables and they are improving my brain function. Two bites of desert are okay once in awhile, too." Help yourself be successful. ONLY have healthy foods in your house. Shrbert rather than high-fat ice cream; baked vegie chips instead of deep fried. It only takes about three weeks of consistency to retrain your taste buds, as long as you are not sabotaging the learning with unhelpful messages. If you have children and grandchildren, they watch you eat. Give them healthy rolemodeling. Matter of fact, your own mirror neurons watch you eat . . .

Adult ADHD - 20-year Study

Findings from the first ever population-based study to follow children with ADHD into adulthood (a 20-years study by Mayo Clinic) are published in the April 2013 issue of Pediatrics. According to Dr. William Barbaresi , lead author, ADHD is by far the most common neurodevelopmental disorder in childhood.” It is characterized by trouble with inattentiveness, hyperactive behavior or impulsiveness, and sometimes a combination of all three. Study findings indicated that approximately 30% of children with ADHD will continue to have it as a chronic problem in adulthood, and 80% of those adults typically have at least one other condition (e.g., substance abuse, major depression, anxiety, anti-social behaviors). Over the next year or so, Barbaresi and his team expect to release more study findings, including statistics on relationships, education, employment, and psycho-social outcomes evidenced by adults with chronic ADHD. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have indicated that up to 9.5% of children between the ages of 4 and 17 have been reported as having ADHD.

Genetic Links to ADHD

A new study recently published in the Lancet, British medical journal, reported that an international group of scientists have identified some genetic links between several conditions: ADHD, autism, depression, manic-depression (bi-polar), and schizophrenia. This could help explain the reason that some of these diagnoses seem to cluster in families. Smoller, a psychiatry professor at Massachusetts General Hospital, explained that the portions of the genome identified (that appeared to increase the risk for these five conditions) also seemed to be involved in how calcium channels operate in the brain, which impact how brain cells communicate. The exciting news is that putting this information together raises the possibility that treatments targeting those calcium channels might have a positive impact on the brain. I was discussing this with a cousin and her comment was, “And we thought it was all in our head!” Well, it is! The good news is that since depressive disorders have been identified somewhat frequently in my own maternal line, this information may help to explain the commonality. And even better, it may eventually provide more effective treatments.

Three Types of ADHD

An increasing body of researched information is being released about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Many symptoms associated with ADHD are seen in non-ADHD children from time to time. In ADHD children, however, the symptoms occur frequently, are seen in more than one environment (e.g., at home, at school, when visiting friends), and interfere with their ability to function normally. Following are three types of ADHD, with symptoms that must be age-appropriate:

1. Combined ADHD - involves both inattentiveness and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms and is the most common type

2. Inattentive ADHD (formerly known as ADD) - marked by symptoms of impaired attention and concentration

3. Hyperactive-impulsive ADHD - characterized by hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms without inattentiveness

In children, ADHD may be diagnosed when typical symptom have been exhibited consistently for a minimum of six months in at least two different settings (e.g., at home and at school). Watch my next two blogs for some recently released findings.

HIRREM Brain Sessions

No, that's not a typo. It's an acronym for a new technology: high-resolution, relational, resonance-based electroencephalic mirroring. (No wonder that mouthful needed an acronym!) HIRREM, sometimes referred to as brain optimization, is a noninvasive procedure that has been designed to reflect the brain's frequencies back to the brain. Based on the premise that the human brain is the master regulator of all human experience, improved self-regulation is thought to be the most efficacious way to attain greater well-being. Hirrem uses mirroring but instead of visual images it converts information about brainwave energy into musical sounds that are played back to the brain in real time. As the brain receives this information it can recognize its own patterns of imbalance or disharmony and begin to shift toward greater balance and harmony. How might HIRREM be used? In treating insomnia, for one. Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine gave insomnia-sufferers eight to twelve HIRREM sessions over a three-week period. Clients who received HIRREM sessions experienced a significant reduction in insomnia symptoms (compared with a control group that received standard care that did not include HIRREM. Results lasted over a four-week
period of follow-up.