Parenthood changes your brain!

Parents may not be surprised by the finding that being a parent actually changes your brain (some may be surprised that the changes are good ones!). Research shows that parents have different patterns of brain activity in some areas than non-parents.

One study found that hormonal changes that occur in pregnancy increase the number of dendrites in the brain. Dendrites are the projections from a neuron (or brain cell) that act to facilitate communication between neurons. So, the more dendrites, the more chance of neural connections. The neural connections that are created during pregnancy have been shown in rat studies to enhance memory and learning. This is likely to be because learning and memory are important in raising young.

Mental health and the federal budget

The 2012-13 federal budget has been released, and according to some expert commentators, there is good and bad news for mental health arising from the budget.

The good news is:

• Overall funding for mental health has not been cut.
• Funding for the Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program, providing incentives for community based general practices to engage mental health nurses, has been maintained.
• The government will provide $21 million to fund additional allied mental health services for patients under the Better Access initiative, whereby treatment for those with diagnosed mental health problems is partially covered by Medicare.
• New spending of $115m over five years is directed towards better mental health care for veterans.
• From 2014-2015 $9.1m will be provided to the Australian Bureau of Statistics to conduct its Survey of Disability every three years, rather than every six years.

Positive thinking changes your brain!

Psychology has for some time now borrowed from the philosophies and practices of Buddhism (e.g., meditation and mindfulness), to help treat conditions like depression and anxiety and to help people increase their general psychological well-being.

New breakthroughs in neuropsychology and neuroscience have allowed us to better understand how these practices work to actually rewire the brain to allow for more calmness and greater happiness.

Molly in recovery

Molly's letter

Molly Meldrum, the well known TV personality who suffered a severe head injury after a fall on 15 December last year, appears to be recovering well. He has written an open letter expressing his thanks for the attention and well-wishes he received after his fall.

Part of the letter is reproduced on this news site

Molly said: "My life changed forever when I fell off the roof".

"I can't say my life flashed before my eyes, but I have had plenty of time to reflect in the past few weeks, and I realise just how lucky I am".

"I wish I could reply to all the cards and messages, but it's impossible - it would take all year and I'd never get my book finished!" he wrote.

The letter comes not long after the recording of an interview by journalist Jennifer Keyte which will air on Today Tonight. It will make fascinating viewing.

Prognosis and recovery

Molly appears to be making a good recovery from his head injury, particularly given his age (66) and the severity of his injury. He appears to be alert and very articulate.

However, an article on news.com.au reveals that he also tires easily, becomes stressed under pressure and is walking slowly.

These are common outcomes of head injury or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Depending on many factors, including the severity of the TBI and the part of the brain affected, slowed processing, fatigue and difficulties managing stress are to be expected following a TBI. These can be short or long term effects. Again, depending on a number of factors, many skills are also often retained. These tend to be those skills that have been well practised, such as literacy skills.

The human brain is complex, as are the outcomes of TBI. To learn more about how the outcomes of TBI can be assessed, please contact us

Teenagers, sleep and brain changes

Adolescents are renowned for their ability to sleep and for their erratic behaviour.

A recent study examining adolescent brain activity during sleep reveals what is happening in the brains of adolescents (that may help explain their behaviour!).

The study, led by Dr Ian Campbell and Prof Irwin Feinberg at the University of California, involved 67 adolescents. The researchers took electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of their brainwaves while sleeping. They found that there was a 60% drop in the activity of delta waves in the brain as the children moved through puberty, particularly between the ages of 12 and 16 years. Delta waves occur during non-rapid eye movement sleep, the phase of sleep where the brain recuperates from its activity during the day.

Changes in brainwaves indicate that pruning of brain cells occurs at this time. As discussed in our earlier blog, Neuroplasticity in Children, pruning involves brain cells and the connections between them being removed, leading to changes in brain efficiency.

Another researcher, Prof Mick Hunter of the University of Newcastle, stated that "People don't realise what massive changes occur in adolescence in a very short period of time. There are so many changes - physiologically, mentally and socially". These changes appear to be interdependent.

These findings may have implications for the study of mental illness such as schizophrenia. It may be that errors that occur during the rapid process of brain reorganisation at the end of adolescence give rise to mental illness.

Mental illness can be associated with cognitive difficulties. To learn more about the relationship between mental illness and cognition, contact us.

Sleep and cognition: or, your brain needs sleep!

Most people are likely to be familiar with the expression "sleep on it" - meaning that sleep can be beneficial to problem solving and decision making.

Emerging evidence shows that sleep is even more important to brain health and cognition, particularly memory, than we realise.

It has been known for some time that sleep apnoea, a sleep disorder, is a risk factor for certain types of dementia.

A new Australian study has found that another sleep disorder is associated with memory problems. People with rapid eye movement sleep disorder (RBD) have twice the risk of developing memory problems and Parkinson's disease. RBD is a sleep disorder that involves abnormal behaviour during the sleep phase where rapid eye movement occurs. People with RBD tend to act out their dreams.

The study found that a third of the people with RBD developed mild cognitive impairment or Parkinson's disease within four years of being in the study. This is a rate that is more than twice that of people without RBD. Behavioural neurologist Dr Brendon Boot was the lead author of the paper, which has been published in the Annals of Neurology.

He says being able to identify those patients who are a greater risk of mild cognitive impairment or Parkinson's disease will mean earlier treatment for those affected.

Early invention is vital because as these disorders advance they destroy brain cells.

New evidence regarding ECT

Mention ECT (Electroconvulsive therapy) to most people and they are likely to imagine a scene out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with a patient being involuntarily strapped to a table and given a painful electric shock.

However, ECT is actually a humane and effective treatment for patients with mood disorders like severe depression, particularly in cases when alternative treatments have been ineffective.

Current techniques involve first anaesthestising the patient and then electrically inducing a seizure.

Whilst it has been used successfully in clinical practice for 70 years, until now it has not been well understood how or why it works. Prof Ian Reid and his team from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland found that ECT changes the way different parts of the brain communicate. By comparing the brains of people before and after the treatment using brain imaging they showed that ECT reduces the strength of overactive connections between parts of the brain that control mood and those that control thinking/concentrating.

This finding could help improve diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and other disorders including schizophrenia, autism and dementia.

One of the possible side effects of ECT is memory loss. A neuropsychological assessment can be used in conjunction with ECT to monitor any changes in cognition. To find out more about our neuropsychological assessment services contact us.