Neurovine is pleased to welcome summer student Jaston Stockall, a Biomedical Mechanical Engineering student at Carleton University. We invited Jaston to share her learnings, after a couple of months with the Neurovine research team. In this blog post, she offers some tips on concussion recovery from her own research and experience with our clinical trial program. 

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Unlike an injured muscle of the body, it is very difficult to tell how much is too much for your brain as it recovers. This is especially true when recovering from concussion.

The Neurovine technology is something we’re extremely proud of and passionate about. We believe it’s a game-changer for concussion recovery. Our platform combines brain data from a portable EEG headband with neuro-analytics to provide you with real-time brain health feedback. This helps you gauge your progress and make smart decisions while reducing the risk of regression.

Of course, no device will “heal” your concussion. The effort that you put in and the choices you make have the greatest effect on your recovery, and this is where optimization comes in.  

What is optimization and how can we use it to our benefit?

Optimization works by assessing all the factors that contribute to a goal and then actively trying to perform to the best of your ability on each factor. Optimization of performance means realizing how changing one single thing might only increase performance by 1%, but by doing many of these things together and simultaneously, you now notice the difference and perform significantly better. This sort of optimization is also compounding: if you can perform 1% better every day, that can snowball quickly to a 10% head start after a week, and so on. Consider two people training for a sport. Person A trains every day for three hours and focuses solely on drills and routines compared with person B who focuses on sleep, diet, drills, routines, muscle conditioning, visualization, and mental training. Person B is optimizing their training habits. 

Optimization with Regard to concussion recovery

So how do we optimize the concussion recovery process and our overall health? What can we do to help our bodies function at the highest levels?  Fortunately, there are a few changes we can make to our everyday life that can help us care for our entire body and mind, and reach our full potential. This involves adopting good habits and routines, including a healthy and nutritious diet, hydration, exercise, good sleep patterns, meditation, and mindset.

Pointing all your arrows forward

Routines and habits are the things we do every day that we can optimize to contribute to better performance and progress faster, more efficiently, and productively. Performance is a result of all the good and bad habits that are practised. Think of every routine behaviour as an arrow that can point in any direction: one behaviour may point forward and support recovery, while another may point backward and undermine it, and another still may have no effect at all. If all the arrows point towards the optimal recovery, they build on each other and recovery can happen faster than if some of the arrows are pointing in random directions, or worse, are pointing backward. 

This is one reason why athletes tend to recover quickly. They already have the discipline and good habits in their overall health and performance. So perhaps now’s a good time to adopt as many as you can, since good habits and routines are how we optimize the achievement of our goals. Remember you don’t need to be an athlete by any means, just try and make one new arrow point forward every day and you will see a difference. 

ARE YOU STARVING OR FEEDING YOUR BRAIN?

Eating right is crucial to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The brain consumes a great amount of energy and nutrients both when it’s feeling good and when it’s recovering from an injury. Are you giving it enough fuel to heal or are you starving the nutrient food bank? It can be challenging on a normal day to be mindful about your diet, staying hydrated, and ensuring that you are getting all the right nutrients your body needs. That challenge may be exacerbated for a person with concussion. The brain consumes a great amount of energy and nutrients both when it’s feeling good and when it’s recovering from a concussion. 

The food you consume has an impact on your brain and body. One example where foods matter is if they are inflammatory or anti-inflammatory (foods containing zinc and magnesium). If you're confused, your brain is going to be inflamed and the goal is to reduce this inflammation, e.g., by consuming zinc and magnesium. A few other superfoods that carry essential nutrients for concussion recovery are blueberries, cranberries, nuts, fish, dark green leafy vegetables, and green tea. Some foods to avoid include sugary drinks, processed meat or other processed foods, dairy, and high fatty meats. 

PROPER HYDRATION IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS EATING THE RIGHT FOODS!

Another aspect to be mindful of is how much water you’re drinking during the day. Staying hydrated is critical to your health and aids in preventing infections, organ function, delivery of nutrients throughout the body, body regulation, keeping joints lubricated and cells healthy. It also impacts sleep, brain activity, cognition, and mood. Hydration also plays a significant role in concussion recovery and the management of concussion symptoms. 

In the prevention of concussion or the degree of the injury, we can extrapolate that hydration levels play a big role as well as managing concussion symptoms. 

Check out this journal article for a deeper understanding of the impact of hydration on concussion recovery and prevention.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT EXERCISE! IT'S A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR FOR STAYING HEALTHY AND AIDING IN RECOVERY

The significant health benefits of exercise are well known, such as reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, and improving mental health and academic performance by increasing our ability to focus, retain information, and increase our attention span. 

More recently, exercise is also proving to be a crucial part of concussion recovery. Both not enough and too much activity have been shown to negatively affect recovery from concussion. The right amount of sub-symptom threshold aerobic activity, however, has been shown to speed recovery. 

For further reading check out this article. 

Incorporating exercise into your concussion recovery plan may be something to talk about with your health care provider. You should be working with your health care provider to get a set heart rate and build a sub-threshold symptom exercise plan. 

MANAGING YOUR INTERNAL CLOCK

We all need sleep to function normally and efficiently. It really is that simple! The longer you go without sleep the worse your brain and body will function, and this is even more critical during concussion recovery. Sleep offers your brain the chance to recover without external stimuli, process information, and prepare itself for the next day. If you're not getting the quality sleep that you need, inevitably it will affect the recovery process. 

Here are some general recommendations to help optimize your night’s sleep:

• Maintain your circadian cycle by waking up and going to sleep at the same time every day. This is your internal 24-hour clock. 
• Light and dark. Darkness will trigger an increase in the melatonin hormone which induces drowsiness and signals your body to prepare for sleep. If you expose yourself to sunlight when waking up it can help reset melatonin levels and make you feel more awake. 
• Avoid screens (blue light) an hour before sleep. Blue light will suppress the release of melatonin in your body making it increasingly difficult to fall asleep. It is also recommended to reduce screen time during the day if you’re recovering from a concussion!
• Setting the room to the right temperature (16-21 degrees Celsius) also affects your sleep quality. 

STAYING POSITIVE, RESTING YOUR MIND, AND LEARNING TO MEDITATE

The mind is a powerful thing. It’s already a challenge to think positively sometimes, and the ups and downs of concussion recovery can make maintaining a good mindset even more difficult. It’s important to know that this is normal, and it’s something your health care provider can help you with. Cultivating a positive mindset during your recovery might be the hardest tip to adopt, but every ounce of effort you put into tuning your brain’s “radio station” to the voice of your best friend or favourite coach, instead of your worst enemy will pay you back many times over. 

Adopting meditation or deep controlled breathing as a daily habit is surprisingly easy, not very time-consuming, and has been shown to have a positive impact on reducing anxiety and stress levels. Practising meditation may also assist in other areas of your daily life that are stressful without you even knowing! Meditation can make you more mindful of your posture and tensions in your body that unknowingly take up your energy. Double-check your posture. If you're in a constant state of muscular stress you will be overworking your brain at a time where it needs to be at rest and not over-exerting itself. 

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER AND LINING UP OUR ARROWS

Let me leave you with these five key takeaways:

1. Optimize your recovery! Recovery is additive and incremental. You start every day on the foundation of the previous day and all your efforts will add up.
2. Athletes recover faster because they tend to have already adopted good habits, good diets, excellent self-discipline, and a positive mindset when compared to non-athletes. It’s never too late to adopt these good habits yourself.
3. Consult your health care provider as soon as you can to help with your concussion recovery. They can customize guidance and advice for you, taking into account your unique circumstances and the details of your injury, and offer best practices for recovery.
4. The healthier you are before an injury, including a concussion, the more prepared your body will be to recover. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a lifelong journey and commitment, and it’s always the right time to adopt good diet and exercise habits.
5. By caring about all your choices when it comes to healthy living and concussion recovery your entire performance and recovery can be improved including time efficiency.

LET'S CLOSE WITH A SHORT MEDITATION (JUST TO SHOW YOU HOW EASY IT IS!)

Use your smartphone to set a countdown timer for three minutes. Visualize yourself in a quiet, peaceful place. Set your mind to imagine how your recovery will accelerate thanks to a focus on your own well-being. If your mind drifts, bring it back to this dream of the new you. When the timer rings, take three deep breaths and commit yourself to make this dream a reality.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Circadian Rhythm
• The Best Temperature for Sleep