health briefs

Overcoming Anxiety with Neurofeedback Therapy Many people with anxiety worry excessively about everything. They are restless, find it hard to get motivated and can’t seem to make decisions, often feeling like there’s an elephant on their chest making it difficult to breathe.

Neurofeedback can help when anxiety is interfering with our quality of life. Neurofeedback recognizes what our brain is doing and identifies whether our brainwave patterns are not acting as they should. Using a cap with small metal discs called electrodes, trained specialists are able to track and record brain wave patterns. The electrodes analyze the electrical impulses in the brain and send signals to a computer that records the results. As a result, brainwave patterns can be observed to see if there’s any dysregulated brainwave activity that is causing anxious feelings or causing the brain to become unfocused or race needlessly.

The goal of neurofeedback is to transform an unhealthy, dysregulated brainwave pattern into a normal, healthy, organized pattern. Neurofeedback is based upon the principle that there is a normal pattern of brainwave activity and that the brain regulates itself based upon this pattern. The result: an improvement in the brain’s ability to regulate itself and perform better. This in turn can reduce or eliminate most neurological symptoms caused by the original irregular brain pattern.

Unlike many other treatments that address the symptoms of neurological disorders, neurofeedback therapy trains the underlying source to alter the structure and function of the brain. As such, many patients report permanent positive changes to their behavior months and years after ending the therapy. Neurofeedback has helped thousands of people to improve their cognitive ability. The results are proven by science and have been used for more than 60 years.

BrainCore, at the Chiropractic Neurology Center of West Greenwich is located at 16-A Noonseneck Hill Rd, West Greenwich, offers neurofeedback therapy. For more information, call 401-397-9948 or visit chirowg.com. See ad on page 21.

Take Echinacea

to Reduce Anxiety

Echinacea extract may be helpful for situationinduced anxiety, indicates a new study from Hungary’s Institute of Experimental Medicine, in Budapest. The researchers tested 64 middle-aged people that had scored high on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. They were given either 80 milligrams Echinacea angustifolia root extract or a placebo every day for seven days, followed by a threeweek washout period during which no pills were taken. Those taking the echinacea started experiencing less anxiety than the placebo-takers by day seven, and scored significantly lower in “state anxiety”, marked by arousal connected to specific dangers or threats. Measures of “trait anxiety”, in which anxiety is an ongoing personal characteristic, improved slightly compared to the placebo group. Improvements were maintained even during the washout period.

Breathe Cleaner Air to Help Bone Health

Air pollution has long been linked to lung cancer, stroke and respiratory disease, and now research has found that it can lead to osteoporosis, as well. Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health studied the bone mass and density of 3,717 people living in villages near Hyderabad, India. These were compared to fine particulate air pollution levels, which averaged more than three times the recommendations of the World Health Organization. The researchers also surveyed in-home cooking over wood, coal and other biomass sources. The results showed that exposure to ambient air pollution was associated with lower levels of bone mass, and that cooking over fires did not have that effect. “Inhalation of polluting particles could lead to bone mass loss through the oxidative stress and inflammation caused by air pollution,” says lead author Otavio T. Ranzani. Quang Ho/Shutterstock.com