JEANNINE WALSTON

JEANNINE WALSTON

Heal the Whole

Cancer patients & survivors can feel better and live longer using

powerful strategies. As a brain tumor survivor since 1998, explore

education and how I help as a Cancer Coach, consultant & speaker.

Heal the Whole

Cancer patients & survivors can feel better and live longer using powerful strategies. As a brain tumor survivor since 1998, explore education and how I help as a Cancer Coach, consultant & speaker.

Brain Health

By Jeannine Walston

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Brain health is a continuous, dynamic state of optimal brain functioning that empowers individuals to reach their full potential and maintain physical, mental, and social well-being throughout life.

Factors such as chronic stress, poor sleep, inadequate nutrition, lack of physical activity, social isolation, excessive alcohol consumption, exposure to cigarette smoke, substance use, certain diseases, and both short- and long-term health issues—such as brain fog—as well as various environmental and lifestyle factors, can disrupt healthy brain function and result in cognitive, emotional, and physical challenges.

Understanding the brain’s dynamics is crucial. Key aspects of brain health include:

  • Multidimensional Functioning: Brain health encompasses several domains, including cognitive (thinking, learning, memory, problem-solving), sensory, social-emotional, behavioral, and motor functioning.
  • Lifelong Process: Brain health is shaped from before conception and continues to evolve throughout all stages of life, with the potential for improvement or decline at any time.
  • Resilience and Adaptability: A healthy brain adapts to challenges, copes with stress, and demonstrates resilience in the face of adversity.
  • Multiple Determinants: Physical health, environmental factors such as air and water quality, safety, social connections, and access to quality healthcare all play essential roles in brain health.
  • Modifiable Factors: Many influences on brain health—including diet, physical activity, sleep, and the management of chronic conditions—can be modified to improve outcomes.

Brain Health Requires Many Approaches

Cancer, other diseases, aging, and a range of additional factors require a multidisciplinary approach. Depending on individual circumstances, assembling a dedicated team is essential. High-quality doctors, diverse practitioners, certain helpful non-profits, other brain health experts, and reliable resources offer valuable support, though finding the best fit can be challenging. Throughout my journey, I have collaborated with many practitioners to enhance my brain health, such as leading oncologists, practitioners, nutritionists, osteopaths, Chinese Medicine experts, functional medicine specialists like neurotransmitter testing, homeopaths, and innovative therapies in Germany and Switzerland, among others. Ultimately, caring for your brain health means living life on your own terms, every day.

Whole Person - Struggles to Strengths

The mysteries of brain health offer opportunities to transform challenges into practical strategies for lasting improvement. Over the past 25 years, I have learned that vibrant brain health is supported by nurturing the whole person—including the physical body, the mind-body connection, spiritual vitality, social support, and a cleaner environment. The following recommendations are ways to enhance your brain, body, and overall well-being.

Physical Body

  1. Healthy foods, snacks, and drinks. Organic is ideal. Food is medicine. No cane sugar, dairy, meats, and gluten. Explore foods from Deanna Minich, PhD, and Dean Ornish, MD. Visit the Environmental Working Group and its Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists of foods. Food, medicine, and brain health vary from individual to individual. Some essential support for brain health includes herbs of curry, turmeric, and curcumin. Two recommendations include Rich Nuts, sprouted with my favorite Crunchy Curry, and Numi Turmeric Spice Latte, both for brain health.
  2. Movement and exercise are paramount for shifting the body-mind connection and supporting vitality.
  3. Get quality sleep for your optimal health and healing. Sleep is essential. Avoid circadian rhythms that wake up at night.
  4. Reduce and moderate stress. Shift challenges to more clarity, including reading Stress and Cancer.
  5. Get blood work conducted with Hemoglobin A1C to measure sugar and High-Sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) to measure inflammation. Hemoglobin A1C should be ideally under 5.5, and hs-CRP below 1.
  6. Use a water filter or a water filtration system for better water quality.
  7. Reliable supplements, such as those manufactured by Thorne, address brain health and other topics.
  8. Explore new practitioners for your optimal health and healing. Brain health can come from quality acupuncture, osteopaths, Chinese Medicine, Functional Medicine, and other experts. Also, consider neurotransmitter testing, which evaluates vital molecules that regulate nearly every function in the brain and body, to identify levels and develop specific strategies.
  9. Consider high-quality essential oils like lavender for relaxation, peppermint for vibrancy, and frankincense for many benefits.
  10. Some of my favorite herbs for brain health are curry and turmeric with curcumin.
  11. Grounding is the practice of connecting your body directly to the Earth’s natural electrical charge. Earthing is the company and product line designed to help you practice grounding indoors. You can ground by walking barefoot outside or by using Earthing products at home.

Mind-Body Connection

  1. Use meditation to gain new insights into calm and clarity.
  2. Discover emotions, feelings, thoughts, beliefs, actions, and the ego. Find details of your beliefs and actions. Observe your patterns related to your ego. Let go, transform, and evolve.
  3. Incorporate imagery to use positive visions and strengthen the mindset.
  4. Find more gratitude and faith. Now that love is powerful. We can love ourselves. We can ask for love from others.
  5. Explore your intuition.
  6. Embrace your meaning and purpose. Further explore who you are.
  7. Relax in nature. Feel the calm.
  8. Listen to music. Find relaxation, emotional expression, and clarity.
  9. Learn more mindsets with Cancer as a Turning Point and Healing Versus Curing Cancer.
  1. Find art that inspires and expresses creativity. Explore mind-body-spirit creations at Art of Life Harmony.

Spiritual Vitality

  1. Whether religious or spiritual, find new support and comfort.
  2. Discover more faith, even in dark times.
  3. Reflect on ways to find clarity and comfort, even when the brain is not at its best.
  4. Consider new depths of rituals, prayers, labyrinths, and other strategies.
  5. Explore your Spiritual Assessment with exploration and clarity.

Social Support

  1. Inquire about your needs. Identify you can help. Incorporate ways to connect
  2. Hug yourself. Ask for hugs.
  3. Ease transforms disease. Be with yourself, a person, a community. Powerful comes from many sources, including the calm in your center.
  4. Express yourself openly. Speaking your emotions can positively impact your well-being at a cellular level. Share with yourself and others. When people truly listen and respond thoughtfully, the benefits are even greater. For further insights, explore Profound Emotional Support for Cancer Patients and Caregivers.
  5. Read books Anticancer: A New Way of Life and Radical Remission with helpful topics.

Cleaner Environment

  1. EO for gel, soap, hand sanitizer, and other items.
  1. Seventh Generation for cleaning, dish products, laundry, and more items.
  2. Consider avoiding toxins and chemicals for shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, cosmetic products, perfume, and many other items.
  3. Use an air filter in your home to reduce particles, gases, VOCs, and other pollutants for healthier, cleaner breath.
  4. Be around plants, flowers, and trees that provide profound physical and mental health benefits. Simply viewing nature or nurturing greenery can accelerate physical healing, reduce stress, boost your immune system, restore cognitive function, and elevate your mood.
  5. Focus on eco-friendly habits such as recycling, using energy-efficient appliances, switching to LED lighting, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and other approaches.

Supporting and protecting brain health can take many forms. Whether you’re focused on prevention, navigating challenges, or addressing disease, a range of strategies can help you improve and maintain your well-being. Remember, investing in your brain health is a valuable commitment!