Alcohol and Cocaine Damage the Brain. Toronto Mayor At Risk
By Paddy Kamen, Publisher, BetterBrainBetterLife.com

The miracle that is Rob Ford’s brain has been fascinating to watch during the past year. Seldom do we witness such a public and ongoing array of rude and risky behavior from an elected official.

Why do I call Ford’s brain a miracle? Based on scientific research into the effects of alcohol and cocaine on the brain, it seems miraculous that Ford’s brain can function at all, for chronic misuse of alcohol and cocaine is proven to cause widespread brain damage. The frontal lobes (or prefrontal cortex), the cerebral cortex, and the amygdala are all impaired by over-consumption of alcohol.

Is Ford an addict? He declares not, and I’m in no position to know. He does admit to frequent drunken stupors and has been videotaped staggering around as if under the effects. But really, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting: while we can’t see the activity within Rob Ford’s brain, we can witness his behaviors and judge from them whether or not a problem might exist. I contend that voters should be concerned about Ford holding such a prominent position, for science shows us that higher-level thinking is seriously, and to some degree permanently, impaired by over-consumption of alcohol.

By Paddy Kamen, Publisher, BetterBrainBetterLife.com

Am I addicted to Facebook? Not at all, but if I get enough positive feedback from others on Facebook my nucleus accumbens, housed deep within my brain, will be activated and I may start using this social media site even more, and more, and, well…a lot more, just to get the pleasure hit to my brain.

Research from Freie Universität in Berlin, and published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, showed that study participants “who received positive feedback about themselves produced stronger activation of the nucleus accumbens than when they saw the positive feedback that another person received. The strength of this difference corresponded to participants’ reported intensity of Facebook use.”

Read More: http://www.betterbrainbetterlife.com/16200-2/ ‎

By Paddy Kamen, Publisher, BetterBrainBetterLife.com

Almost dying—twice—hasn’t got the better of Donald Parker, a man with a thread of magic running through his life that weaves suffering and success together in a remarkable pattern. Looking back, it seems miraculous he survived at all.

Like all of us, Donald was born into an uncertain world. Unlike most, however, his mother took her life soon afterwards.

No one knows if this tragic loss triggered Donald’s lifelong mental health problems and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder but school was a disaster for him. Moreover, his home life was very difficult. He saw his first psychiatrist at seven, began drinking socially at 14, and by the time he reached his 20s, was cross-addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin and methadone.

Read more about Parker’s roller-coaster life and eventual victory in my book: Better Brain Better Life: Tips and Tales from the Tantalizing World of Brain Science.