The old saying "you can't improve what you can't measure" is still relevant today, especially when it comes to health and wellness. People have been tracking various metrics like sleep, calories, steps, heart rate, and more for a while now, but one aspect that has been largely overlooked is the brain. The brain is one of the most important organs in the body, but we haven’t had an affordable way to measure its activity until recently.

Affordable Brain Care and Treatment

Braincare Performance Center is changing the game when it comes to brain health and performance. Our technology measures brainwaves in real-time, providing valuable insights into brain function. Our Brainwave Recording device is called an EEG (electroencephalogram). An EEG is a non-invasive test that measures the electrical activity of the brain using electrodes placed on the scalp.

Braincare Performance Center makes brain health and brain treatment accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford expensive medical equipment or have access to a specialized clinic.

Before and After Testing

Another significant advantage of accessible EEG recordings is that it allows for before and after testing. This means that you can track your brain activity before making lifestyle changes, taking supplements, or changing your diet, and then compare the results to see if there have been any improvements. This is important because it provides concrete evidence whether or not your choices are having a positive impact on your brain.

For example, if you are trying to improve your sleep quality, you can track your brain activity before and after implementing a new sleep routine. If you are taking a new supplement that claims to improve brain function, you can track your brain activity before and after taking the supplement for a matter of months. This allows you to see if the supplement is actually having a positive effect on your brain.

Can Mushrooms Improve Brain Health?

Areté Adaptogens is a company in San Diego that makes innovative health supplements with functional mushrooms. Lion’s Mane, one of the mushrooms they use in their products, has been studied to improve cognitive function, slow cognitive decline, and promote alpha wave activity in the brain. The Areté team wanted to know if their mushroom products could make positive neurological changes for their consumers. 

They selected two athletes who had never used adaptogen mushrooms before and brought them into Braincare Performance Center for an initial brain scan. Then, for three months, both participants used Areté products every day (a daily gummy called Shroomy, and a coffee replacement/pre-workout called Root Strength). After three months they returned to Braincare Performance Center for a follow up brain scan to see if any neurological changes had occurred. 

Both participants experienced a significant jump in alpha wave production in the same parts of their brains. Both athletes noted feeling better since taking the products, but seeing the progress visually in a detailed map of their brains added a whole new layer of assurance and motivation for them.

In this three month period, the only substantial change each participant made was incorporating Areté products into their daily routine. A key indicator of strong brain health is the presence of consistent and steady alpha wave production.

Healthy alpha production promotes mental resourcefulness and aids in the ability to mentally coordinate. Alpha rhythms in the brain are reported to be derived from the “white matter” of the brain. The white matter is considered the part of the brain that connects all other parts with each other, like connective tissue. Alpha appears to bridge the conscious to the subconscious. In the alpha state, it becomes easier to move quickly and efficiently between tasks. It’s the brain’s most important frequency for learning and using information. It can also create feelings of being at ease, and provide a calm sense of alertness. Alpha frequencies are strongly linked to good moods, and creativity. 

The graphs above represent the alpha wave activity in the posterior cortex of the brain of the two participants, for both scans. The posterior cortex is the part of the brain responsible for planned movements, spatial reasoning, and attention. The grey line is the initial scan, and the blue line is the follow up after three months. As you can see, there is a significant jump in alpha wave activity in the same exact place for both participants. 

Though conclusions cannot be drawn from such a small sample size, it's worth noting that improvements of this magnitude are typically not seen without the biomarker guided neuro stimulation offered at BPC. If nothing else, this experiment acts as a call for further research, and larger sample sizes. 

All of this was possible through the affordable EEG technology offered at Braincare Performance Center. You can learn more about the Areté study here.