Language and the brain

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Recently, researchers from California University have studied the brain of many individuals in order to map out the way our brain responds to language.

It was a sort of semantic atlas that the researchers were able to define. The purpose of this atlas is to define the areas of the brain that respond to words that have similar meanings.

What’s interesting is that different individuals posses a similar atlas. Researchers were even surprised as to how similar the maps were in the various subjects that were studied.

With Posturology, we respect differences but the more calibrated individuals are, the more we realize that similarities are not rare. As such, it has to be mentioned that Posturology contributes to the activation of the language areas.

In the brain, you find Broca and Wernicke areas, both in the left hemisphere. As a child is developing on a motor standpoint between the ages of 0 to 6 years old, his brain gets activated just about equally. As of age 7, there is supposed to be one hemisphere that becomes dominant. In 97% of the cases, that is the left hemisphere and it makes you right handed.

One has to remember that it is by integrating key primitive reflexes and motor patterns that this development is assured. In Posturology, if we see that certain of those key movements are not mastered, we train them. We train these movements until they are mastered. As we do so, it is the entire brain that we light up. That is the Posturology advantage!

Of impulsions and emotions

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If it’s not always easy to control or more so to manage our emotions, it’s because it is a recent function of the human brain, so to speak.

It is only fairly recently that we, humans, have been able to somewhat manage our emotions.

An interesting experience was conducted at the Institute of Sciences and Behavior, in the Netherlands. Researchers temporarily deactivated the prefrontal cortex in healthy volunteers. We then studied how they were able to control their impulsions.

What we did know, even before this experimentation, was that the prefrontal cortex was the part of the brain that appeared most recently, in terms of human evolution. It was already recognized that this part of the brain was responsible for management of our impulsions.

Via transcranial magnetic stimulation, we were able to deactivate the prefrontal cortex. When asked to perform a specific task, the subjects whose prefrontal cortex was deactivated were not able to control their impulsions as well as the ones that had access to it.

To make matters worse, it was examined that subjects whose prefrontal cortex was deactivated showed an increase in activation of the amygdala. The amygdala manages fear, for example. This allows us to think that one of the roles of the prefrontal cortex is attenuation of the fear response.

Posturology can help in the sense whereby it promotes muscle balance. It is information from the muscle sense that turns on the prefrontal cortex. It goes without saying that to be physically balanced helps in being balanced… in your head!

Posturology and systemic health

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The nervous system is a rather complex entity governing all of our functions. It has been divided into two parts, I believe, for pedagogical reasons.

The somatic nervous system manages how we move.

The autonomic nervous system manages how we live. It’s responsible for our vital functions. Classically, we are taught these systems operate rather independently. We know now this is not the case. Everything truly is connected.

Researchers in 2016 published an article entitled Functional Imaging of Autonomic Regulation: Methods and Key Findings. They key findings add a layer of understanding as to how the brain manages how we move as it manages how we live, not only simultaneously, but in symbiosis.

Here are a few gems from this study:

1) The ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) contributes to autonomic regulation.

What does this mean, you ask? The VMPFC is an area located in the front of the brain (frontal lobes). Classically, it is implicated in the processing of risk and fear. It plays a role in inhibition of emotional responses, and in the process of decision-making.

This study demonstrates that it’s also responsible for regulating the autonomic nervous system, thus decreasing the stress response.

What you need to know is that the cerebellum activates the VMPRC as well as the entire prefrontal cortex (PFC). The cerebellum a brain within the brain! It is responsible for transferring information from all of the body’s muscles to turn on the brain. If these muscles are imbalanced, the brain stimulation is, as well. The resultant: a PFC that is not fully lit up. Then, the VMPFC cannot as easily tame down the stress response.

2) The cerebellum contributes to autonomic regulation

Not only does the cerebellum transfer information from the body’s muscles to the brain, it also is responsible for taming down the stress response. It is because it is responsible for coordinated movements that is can do so.

The cerebellum is the hub in the brain that compares the difference between what we can do and what is possible. As it does so, it is connected with the centers responsible for regulating blood pressure so that the cells of the organism are nourished. If the body can move more efficiently and with less hesitation, less adjustments are needed, diminishing the contribution of the cardiovascular and circulatory systems to allow us to move.

By calibrating posture with Posturology, we optimize muscle balance. By default, we improve the activation of the VMPFC. As well, we diminish the need for adjustment of blood pressure due to inefficiency in movement. For those two reasons, it seems logical to assume that Posturology is for a bit more than misaligned joints. Could it be that it’s good for your health?

Good eye… good feet?

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A small percentage of my clientele is older adults. Not so much because they can’t be helped, but most likely because, in some cases, they figure they cannot be helped! Too often, they have been told that if they are dealing with pain or balance issues, it’s because they are old…

While it’s true that the performance of our systems for balance decreases with age, it’s also true that they can be trained and optimized. The goal is not to make a 70 year old a 20 year old. The goal is to make a 70 year old feel strong, confident and stable.

Researchers published in 2016 Active ocular vergence improve postural control in elderly as close viewing distance with or without a single cognitive task.

They wanted to measure the effects of vision and different eye movement patterns on postural control when standing upright. 23 elderly subjects were studied.

Results showed that fixation of a target that is closer to the body versus further increased postural control. In essence, this study demonstrated that there was a beneficial contribution of active vergence eye movements for better postural stability.

Posturology can help in the sense where its purpose is to make the body more resilient to resist gravity. A contribution of Posturology was to include eye movement training in the context where the entire sensory system is assessed and optimized. Feet work with eyes. Eyes work with feet. Posturology covers both of these bodily sensors for optimal results.

Nature versus nurture

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It’s not rare that patients walk into my office thinking that genetics play an important role in their existing condition. If anything, sometimes, they consider the role of genetics to be absolute rather than relative. A recent study sheds some light on this nature versus nurture issue.

November 16th, 2015, researchers published Relaxed genetic control of cortical organization in human brains compared to chimpanzees. 218 human brains and 206 chimpanzee brains were studied. Two characteristics were compared: brain size and organization as related to genetic similarity.

The study did find that human and chimpanzee brain size were both greatly influenced by genetics. In contrast, the findings related to brain organization were different for chimpanzees and humans. Researchers found that chimpanzee brains were more strongly controlled by genes than that of human brains. This suggests that its environment extensively shapes the human brain, the researchers say.

This is good news for posturologists and their patients. This means that, even if you inherited from a brain that isn’t as powerful as you would care for, a lot can be done to power it up! Leave it to us, posturologists, to do just that!