Spinal Function: Its importance for Brain and Cognitive Health

Your heart is the engine pumps blood around your body, carrying nutrients and oxygen to every cell.  It does this every single day without you even thinking about it.  Have you ever wondered though, how your brain gets its nutrients?  It comes from a different system that is fed by the circulatory system called your cerebrospinal fluid.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) acts as a shock absorber for your brain and it circulates nutrients in your brain and also acts to remove waste.  We do not, however, have a heart to pump the CSF from our spinal cord in our back into our brain.  So how does this pump work?  Our CSF is moved every day into and out of the brain by MOVEMENT!  Yes, the movement of our body is what literally keeps nutrients going into and toxins going out of our brain.  So, when people say movement is life, you can take it LITERALLY!

So, to have proper movement and function of Cerebrospinal fluid, it is mandatory to have two things occur:

1. You have to keep your spine (and body) moving on a daily basis.  This is why when you are up and active you feel more alert and energetic.  It is also why you can start to get a brain cramp when you sit at your computer for too long.   

2.  Your spine has to have a good alignment.  Poor posture can lead to lack of CSF flow by way of stretching (narrowing) of the spinal canal, by accelerated spinal degeneration via arthritis, and by a lack of overall mobility which does not allow CSF to circulate as much as it should. 

Research is showing this lack of proper CSF function can lead to malnutrition to the brain.  In the short term it can lead to lethargy, short term memory problems, symptoms mimicking ADD and ADHD, headaches and migraines.  New data is leading scientists to believe that this is one of the problems that can lead to and progress cognitive issues such as dementia and alzheimer’s disease. 

Getting adjusted and properly aligned isn’t just to keep you feeling great and pain free, it helps keep your CSF functioning at optimal levels to keep your brain working ideally!!  Keeping a healthy posture and your body aligned well helps prevent arthritis, and when applied with the rest of the essentials, gives you the best shot at staying healthy long term!!

Read the research:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842089/