The Brain Blown Podcast

Have you ever noticed how many more cases of Autism there are in the world today? In 2023, the World Health Organization predicts 1 in 100 people will be diagnosed with Autism (and USA Today predicts even more...) But if you go back a few decades, there are dramatically fewer cases reported. So what is causing the increase? Are we just more aware of the symptoms, or have our brains begun to develo...

We've all experienced it before: enjoying a delicious cold beverage or ice cream cone when suddenly... Gah! Brain freeze! Ever stopped to wonder what's actually going on to cause the pain? Or curious about what remedies will actually help relieve a brain freeze? Learn about it all in this month's mini-episode! REFERENCES Ho, Przkora, Kumar - "Sphenopalatine ganglion: block, radiof...

ADHD is one of the most common diagnoses for kids, and many adults today claim to have it. But what if we told you we don't know enough about it to cure it... or prove it exists at all? Research shows that over 9% of children are diagnosed with ADHD, but considering how common it is you'd think we understand a lot of what's going on and why certain therapies or medications help to reli...

This episode is a tribute to all who may be inclined to enjoy an extra drink or two this St. Patrick's day - Or for anyone who's enjoyed a night out but can't remember it thanks to too many drinks. So what actually happens to those memories during an alcoholic blackout? What's happening in the brain, and what can we learn from it? Enjoy this month's mini-episode and find out... and have fun (while...

Humans can't survive without anxiety... but it's fair to say that living with it is no walk in the park. Whether it's a sudden feeling of unease, fear, impending doom, or a lingering sense of worry or dread that never seems to go away, we need anxiety even if we'd much rather live without it. So how do we live with it?  How do we understand it so we can regain control when our bodies' alarm t...

If you're lacking motivation this time of year - or you're part of the 80% of people who've quit their New Year's Resolution by now - then this mini episode is for you! It's no surprise that our brains play a major role in getting and staying motivated, but what may surprise you is that it's also your brain that's making things difficult and even screwing you all together... Enjoy this quick 15 mi...

Depression is the #1 most common mental illness… but why does it feel like there’s still so much we don’t know about it? With a rise in mental health awareness, it’s becoming a more common practice to see a therapist or take medications for illnesses like depression - yet the likelihood of ever being “cured” is slim to none. In fact, remission and relapse remain at an all-time high. This goes for...

As part of Season 2, we're introducing new "mini" episodes that will come out in between the meatier episodes each month. To learn more about what we have in store for Season 2, head to our website! www.brainblownpodcast.com ________________________________________ Have you ever wondered how someone with a missing body part could feel discomfort even in its absence? Not just discomfort, but even s...

This season of the Brain Blown Podcast has been duly named "The Neuroscience of Human Connection." And in our final episode of the season, we decided to take a closer look at one of the biggest threats to that connection (for Americans, at least...) Politics. As it turns out, even our political standings can be traced back to our brains and how we use them. In this episode, Laine presents some fas...

Music fascinates us because it doesn't work in our brains as we expect it to. It can trigger emotions, activate memories sometimes thought as long forgotten, change our experience of something, and help us heal. And just like so much of this first season, Music allows us to connect with one another in ways that words often can't. It's why during the pandemic we took to playing instruments on balco...

Siegel writes, "We have the possibility of creating a world of compassion and well-being and we have the capacity for mindless violence and destruction."  By practicing mindfulness and strengthening our brain's connections through neural integration, we can gain more control over the impact our thoughts have on ourselves and others. We can become more attuned to one another, empathize quicker...

Mindfulness–is just an overused buzzword, or could it be the key to mastering our brains and living a more connected and fulfilling life? As told by Dan Siegel, “Mindfulness in its most general sense is about waking up from a life on automatic and being sensitive to the novelty in our everyday experiences.” On a neuroscience level, mindfulness is so much more. In fact, Laine and I were so in awe o...

Nature versus Nurture… which one has a bigger impact on your brain? In past episodes, we’ve talked a lot about the nature of our brains and how they respond similarly throughout evolution to ensure our survival. Our brain used to warn us when a sabertooth tiger might be nearby. In today’s world, we still get those same warnings from things like paying our taxes, preparing for a big exam or present...

In our fifth episode of the Brain Blown Podcast, we introduce you to our most requested topic of the season: the neuroscience of racism. From the kitchen table to the senate floor, racism is being talked about constantly. So where does racism come from? And why do these racist acts of violence happen - and continue to happen - so frequently? In this episode we'll review questions like: What is rac...

Have you ever been driving in a car and suddenly heard sirens coming up behind you? Did you notice how quickly your sense of safety changed at that moment, from feeling relaxed to completely on edge and aware of everything all in a single moment? In today's episode, Laine introduces us to the science behind feeling safe and just how easily (and frequently) we bounce between feeling safe, escalated...

If you haven't listened to last months' Part 1 we highly suggest you do that first. In Part 2, Laine dives deeper into how empathy and stress go hand in hand, why we should care about empathy at all, and what we can do to better ourselves and the world by being more kind to others. The way empathy is connected to so many areas of our lives like language, epigenetics, drugs & alcohol use, or even p...

In an unexpected but well-deserved two-part series, Laine introduces us to the first deep-dive discussion topic of the season: empathy. Humans today are born with empathetic tendencies, but just like any other trait, it had to start somewhere. While empathy may only seem like a caveat to "being kind," this trait just might be the key to our survival.   Stay tuned for Part 2, launching March 2022.

We’re Laine and Cherys, two licensed clinicians here to talk about why our brains do the things they do and how to use our minds to become happier & healthier people through the power of knowing more. In our pilot episode, Laine maps out our brains like Google Earth so we can get a better sense of all the workings and systems, learn how those systems work together like family relationships, and di...