Brain & Mental Health
Dive into expert articles, insightful blogs, and patient stories to empower your health journey.
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A Pediatric Autism Story: How Digging Deep Transformed Our Treatment
When Caden was born, he faced challenges starting in the hospital. His mother had a fever, so he needed antibiotics and spent a few days in the NICU. He struggled with sleep early on and was later diagnosed as mild obstructive sleep apnea. By 15 months of age, he faced more stress at home with…
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Case Report: Camden’s Journey to Improved Focus and Emotional Well-Being
Patient Overview Camden’s parents sought out an UltraWellness Center nutritionist for a holistic approach to address their concerns about Camden’s focus and attention. His teachers described him as quiet at school and struggled to keep up with work, leading to speculation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. His parents wanted to explore potential nutrient deficiencies and…
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Support Your Mental Health During the Holiday Season
This time of year can bring added stress as you try to balance work, family time, and holiday preparations, especially if you are hosting a holiday at home! Here are some helpful tips to manage stress: Take breaks. Give yourself time to slow down and reset. Gently stretch your body to relieve any tension. Practice…
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Five-Minute Mindful Morning Practice to Reduce Stress this Holiday Season
As hard as it might be to believe, the holiday season is near, and we find ourselves in November. For many, the hustle and bustle of planning, shopping, and scheduling is well underway. Along with the extra lists, now is the perfect time to set the intention to maintain or add mindfulness practices into your…
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Treating OCD From A Functional Medicine Perspective
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, affects approximately 2.2 million adults and 500,000 children in the US. Individuals with OCD often experience impulsive and intrusive thoughts that replay in the mind, in addition to behaviors such as excessive cleaning and repetitive counting. While conventional medicine approaches OCD as a chemical issue, Functional Medicine looks at genetic…
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5 Scientifically Proven (and joyful!) Ways to Reduce Stress
1. Meditate The Science Several studies, including those by the National Institutes for Health, have shown that practicing meditation can reduce anxiety, depression, and the negative effects of stress. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-in-depth The Practice Sit up tall and comfortably. Set a timer for 5 – 20 minutes depending on how new you are to the practice. Release any expectations of how this should feel. As you sit still, close your eyes.…
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Do This at Home Anytime to Reduce Stress, Especially During a Pandemic
Have you felt more stressed than usual, lately? Are you having trouble sleeping, concentrating, or relaxing? Do you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or scattered? If so, belly breathing could be exactly what you need to feel relaxed. A study conducted in May 2020 by a group of researchers from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill…
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Panic Attacks: Biology or Psychology?
We are living in an age of anxiety; and we know that stress wreaks havoc on our health in so many ways, physiologically, emotionally, and mentally. For many people of all ages, stress can lead to anxiety and debilitating panic attacks. While conventional medicine typically treats anxiety and panic attacks as a diagnosis, Functional Medicine…
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3 Stress Relieving Hacks with Sudha Carolyn Lundeen
It’s such an important time to be aware of stress and how we are reacting. We hope you enjoy these 3 Stress Hacks shared by The UltraWellness Center’s Stress Management and Meditation Specialist: Sudha Carolyn Lundeen. Sudha is a wise guide in the world of mediation, yoga and self-discovery and is a senior level instructor…
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Dr. George Papanicolaou | Medical Specializations
I have spent my career treating patients, both men and women, of all ages. Early in my career I was even delivering babies! Now, patients visit me from all over the world with a range of concerns from complex medical problems unyielding to previous interventions, to the relatively healthy who want to optimize performance. It…
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Time on Brain: The Willpower Muscle
Last June my wife, Michelle, announced that she was going to run the Yankee Homecoming Ten Miler in July. It is a well-known race run annually as part of the Yankee Homecoming celebration in Newburyport, MA. It is notorious for hills and sweltering heat. She had not run in twenty years, but with training, she…
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Navigating the Intersection of Stress, Pain, and Addiction: Seeing Hope Through the Lens of Functional Medicine
IFM’s Annual International Conference The 2019 Annual International Conference for the Institute for Functional Medicine in San Antonio, Texas, was, as always, a wonderful time to connect with friends, colleagues, and like-minded health care providers. It was also full of great lectures that provided us with tools to help our patients who are struggling…
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Your Brain and Immunity: The Fascinating Connection You Need to Nurture
People often ask me, “What kind of medicine do you practice?” And when I say Functional Medicine, some people don’t really understand. So, I say I’m a psycho-neuro-immuno-endo-gut-ologist, which is because all the systems in the body are interrelated. Sometimes when you specialize, whether you are an immunologist or an endocrinologist or a cardiologist, you…
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Getting to the Root: A Functional Approach to ADHD
All of us know someone struggling with ADHD. This common disorder poses many challenges for the person affected, but the good news is that there are plenty of actions that can be taken to reduce symptoms, increase attention and focus, and support brain health. On this episode of Getting to the Root, Dr. Elizabeth Boham…
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5 Tips for Better Brain Health as You Age
I think a lot of people would say “I want to be physically well as I age, but more importantly, I want to have my memory. I want to be alert, oriented, and engaged with people around me.” That means having a healthy brain that ages well. When it comes to brain health, mitochondria…
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ADHD and Negative Self-Talk
Last year, I suffered a traumatic brain injury. It wasn’t a typical dramatic accident that led to it, I simply hit my head while I was working out and later realized it was much worse than I thought. The following months were full of difficult symptoms and overwhelming setbacks, including lots of stress, anxiety, and…
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Getting to Know Our UltraTeam: A Personal Interview With Dr. George Papanicolaou
What sparked your initial desire to pursue and practice Functional Medicine? When I was practicing conventional medicine, the emphasis was on treating the disease, not the whole person. The market forces of the health care system pushed me to see more patients in less time, which left me just enough time to name the disease…
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Is it Seasonal Affective Disorder?
Winter is in full swing. Many of us have been dealing with negative temperatures and gloomy skies for what feels like eternity, and with that can come a gloomy mood. While it’s normal for moods to ebb and flow, a stagnant down feeling throughout the colder months could be seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. SAD…