MEDICAL SURFARI: THE BENEFITS OF CARING FOR BRAIN

I work in a very small place -- the human head. I treat surgical problems of the brain, and neurologists and psychiatrists treat medical and psychological problems of the brain. We each have uniquely important jobs as guardians of the highest level of intelligence known.

We have each learned through our education and our work that the brain is more than a large lump of pinkish-yellow, wrinkled-looking substance that has the consistency of stale gelatin. Clearly, our brains are more than a mass of insubstantial electricity.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, knew this well even in the 5th century B.C. when he wrote "Men ought to know that from the brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joys, laughter and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs, and tears. Through it, in particular, we think, see, hear, and distinguish the ugly from the beautiful, the bad from the good, the pleasant from the unpleasant ... it is the same thing which makes us mad or delirious, inspires us with dread and fear, whether by night or by day, brings sleeplessness, inopportune mistakes, aimless anxieties, absent-mindedness, and acts that are contrary to habit. These things that we suffer all come from the brain, when it is not healthy... ." Just as Hippocrates stated, we ought to know about our brain as it is the bower of our individual and collective guidance system.

Brain Awareness Week, March 16-22, is a nationwide effort organized by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives to promote the public and personal benefits of brain research. I believe that it is also an opportunity to promote individual brain awareness and to remind each individual that the brain and mind is the most valuable thing you possess, as it truly is what makes you what you are. It is only 3 pounds of soft tissue but it processes your every thought, allows you to remember, predict, solve, create, invent, and it controls and coordinates your every move. If you are like most of us you take its voluntary and involuntary functions for granted every day. Ironically, only when it becomes diseased or injured is its normal function most appreciated.

This morning as I was driving to the hospital, I saw a woman run over a large dog crossing Jackson Boulevard. The dog spun across all four lanes to the sidewalk and was obviously injured, as it was curled up and desperately yelping. She paused, looked back and kept on going. I turned around and stopped to help this animal, but it had hobbled well up the hill, so I called for emergency assistance. This event caused me to think about just how precarious all life is. It reminded me once again that it is only a matter of time and probability for each of us until we will need someone's kindness and help.

During Brain Awareness Week, be mindful of your greatest asset and use it in its most positive way by showing some intentional random act of peace and kindness. Smile at strangers, look into their eyes, and say hello, after all, we are more alike than we are different.

World Wide Web Resources

Brainweek Puzzle Answers

http://www.dana.org/brainweek/puzzle.html

The Dana Alliance developed this website for those who enjoy crossword puzzles, word scramblers, and anagrams. All questions are related to the brain. Test your "brain" knowledge with these fun activities for both students and adults.

Brainweek Quiz '98

http://www.dana.org/brainweek/quiz98.html

This website allows you to test your knowledge on recent neuroscientific developments and see how well you score. The answers may surprise you!

Brain Awareness Week: March 16-22, 1998

http://www.dana.org/brainweek/

This is the home page for The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives whose sole commitment is to educate the public about the personal and public benefits of brain research.

Dr. Scott Gibbs is a neurosurgeon and editor-in-chief of Mosby's Medical Surfari. You may e-mail questions to him at drgibbs@semissourian.com or write in care of the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63701.