How to recover from a concussion faster - 6 things that helped me

I often get the question 'How to recover from a concussion faster' in my inbox. We are all looking for ways to reduce our symptoms the fastest way possible. In this blog, I share 6 things that have helped me to reduce my symptoms faster in my recovery. I hope it will help you too.

Sign up for my free online masterclass: The 2 proven methods to drastically reduce concussion symptoms by 50% within 3 months. 

How to recover from a concussion faster

1. Eat more protein, healthy fats and antioxidants

Nutrition is very important when it comes to healing your brain. Your brain needs some essential nutrients to heal. Three things are the most important: enough protein, healthy fats and antioxidants.

Proteins

When you eat protein, make sure it's quality proteins: eggs, organic chicken, organic turkey, lamb, lean beef, lentils, beans, full-fat yogurt, white fish, oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines), tofu, tempeh, unroasted/unsalted organic nuts, a good quality protein powder, hemp seed.

You need 1-1.5 g of proteins per kg of body weight per day; if you exercise/burn a lot, 1.5-2 g of proteins per kg of body weight per day.

Healthy fats

Increase the following good fats in your diet to lower inflammation. Preferably 2x a day: Avocado, oily fish, such as sardines, mackerel, salmon, herring (2-3x a week), organic nuts, avocado oil, coconut milk, flaxseed (preferably ground/broken), chia seed, olive oil and olives, MCT oil, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds.

It can help to toss a good glug of olive oil (extra virgin, cold-pressed) over dishes (at the end), which counts as a portion.

Avoid sunflower oil and other vegetable oils except those mentioned above.

Antioxidants

Eat more and also different types and colors of vegetables per day, at least 5-7 different types per day and two pieces/portions of fruit (max).

See below an overview of foods that are high in antioxidants:

2. Calm your nervous system - Rest, but not ONLY as some doctors advise.

If you ask yourself how to recover from a concussion faster, then rest is one of the main things your brain needs. Some doctors advise us only to rest as much as possible, and that's it. But this is outdated advice.

New research shows it's best to rest for only 48 or 72 hours after sustaining a concussion. After that, it's important to start moving and activating your brain.

But it's important to rest beside the activities you do.

Curious about what to do to relax your brain? Read my blog: 5 ways to relax my brain.

3. Reduce screen time

Many years ago, when we didn't have smartphones, computers and televisions, our brains didn't get that much input. I even read that our brains need to process 40,000 more information than 40 years ago, before the digital era.

Our brains have not developed that far and are, therefore, not yet made for this.

Can you imagine what it does to a concussed brain? It's too much!! So if you can reduce your screentime, it's much better for your brain.

4. Increase fun activities

Once we sustain a concussion, we are so focused on healing that we try and look for everything to get better and feel better. Sometimes we get stuck in that circle of healing that we don't do any fun things anymore.

But it's also so important to do some fun things. Your brain likes fun things, and when you give your body/brain a signal of something fun, it's a signal that everything is safe. When your body feels safe, you can heal. Once you're always stuck in that fight-flight mode, it's harder to heal for your body.

And fun things don't have to be really active things; even the smallest things can help.

>> Read my other blog: 9 activities I filled my days with

5. Do intervals/exercise for 15 minutes a day

Exercise is one of the most important things to heal your brain after you sustain a concussion. I know a lot of people have some struggles going back to exercising. That's why I am a big fan of interval training.

Many people tell me they can't do normal exercise, but once they do interval training, they can. This was also true for me.

But what is interval training?

Interval training is short bursts of intense exercise alternated with recovery periods (specific breathing exercises).

Interval training is something I learned at Cognitive FX (a concussion clinic in Utah), and it changed everything for me (and many others)

I learned interval training is more effective for a concussion than a normal workout. This is why:

1. Every time you do interval training, you get a boost of neurotransmitters, proteins, and oxygen in the brain.

All those are helpful, but the most helpful neurochemical for people with a concussion is the: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF).

Interval training is the fastest and most efficient way to maximize a BDNF boost.

2. The fight-flight and the "rest and digest" systems are out of balance.

Intervals and breathing exercises will help the rest system to become more active.

And don't worry; you don't need a 1-hour workout. Even 15 minutes can make a difference. It's all about increasing your heart rate, slowing down, and focusing on breathing exercises.

This way, you teach your body that it's okay to relax, you get out of that fight-flight mode, and your brain gets a boost. This helps to reduce many symptoms: better sleep, reduced headaches, reduced fatigue, more energy, better mood, reduced anxiety and feeling less stressed.

To help you do the intervals in the most beneficial way, I created a 3-month program which already helped 500+ other concussion survivors. In this program, you learn more about how to do the intervals, how to do the breathing exercises, how to use a heart rate monitor (optional), and much more.

6. Do cognitive training right after exercising

Right after the exercising/intervals, it's best to do some cognitive training To feel even more improvements. This can be anything: puzzles, multitasking, memory games, sudoku, word games etc.

However, simply engaging in 'some' cardio exercises or doing ‘some’ puzzles won't bring about a massive change.

More is simply needed if you truly want to overcome your symptoms.

That's why I invested $10k in a comprehensive treatment (Cognitive FX in Utah) that brought significant results.

As a result, I launched a 3-month program to guide you through intervals and cognitive exercises in the most beneficial way to reduce your concussion symptoms.

This way, you won't need to spend $10k as I did.

Curious about my experience at Cognitive FX? Read my review about my treatment at Cognitive FX.

I hope these 6 things teach you more about how to recover from a concussion faster.

Still have some questions? Or any advice about something that is helping you. Feel free to reach out to me on Instagram.

Free online masterclass

Have you tried many things to reduce your symptoms?

But do you notice... It's not progressing as quickly as expected? Do you feel that much more is possible but that you've just hit a roadblock on how to best achieve it?

In my free online masterclass, I share the two proven and researched methods that allowed me to reduce my symptoms by 50% within three months and ultimately even by 90%. And this also applies to 500 other concussion survivors who have already applied these methods.