mOTivation with mikayla

I listened to a Glass Half Full podcast episode, "Unilateral Neglect" with Jess and Natalie. I chose this because the condition is new yet so interesting to me. In this podcast, these two OT practitioners share their knowledge on and experiences with unilateral neglect following a stroke, and shed some light on some very important aspects of this condition, including OT's role in addressing it! Some important things that I took from this podcast had to do with the etiology of unilateral neglect. A stroke that occurs in the inferior parietal lobe, superior temporal gyrus, and inferior frontal cortex will likely lead to neglect in some form or fashion. While a stroke can occur on either hemisphere, a right hemispheric stroke that results in left neglect is increasingly harder to treat for a number of reasons. The main reason left neglect is tricky is because of the decreased level of self awareness often experienced by clients. If a client is unaware of their condition, i...

I watched the TED Talk "What you can do to prevent Alzheimer's" by Lisa Genova. I chose this video because after learning the statistics about this debilitating disease in addition to how little there is you can do for it, I thought learning more about how to prevent it would be the best alternative to treatment - you don't have to treat a disease if you never develop it! That's exactly what Genova talked about! She went into detail about what is believed to be the main cause of Alzheimer's disease on the molecular level, which is a gradual accumulation of amyloid plaques in the synapse space between two nerve cells. This gradual accumulation is asymptomatic until the synapse is completely blocked and the two neurons can no longer communicate with each other any more. Once this level is reached, symptoms appear and rapid degeneration occurs.  Genova went on to explain how strong of an effect genetics and predispositions can have, but that lifestyle choices a...