What can go wrong with the brain?
The brain's diseases are the leading causes of disability worldwide — stroke, depression, dementia, migraine, anxiety, and Parkinson's — and the list maps this library's own condition pages. The unifying lessons: most brain diseases are vascular-metabolic at root (what is good for the heart is good for the brain — the same arteries, the same risks), sleep is a brain-maintenance process (not a luxury), and time matters in almost all of them — stroke minutes, B12 deficiency months, dementia decades. 🚨 The emergency rules below are the most important sentences on this page.
The vascular emergency — a clot or bleed cutting blood supply, killing ~1.9 million neurons per minute untreated. FAST signs, 911, and the clot-busting window: minutes decide outcomes. The same risk factors as heart disease (our heart page's list).
A network disorder of mood regulation — not sadness, not weakness, treatable. Therapy and medication both carry decades of evidence. Our depression page teaches the circuitry, the inflammation link, and the treatment spine.
The protein-accumulation diseases — amyloid and tau, developing over decades, announced by memory change. The modifiable-risk story is real: vascular health, hearing, sleep, and exercise are prevention's strongest levers.
A hyperexcitable-brain disorder — not 'just a headache' but a full neurological event. Our migraine page teaches the four phases, the threshold model, and the 600 mg magnesium conversation.
The glymphatic wash runs only in deep sleep — chronic short sleep is a maintenance deficit with decades-long consequences. Our sleep page teaches the architecture; this page teaches the organ being maintained.
The alarm-system and attention-network conditions — both treatable, both with real circuit stories. Our anxiety page teaches the amygdala's recalibration; both are medical conversations, not character.
The Lancet Commission's dementia-prevention framework found ~45% of dementia risk is modifiable — and the levers are metabolic: