Making sure your brain is functioning well, be this after an illness or just for general knowledge, can help you spot issues long before they affect your life. This isn't always the case, and it depends on the test and what you're concerned about. It's also not something you'd do very often due to cost and time. But testing your brain's performance at least once can give you valuable information. The tests you might face differ in their goals, but they are generally divided between neurological, imaging/physical, and cognitive.
Neurological Health Tests
The actual functioning status of your brain is one potential avenue where you might face tests. These tests include things like electroencephalography, which looks at electrical activity in the brain. If you're worried about seizures, for example, your doctor may want you to undergo this test. It's also called an EEG and requires you to sit with electrodes placed on your head. You don't have to do much, but you should follow all instructions to get the most accurate result possible.
Imaging Tests
Imaging tests look at the physical structure of your brain. These include computed tomography (the CT or "CAT" scan) and magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. These are the tests where you lie on a platform that goes into a big machine that produces images of "slices" of your brain. These let doctors see if there are structural issues such as tumors affecting your brain's performance.
Cognitive Tests
Finally, there are cognitive tests. These include the so-called IQ tests (which, by themselves, don't say much about your brain overall) and other tests that check for signs of dementia and other cognitive problems. These involve answering questions, naming objects, showing you can tell time on an analog clock face, and more. These let doctors see if you're able to use your brain as expected or if some behavior seems to be absent or deteriorating. If something seems off, the doctor can investigate further. Sometimes a vitamin deficiency can affect cognition; other times, it's a sign that you may need to monitor your behavior and retake the test another time.
Depending on what you're looking for, your doctor may order you to undergo one or more of these tests. And, you can usually arrange for cognitive tests yourself if you speak with psychologists. Keep in mind that the brain is still not a completely known element and that there's a lot that doctors don't understand about it. But these tests can give you an idea of how you're doing in several respects.
Contact a company like Midwest Brain Health [REDHEAD] to learn more.
