Affordable and accessible options backed by scientific evidence

Like an estimated five million Americans, I am living with a disability caused by a traumatic brain injury. Brain injuries can be caused by many things, including genetics, head injuries, drugs, trauma, and disease.

Disabilities are expensive! For many people living with traumatic brain injuries, it can be difficult to get adequate care. Like most disabled people, I’ve found several free or cheap options to help mitigate the effects of my disability. I chose a few treatments based on reading scientific research about them and tried them at home myself. I listed them along with the research supporting their efficacy for anyone else who wants to try them.

Here are some things that you can do at home, for free or for relatively cheap, to help heal your injured brain:

Language Lessons

Learning a new language is great for your brain! It’s good for memory and critical thinking skills. It also has many other benefits, like being able to make new friends among people who speak the languages. According to the University of Potomac, learning a foreign language can help you improve at your first language, as well!

A 2013 study found that “lifelong bilingualism can maintain youthful cognitive control abilities in aging.” A 2014 study found similar results, including that bilingualism seems to slow the onset of dementia. A 2016 study found that learning a foreign language increases attention span and ones’ ability to control one’s own behavior.

Apps

I use an app called Duolingo which turns learning language into a fun game. The app is a time investment of as little as five minutes a day– but you, like me, might find it to be an addictive alternative to social media apps. Duolingo has a free version, and there are paid upgrades that remove ads and improve the lessons. Please take note that you can turn off some the annoying noises that this app makes by default, in your settings!

I also use another app called Lingvano which is like Duolingo, but for sign language. Lingvano offers American Sign Language, British Sign Language, and Austrian Sign Language.

Alternatives to Apps

If you can’t find an app you like, or are over using apps, other great ways to practice learning language include watching movies in other languages (even with subtitles in your home language), or reading or listening to books on tape in a foreign language.

You can also use old school tools like flash cards. I visited an alternative school once that labeled objects all around the school with the words for those objects in foreign languages. This is a great way to learn, and I recommend doing this at home.

Nature Exposure

A very recent study, released in June 2025, showed that exposure to nature can help people with brain injuries at all stages of their recovery. I found it interesting that people in the study were initially exposed to nature through gardening. A 2019 study revealed similar positive effects on the brain from gardening in people with brain injury.

I like gardening myself, and I also like spending time hiking in local parks and walking on local beaches to get my fill of this treatment.

Earlier this year, thru hiker and biologist Emily Wastson-Cook wrote about how hiking helped her repair her brain after a stroke and brain surgery:

“Have you ever mentally zoned out while picking your way through talus, up a rocky streambed, or over tangles of roots? Thanks to the automatic process of proprioception, the body is able to regulate muscle tension to maintain balance. This allows you to walk and hike without constant mental engagement. Strokes, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and various other neurological conditions can impact proprioception,”

explains Watson-Cook.

Watson-Cook goes on to explain how proprioceptive training like “dance, yoga, walking, and hiking” can improve motor functions and reduce the risk of injuries in people recovering from brain injuries.

Yoga Stretches

Yoga is a great low impact exercise that pretty much anyone can do. There are yoga stretches that work every single muscle in the body, which can be great for repairing your brain’s connections to those parts of your body.

A 2019 literature review found that yoga improved overall mental health, reducing stress, depression, and anxiety. A study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress showed that yoga can reduce the hyperarousal symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (a common symptom of brain injury) along with reducing anxiety.

Yoga builds self-awareness and self-discipline. It’s a great practice for many reasons, along with being curative. If you can’t afford classes, there are endless videos on the internet on YouTube and pretty much every other single platform with videos that contain free yoga classes. You can also find diagrams and photos on platforms like Instagram or Pinterest. This makes yoga accessible to pretty much anyone with an internet connection.

Sometimes you can also find public yoga classes that are cheap or donation based, like Portland Yoga Collective or Yoga on Yamhill here in Portland.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is about slowing down and focusing on what’s going on in the present moment. Almost any activity can be turned into a mindfulness meditation exercise.

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to have numerous positive effects on the brain, including improving emotional regulation and focus. If your brain injury causes stress, brain fog, or problems regulating your emotions, mindfulness meditation might be for you. Mindfulness also improves memory.

Any task that you can get really absorbed in can be used for mindfulness meditation. You can also try things like mindful eating, to get more enjoyment out of everyday life and to build a greater awareness of the connections between your mind and body.

Walking

Walking is a low impact exercise that almost anyone can do.If you’re currently sedentary and capable of walking, I suggest getting up and going for a short walk. Even just around the block! Get the blood flowing to your brain again! If the weather isn’t nice, you can even start a walking routine inside your house.

Walking can help reprogram your brain’s neural connections to the muscles that control your movements.

Walking can also be used as a form of meditation. A type of mindfulness meditation, walking meditation reduces stress and improves focus. Try being mindful and deliberate about observing the scenery where you place your feet when you walk. Pay attention to your breathing and the thoughts that pass through your head.

Supplements

There are many supplements that you can take to help heal your brain injury. All the supplements listed below are available over the counter.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D has been shown to reduce inflammation and injury to neurons from traumatic brain injury. Vitamin D deficiency is more common in the winter months and in climates that get less sunlight, since sun exposure helps your body produce Vitamin D.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 can help your nerves repair themselves after an injury to your brain or central nervous system. Vegetarians and vegans are sometimes more deficient in B12, since it can be difficult to find plant-based sources of B12. B12 can be found in meat and dairy products, and in plant-based sources like mushrooms and seaweed.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

A 2014 study found that Omega-3s can reduce inflammation in the brain and also help to “restore synaptic circuits.” A 2017 study found that repeated and prolonged exposure to Omega-3s can help with tissue regeneration in people with traumatic brain injury.

Creatine

Creatine can help protect the brain from injury by reducing stress on the that is caused by a lack of adequate blood or oxygen flowing to the brain. There is growing evidence that creatine is effective in treating both neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s along with more common brain problems like depression and schizophrenia.

Lion’s Mane Mushrooms

A 2014 study showed that Lion’s Mane Mushrooms can help nerve cells repair themselves. While there’s lots of anecdotal evidence and non-human studies which present evidence for the neuroprotective effects of Lion’s Mane mushrooms on the brain, more human studies are needed.

Curcumin

A staple in Ayurvedic Medicine, curcumin is a compound commonly found in the spice turmeric. A 2020 study found that curcumin can help improve spatial memory and reduce inflammation after a traumatic brain injury. Another 2025 study supports the theory that curcumin reduces inflammation in the brain

Caring for a brain injury long term

Remember that the process of healing isn’t linear, and that everyone has their ups and downs along their healing journey. Good habits that have been abandoned can always be picked back up again, and progress that has stalled can always be continued in the future.

Human brains are programmed through repetition and consistency. It’s key to make these therapies a part of your regular routine and to practice them consistently in order to get good results.

Good luck healing your brain!