Mind matters: Cavan woman retrains the brain
Emer Sexton remembers the moment in fragments, the sudden accident that knocked her from her bike while riding through Dublin in 2020. What she recalls most is the abject shock, the crack of the immediate impact, and the slow dawning afterwards that something fundamental had shifted.
“Afterwards, I couldn’t think. My processing speed wouldn’t work. My working memory was really bad,” she recalls. What Emer had was delayed-onset concussion.
At the time, the Stradone native was in her early 20s, studying Nutraceuticals at TU Dublin, confident and driven. Her trajectory seemed straightforward. Then it wasn’t.“It took me three years to complete what should have been one year of college,” says Emer of the wider effects of what occurred. “All my friends were moving on, and I couldn’t finish third year.”
Relearning
Recovery began with structure. An occupational therapist prescribed five-minute cognitive intervals - five minutes on, 10 minutes off - gradually retraining her neural stamina.
What might have seemed basic soon became foundational.
“I had to rebuild my brain from the ground up,” she explains.
Behind the scenes, and complementary to her study, Emer incredibly began researching neuropsychology - how the brain influences thinking, behaviour and emotion. Later, she would be diagnosed with ADHD, another layer to understanding her own neurocognitive function.
“I became obsessed - not academically at first, but personally,” she says. “I needed to get my own brain back.”
Personal mission
Today, Emer is a Cavan-based neuro-nutritionist and founder of NeuroNourish Clinic at Cavan Digital Hub. Towards the end of last year, she was recognised in the Irish Independent’s '30 Under 30 to Watch' list.
What she is building is both intensely personal and rigorously scientific: a structured, data-driven programme for early cognitive support and dementia prevention.
Emer points to a growing body of research that suggests a significant proportion of dementia risk is influenced by modifiable lifestyle factors, meaning prevention and early intervention are “critical”.
In Ireland, dementia rates are rising, and many families - particularly in rural counties like Cavan and Monaghan - know the quiet devastation that brings. Yet the cultural and clinical reflex remains worryingly reactive.
Emer carries with her the memory of her grandfather and his decline with Alzheimer’s.
“You’re kind of losing someone before you lose them,” she says. “He worked the land all his life. Watching someone deteriorate cognitively, that stays with you.”
Early warning signs
Emer’s work challenges that passivity.
“If someone comes to me worried about their memory - maybe they’re 35 or 40 and they feel they’re not as sharp as they used to be - we take that seriously,” she explains.
“It might show up as slower processing speed, poor working memory, walking into a room and forgetting why you’re there, or struggling to respond quickly in conversations. That’s called executive function.”
Her assessments begin with three baselines.
First, a cognitive baseline measures how the brain is functioning in real time.
Second, a biological baseline through comprehensive blood work interprets nutritional, metabolic, hormonal and inflammatory markers.
“Someone’s blood tests of B vitamins could come up okay,” she explains. “But if their homocysteine is elevated, that tells me something isn’t processing properly.
That could be genetic or digestive.”
Third, is lifestyle analysis: sleep quality, stress load, movement, light exposure, digestion, microbiome balance and blood sugar regulation.
“For most people, the bigger issue is metabolic health,” states Emer.
“How efficiently their body processes energy. The brain needs stable energy so blood sugar balance is critical.”
These assessments form the spine of her multi-pillar framework. The model addresses interconnected drivers of cognitive decline. These include metabolic health, inflammation, nutrient status, sleep quality, stress regulation, movement, cognitive stimulation and social connection, and all are tracked longitudinally through a custom-built app.
“Your phone is becoming the most important medical device you own,” she says. “You’re collecting data already - REM sleep, deep sleep, heart rate variability. We can interpret all of that clinically.”
Emer adds that sees Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a practical tool rather than a replacement for clinicians.
“AI allows us to organise complex health data quickly and identify patterns that would otherwise take hours to analyse,” she explains. “But it always sits alongside clinical judgement.”
Close to home
While COVID shut much of society down, paradoxically, it accelerated Emer's path. The normalisation of Zoom consultations allowed her to quickly develop a virtual clinic.
During lockdown, she also set about building her own no-code tracking app to monitor clients’ sleep, digestion, meal timing and stress patterns.
“I’m not a developer,” she laughs. “But I wanted the data.”
Her innovation later caught the attention of an AI healthcare programme funded by InterTradeIreland in collaboration with Dundalk Institute of Technology, a move currently propelling her ambition to develop a fully scalable platform for her work.
She has also found a home at Cavan Digital Hub.
“Here, there are other founders. So if I plan to raise investment, I can talk to them. If I have questions about PR, about websites- there’s someone to ask.
When you’re building something initially, it can be a lonely journey,” she says. “Three years repeating the same year will tell you that. So having people around you matters.”
Emer is now recruiting 20 to 30 Cavan-based participants for a structured six-month community pilot programme focused on early cognitive support and prevention - her minimum viable product before scaling nationally.
She hadn't even advertised it but still there are close to a dozen people interested in taking part.
Emer has already tested elements privately with clients experiencing mild cognitive impairment - a stage where memory problems are noticeable but daily independence remains intact.
One man in his sixties significantly improved markers of metabolic dysfunction within 12 weeks, Emer reports.
“He followed the protocol at about 95 per cent adherence. Improvements in metabolic health can have important implications for long-term brain resilience.”
Her argument is simple: protect the body’s energy systems and you protect the brain that depends on them.
Shift in perceptions
To introduce the initiative, Emer is hosting brain health workshops at the Hotel Kilmore in March, with potential expansion to Dublin later this year.
In one sense, her message is straightforward: Sleep well, regulate stress, stabilise blood sugar, move daily, stay socially connected.
None of this is revolutionary. What is radical however is the insistence on measurement, personalisation and early intervention.
“We want to keep people away from the hospital setting as much as possible."
Emphasising the importance of the role of mobile technology again, Emer said: “[Your phone can] keep record of your sleep, your breathing, all the things that provide information that can help stop something like heart attacks.
That's the future if it's not already now.”