Neuroplasticity

Change the way you think, change your life!

The topic of this blog is Neuroplasticity, how the brain can adapt to change and form new neural pathways. Put simply, neuroplasticity is how we rewire our brains, adapt, retain information and master new skills.

The last year or more of a higher level of underlying and consistent stress has more than likely created and strengthened new neural pathways, raising our base levels of stress (our allostatic load) and in doing so, affecting the way we are able to deal with stress. I will be explaining how we can guide our minds and bodies back into a more relaxed state, by the process of neuroplasticity and thus supporting the rest, digest system whilst reducing the fight, flight or freeze response. This will help bring our base stress levels back to a more manageable place.

Up until the 1960’s, experts and researchers believed that by adulthood, the brain could not learn or develop any further, that the brain's make up and capacity was permanent.

Nowadays however, it is understood the brain does not stop changing in response to learning, that nerve cells (neurons), can constantly develop and many aspects of the brain are “plastic" and therefore can change throughout adulthood.

This explains how a person who has suffered from a massive stroke is able to relearn motor skills and how a person can recover after a traumatic brain injury, by re routing the neural pathways and rewiring the brain.

There is a well known saying in neuroscience from neuropsychologist Donald Hebb 1949, that “Neurons that fire together, wire together”, meaning the more you do something or think something ie. run a neural circuit in your brain, the stronger that habit becomes and the more defined that circuit or neural pathway becomes. The brain is trying to help by making that thought or action easily accessible and smooth. This describes how the pathways in the brain are formed and reinforced with the action of repetition. There is a level of truth in the saying “Practice makes perfect”.

There are ways to enhance your neuroplasticity at any age. It is worth noting however that a child’s brain shows a higher level of plasticity than that of an adult. A child has around double the amount of synapses of that of an adult, a synapse being the structure that passes messages between neurons (nerve cells).

As a child grows up, learns and has new experiences, some of these connections are strengthened and others are weakened or die.

This process is known as synaptic pruning. By wiring and fortifying new connections and pruning away weak ones, the brain can adapt to its ever changing landscape. If we make a habit of worrying or catastropihising, this increases the stress hormones and makes it our go to response, our neural connections become accustomed to firing in this way. Alternatively if we focus on seeing the positives and the ease of situations this too becomes our primary response.

So what can we do to improve our neuroplasticity, to maintain our brain function, reduce stress and keep well during stressful times?

Exercise is one of the best ways to promote the formation of new synapses.

Learning eg. a new language or how to play an instrument

Deciding what our stressors are and making efforts to reduce our stress levels

Traveling

Art and other creative pursuits

Reading a good book

Getting plenty of rest and good quality sleep

Non-Dominant Hand Exercises Meditation can help rewire the brain to a controlled state of peace and so can visualising the perfect day.

I hope that you enjoyed this and it helps! Gx