If you have known someone or seen someone who has suffered a stroke or a brain injury, and has had what appears to be a miraculous recovery of speech or motor function, then you know what Neuroplasticity is. It is the brains ability to reorganize itself, to recover and regenerate by forming new neural connections throughout life. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment.
Positive Psychology explains neuroplasticity as follows, ‘Our brains are truly extraordinary; unlike computers, which are built to certain specifications and receive software updates periodically, our brains can actually receive hardware updates in addition to software updates. Different pathways form and fall dormant, are created and are discarded, according to our experiences. When we learn something new, we create new connections between our neurons. We rewire our brains to adapt to new circumstances. This happens on a daily basis, but it’s also something that we can encourage and stimulate.’
Another way to look at neuroplasticity is that it is a lot like film. When you take a picture you’re exposing the film to new information. It reacts to the light, and its makeup changes in order to record the image. In the same way, your brain’s makeup changes when it’s exposed to new information, so that it can retain that information. During these changes, the brain does a little ‘synaptic pruning’, deleting the neural connections that are no longer necessary or useful, and strengthening the necessary ones.
Now that we know that we can change our brains let’s look at some of the ways neuroplasticity and neurogenesis can be applied. A few of the methods that have been shown to enhance or boost neuroplasticity include:
- Intermittent fasting (as noted earlier): increases synaptic adaptation, promotes neuron growth, improve overall cognitive function, and decreases the risk of neurodegenerative disease;
- Traveling: exposes your brain to novel stimuli and new environments, opening up new pathways and activity in the brain;
- Using mnemonic devices: memory training can enhance connectivity in the prefrontal parietal network and prevent some age-related memory loss;
- Learning a musical instrument: may increase connectivity between brain regions and help form new neural networks;
- Non-dominant hand exercises: can form new neural pathways and strengthen the connectivity between neurons;
- Reading fiction: increases and enhances connectivity in the brain;
- Expanding your vocabulary activates the visual and auditory processes as well as memory processing;
- Creating artwork enhances the connectivity of the brain at rest (the “default mode network” or DMN), which can boost introspection, memory, empathy, attention, and focus;
- Dancing: reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s and increases neural connectivity;
- Sleeping: encourages learning retention through the growth of the dendritic spines that act as connections between neurons and help transfer information across cells (Nguyen, 2016).
(*For more detailed references on each of the methods above, see Thai Nguyen’s work.)
In a clinical setting neuroplasticity is being used to treat many chronic conditions including;
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Trauma
- Chronic Pain
- ADHD, OCD and Autism
It’s said that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. What we now know is that we are also creating a new pathway in the brain, thus actually changing our brain! The more we use this pathway the stronger it becomes, literally giving us the ability to changing the way we think, feel and respond until it becomes second nature. This gives us the power to change anything that we experience as undesirable. It’s literally ‘in our head’.
For an easy to understand overview of how neuroplasticity works check out Sentis’ brief two minute video below.
For those ready to do a deeper dive or craving more detail, here is the TED Talk “Thinking to Doing to Being” by Dr. Joe Dispenza