Tower and Town, March 2020 (view the full edition)We Are What We Experience?Neuroplasticity and the importance of doing 'something'. For years psychologists assumed that our brains held a finite number of brain cells or neuronal connections, and that, as we aged, we inevitably would lose a great number, and so too the functionality that they brought. Recent research however, has confirmed that this is not the case. Rather than being a fixed entity, our brain's communication pathways are essentially malleable and rather akin to plasticine (hence the term neuroplasticity). This means that every interaction, conversation and activity that we partake in will strengthen our 'pathways' and conversely, if we stop doing a certain activity or indeed selection of activities, these sections will weaken, and will eventually be 'pruned'. Messages in the brain are carried along neurones and at the end of each neurone are passed electrochemically across a gap called the synapse. It is this precise action at the synapse that is of upmost importance. The more frequently a synapse is activated, the stronger the overall connection is made, as each stimulation actually changes the shape of the synapse. This changing of the shape of the synapse can lead to further new connections being made and existing paths being made more 'effective'. This is how 'learning' occurs at a minute level; therefore every interaction, conversation and deliberate action that we make contributes to our brain's 'network of motorways' and moulds connections between those individual networks. So, in essence, when you are gardening, playing Sudoku or reading a new novel by your favourite author, you are changing your brain. Likewise, when we cease to engage in our usual (or indeed new) activities, our brain will start to 'prune' connections that have been allowed to 'wither', thus weakening connections and associated memory traces. The result being the loss of certain pathways, which will lead to the reduction in your efficiency to carry out certain actions, such a sight-reading piano music due to lack of practice. This brings me onto the importance of taking the wisdom of a 'varied diet' and '5 a day' into our 'mental diet', just as we have been doing for years with our nutritional diet. The more varied our lives are in terms of new experiences and knowledge, the more complex and varied our neuronal connections are. We are able to do more, simply because we do more. The more frequently and more deliberately we engage in actions, the more accomplished we become. As the old idiom suggests, 'practice makes perfect', and indeed in regards to our brains 'practice certainly does mean physical presence'. This can be seen in recent research where neuroscientists have been able to map various areas of our brains that are responsible for certain actions, and amazingly even the location of certain memories. You might be thinking that to reap the benefits of 'practice' that you will have to be up with the larks and slaving away for hours on end; luckily this isn't the case! A popular idea with many psychologists and counsellors at the moment is the idea of 'Mind Apples'. This is where a person takes five things that bring them a certain amount of joy or comfort and ensure that they do them every day. This is not intended to be an onerous task; we should simply spend the amount of time it would take you to eat an apple, doing something you love. The positive effects of engaging in this practice have ranged from improved mood, heightened sense of awareness and engagement with our surroundings, and more energised. On the opposite note, it is also really important, at times, to do nothing. Or, more precisely, to spend time quietly reflecting. If you choose to use more formalised spiritual ways of engaging in this, maybe in prayer or meditation, or the more secular practice of mindfulness, there is evidence to suggest that this will be of immense benefit to your health both now and in the future. Spiritual mindfulness has been suggested to be of a great benefit in terms of decreasing anxiety and improving positivity of mood (Wachholtz AB, Pargament K, 2005). Newberg, a research scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, states that prayer and meditation can improve concentration, emotional reasoning and compassion. There is also fledgling research that indicates that undertaking such practices could isolate from some of the common side effects of age-related ageing issues. This brings me to the most important question: what is the most effective way of improving your brain? Whilst brain training games, apps, etc. have been lauded as the best way for improving our brain power, recent work has suggested that it may be simpler that than. Engaging in light exercise, conversation, and learning something new are as powerful as any so-called training. Overall, we don't have to live the perfect life to have a 'well-connected' brain; we just have to live a life where we 'feed' our brain with stimulating treats each day and keep enjoying our hobbies! Rebecca teaches psychology to the 6th Form at Marlborough College. Rebecca Jerstice |