Neuroplasticity: Keep your brain healthy for life
Whether you’re learning a language, practising dance steps or relearning how to grasp objects after a stroke, your brain continues to change throughout your life.
What is neuroplasticity?
Experiences leave their mark on the brain. They change how nerve cells are connected and work together. This allows us to learn new things and retain what we've learnt more effectively. This ability of the brain to adapt is known as neuroplasticity.
How does the brain adapt?
Nerve cells exchange information through synapses – points of contact between cells in the brain. As we learn or have new experiences, these interactions change in various ways:
- Connections become stronger or weaker. This affects how strongly a signal influences the next nerve cell.
- Connections form or disappear. Nerve cells create new connections, while existing ones are remodelled or broken down.
- Some tasks are reassigned. After a brain injury, undamaged areas may take over some of the functions of the injured regions.
As part of an experiment, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence temporarily covered one eye in mice. This caused new connections to form between nerve cells in the visual area of the brain. Some of these connections remained even after the animals could see through both eyes again. When the researchers later covered the same eye, the brain adapted more quickly.
The researchers believe that the remaining synapses made it easier for the brain to adapt again. This could explain why people often quickly regain skills they have previously learnt after taking a break – such as riding a bike.
Why is neuroplasticity important?
The brain’s ability to adapt helps us store experiences, learn new skills and partly compensate for the effects of brain damage.
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Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation uses neuroplasticity to help patients regain abilities lost after a stroke or brain injury. To do this, those affected repeatedly practise specific movements that they find difficult.
A study involving researchers from seven U.S. universities shows what this can achieve. They examined more than 220 people after a stroke. The participants still had some movement in the affected hand.
One group trained intensively with their weaker arm for two weeks while wearing a glove that restricted use of their stronger hand. The control group received standard care.
The experiment showed that the training group made greater progress: they completed movement tasks more quickly, and reported using their affected arm more frequently and effectively in everyday life. The benefits were still evident one year later.
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Lifelong learning
Whether you are learning to play an instrument or exploring an unfamiliar subject, new skills challenge the brain. This changes existing connections and creates new links between nerve cells.
An experiment involving juggling provides one example. People who had recently learnt to juggle showed an increase in grey matter in parts of the visual system. A Brazilian–Canadian research team reported similar findings in older adults in a review article.
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Mental training
If you want to learn a new skill, it helps to focus on the task and consciously process new information. Mindfulness meditation can help you practice deliberately directing your focus. This involves focusing on what you are thinking, feeling or sensing in your body at that moment and allowing yourself to experience it without judgement.
This practice may even alter the brain’s structure. “Various studies suggest that intensive meditation can increase the amount of grey matter in the brain,” explains Claudia Witt, director of the Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at University Hospital Zurich, in an article about the brain.
Grey matter contains the cell bodies of nerve cells. In people who meditate intensively, researchers have found differences in areas of the brain involved in regulating emotions and processing signals from the body. It is not yet fully understood how these differences develop or what role meditation plays.
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Preventing dementia
Mentally stimulating activities can strengthen cognitive reserves – the brain’s ability to maintain mental performance for longer despite age-related or disease-related changes. Education, work and intellectually stimulating leisure activities can all help build this reserve. However, such activities do not guarantee protection against dementia.
However, preventive measures can help at any stage of life, even later in life. The article “Preventing dementia: signs and practical tips” explains how you may be able to reduce your risk.
What increases neuroplasticity?
Our lifestyle affects how well the brain can learn and adapt to new demands.
- Exercise: Endurance training can increase the size of the hippocampus in older people. This area of the brain plays an important role for memory. Exercise may also improve your ability to remember places and locations.
- Diet: Vegetables, fruit, whole grains, pulses, nuts, fish and healthy fats provide the brain with essential nutrients. The Mediterranean diet is also associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline later in life.
- Sleep: During sleep, the brain consolidates what it has learnt and reorganises its connections. Important connections are maintained, while less important ones weaken or disappear.
- Stress reduction: Chronic stress can impair the brain’s ability to learn and adapt. Exercise, breathing exercises and meditation can help reduce stress.
- Learning new skills: Choose activities that interest and challenge you. Regular practice reinforces what you’ve learnt. Conversations and shared activities also stimulate the brain.
Everyday exercises that promote neuroplasticity
Whether it’s music, exercise or a new hobby, choose something you enjoy. For example:
- Learn a language: Practise new words and use them in conversation.
- Make music: Learn a new chord or try playing an unfamiliar piece on an instrument.
- Dance: Learn a new sequence of steps.
- Explore your local area: Take a different route on your next walk and consciously look out for landmarks.
- Use your other hand: Occasionally, write a short note with your non-dominant hand.
- Try something new: What about playing a strategy game or cooking a new recipe?
Tasks like these draw on a range of skills. However, no single exercise trains every cognitive ability. You can find more ideas in the article on memory training.
What is negative neuroplasticity?
The brain’s ability to adapt can also have negative consequences. When these changes worsen symptoms or impairments, this is known as maladaptive neuroplasticity.
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Chronic pain
Repeated pain signals can make the nervous system more sensitive. At the connections between nerve cells, these signals may become permanently stronger. As a result, pain can persist long after the original injury has healed.
Brain scans of some people with chronic pain show closer interaction between regions involved in processing pain. According to an academic review by a researcher at Oslo Metropolitan University, this may cause pain to persist even without new pain signals.
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Depression and anxiety disorders
Chronic stress can also have a negative effect on connections in the brain. With depression, connections between regions involved in memory and emotional processing are sometimes weaker. By contrast, connections within networks responsible for fear responses may become stronger, reinforcing anxiety.
Cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness-based approaches can help people react less intensely to situations that trigger anxiety. According to a Norwegian researcher’s review, these approaches may also change how the relevant brain regions interact.
Is “brain rot” the new normal?
Brain rot, constant stress and digital overstimulation – is our brain falling apart? Neuroscientist Dr Barbara Studer explains why constantly reaching for our smartphones is not simply a lack of discipline, but may be linked to an overloaded frontal cortex.
Limits of neuroplasticity
Even with targeted training, the brain cannot compensate for all damage. After a stroke, difficulties with speech or certain movements may persist, for example. The extent of recovery depends on factors including the person’s age, which areas of the brain are affected and the severity of the damage.
With some training methods, it also remains unclear how long any improvements will last. Many studies involve only a small number of participants and cover a short period. Changes visible on brain scans don’t necessarily mean that someone can cope better in everyday life.
Conclusion
Experiences and regular learning can change the connections in the brain. Exercise, sleep, a balanced diet and stimulating activities all support brain health.
Rehabilitation uses this adaptability to promote recovery, although the potential for improvement depends on the specific damage. Mentally stimulating activities can strengthen our cognitive reserves, but they cannot guarantee that dementia will be prevented.
