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Does Learning Give You a Bigger and Better Brain?

  • Writer: Patricia Faust
    Patricia Faust
  • Mar 14, 2019
  • 4 min read

Actually, it does! We live down the street from an elementary school. I was driving by at lunch time and the kids were out playing at recess. My thoughts went to how their brains are sponges just soaking in knowledge. It amazes me to watch my granddaughter learn things so quickly and know that there was a time I could do that also. Since I have been in the brain health business for a while I learned that although I wouldn’t pick up information and remember it as easily anymore, my brain loves that challenge and will grow new brain cells and synaptic connections in response. Learning is a great thing through our entire life and we benefit from the experience. Let me explain how mental stimulation benefits the brain.


Novel and Complex Environment

The brain reacts favorably to novel and complex environments. Work, kids, sports, activities, hobbies, friends, vacations all make up your personal environment. If your status in these relationships becomes static the brain goes on automatic and doesn’t respond with new cell growth or connections. Getting your brain to work at a new experience provides the stimulation it needs to function well. As you age, many of the challenges you faced and worked through have been resolved and take the brain out of the active mode. The changes are not apparent for a while but you decline cognitively. Aging itself causes the brain to lose volume from cell death. With no novel and complex environment to keep you on your toes, as well as aging to contend with, your brain shrinks in volume.


Mental Stimulation/Cognitive Reserve

Mental stimulation is a critical component for maintaining a healthy brain. Our brains are made to be used. If they are not adequately challenged, the pruning begins – Use It or Lose It! The brain is very good at sloughing off unused cells and connections. If you don’t recall an old memory for awhile – that goes too. However, if you challenge your brain it will respond accordingly by growing new cells and connections. The optimal healthy brain has an abundance of cognitive/brain reserve. This is all of the cells acquired from stimulating your brain. Cognitive/brain reserve protects your brain from neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. In fact Sharpbrains define cognitive reserve as “the ability of an individual to tolerate progressive brain pathology including Alzheimer’s disease plaques and tangles without demonstrating chemical cognitive symptoms.” This is a huge statement. When you participate in novel and challenging exercises – you learn. And, when you learn new facts or new ways of doing things, neurons and synaptic connections in your brain change. This is neuroplasticity – the ability of your brain to adapt and change. More connections become more cognitive reserve and you have a healthier, more resilient brain.


Mental Challenges Promote Neuroplasticity

What kind of exercises can you do to promote neuroplasticity? There are the life-long learning programs that are available. Universities have programs such as the Institute for Learning in Retirement. You don’t have to be retired to take advantage of these classes. And, ILR classes offer topics that might be of interest to you – cooking, art, history, writing, memory strategies, wine, computer, technology and many more life-based classes. You can also get out of your comfort zone by trying new experiences. Take for example, a trip to a local museum to see an exhibit. Take a tour through the exhibit and then come home and try to recreate the experience. Your brain works hard on memory, focus, recall and that is challenging. Learn a musical instrument: learning to read music is like learning a second language. Playing an instrument helps with fine muscle movement. Those are great challenges for your brain. Of course there are the online gaming programs that target certain functions of your brain. I use one every morning and it has helped my brain function. I have found though that if you stop doing the programs that your slide backward can be quick. Again it comes back to the use it or lose it principle. As much as the brain fitness developers want you to believe that these programs will solve all of your brain health problems, you have to remember that mental stimulation is one part of a brain health lifestyle and your brain needs the other parts (Physical Activity, Socialization, Nutrition, Stress Reduction, Sleep) to sustain a healthy brain.


Guidelines for Mental Exercises

Here are a few guidelines for developing your own mental exercises:

· Variety – excessive specialization is not the best strategy for long-term brain health;

o You need to stimulate multiple functions of the brain

o Create a neural circuit – similar to an exercise circuit

· Challenge – the goal is to be exposed to increased levels of challenge, so that a task never becomes too easy or routine

· Novelty – trying new things is important since critical parts of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex (executive function, high level decision making), are mostly exercised when we learn to master new cognitive challenges

(Sharpbrains, May 2009)


No matter what your circumstances are, you are always the right age to learn something new. Your brain will help you feel even younger! Remember Use It or Lose It – you definitely want to be on the winning part of that equation.


References:

Posit Science. (2015). Brain activities. Retrieved January, 2015 from http://www.brainhq.com.

Sharpbrains. (May, 2009). Mental stimulation: building a brain/ cognitive reserve with novelty and challenge. Retrieved July 31, 2015 from http://sharpbrains.com.


Tags: mental stimulation, brain health, neuroplasticity, novel and complex

 
 
 

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   And suddenly it is May!! April turned out to be an extremely busy month and I was caught off-guard by the start of May. There are a lot of activities and celebrations that kick off May and start the Spring-Summer season. The 151st Running of the Kentucky Derby was May 3. It was a mudder this year. We had experienced consistent rain throughout April, and it hasn’t left the area. The horses in that race are incredibly beautiful even when they covered in mud! Sovereignty, a three-year-old colt was the winner!! In a move I applaud, the owner of this beautiful horse was asked if they were going to have him run in the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown. This owner deferred his answer because he wanted to talk to his team, but most of all, he wanted to see how Sovereignty was doing. The Preakness is only a couple of weeks from the Kentucky Derby and the lure of winning the Triple Cown has resulted in some bad decisions about entering a horse that hadn’t recovered from the Derby. May 4, was the 27th Flying Pig Marathon. If you have been following me for a while, you would know that my husband Russ and I volunteered at the race, running a fluid station for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for 25 years. This race is amazing. Last year it was voted as one of the Best Marathons in the Country. I watched from the comfort of my dry home (still raining) and finally got to see what happens at the finish line. The stories of the runners were great! This race was the first time that the male winner had ever run a full marathon! The female winner had run many marathons, but this was the first time that she ran the Flying Pig! It sounded like she will be back next year because she said she was thinking while she was running that this was the most fun marathon, she had ever been in. (I can’t imagine even thinking while I was running a marathon!) Then there was an older woman who had just finished her 159th marathon! She was incredible! Next week she is on her way to New Zealand to run again! Everything these runners practice can be applied to maintaining a high-functioning brain. Of course, the lifestyle they practice is phenomenal for brain health. I teach about neuroplasticity and the power that we possess to change our brain. But to do that we must be dedicated to that change by repetitively and consistently challenging our brain. It is a marathon for brain health that we must live.

 

   May is Older Americans Month, and it is a time to recognize the contributions of older adults and highlight the positive impact they have on communities. The 2025 theme is “Flip the Script on Aging” encouraging individuals and communities to challenge negative stereotypes and celebrate the diverse experiences of aging. Celebrations often involve community events workshops, and activities designed to engage and connect older adults.

 

   I am booking online and in-person presentations for June. Topics are extensive. Contact me at patricia@myboomerbrain.com if you would like to discuss a presentation for an event or organization.Enjoy the renewal of May.

 

My very best, Pat

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