Dr. Gregory Kelly, N.D.
Leading a mentally and physically active lifestyle is a cornerstone of maintaining brain health and optimizing cognitive performance. This foundation is built on a fascinating ability of the brain: neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s inherent capacity to adapt and reorganize itself in response to life experiences, enabling learning and skill development through practice.
Neuroplasticity operates on two levels:
Although neuroplasticity tends to decline with age, explaining why children are such fast learners compared to adults, our brains retain substantial adaptive potential throughout life. Engaging in activities that stimulate this capacity promotes both functional and structural brain changes, ultimately boosting cognitive performance.
Let’s explore how we can leverage this potential to enhance brain function.
Learning inherently exercises neuroplasticity by modifying neural circuits that encode new knowledge or skills. With continued practice, these changes can evolve from functional adjustments to structural transformations. For example:
Playing an instrument stimulates cognitive processes through sensory and motor training. Professional musicians exhibit increased gray matter in motor and auditory brain regions.1 Studies even show that short-term training, such as learning a simple piano sequence, can induce functional and structural changes in the brain.2–4 Neuroplasticity promoted by musical training can contribute to the enhancement of cognitive abilities like memory and speech processing.5,6
Activities like juggling foster brain adaptations associated with visual motion processing and memory.7 Even older adults, who show slightly smaller structural changes than younger individuals, experience improvements in areas like the hippocampus, critical for memory and learning.8
Video games challenge both motor and cognitive skills. Studies reveal that playing games for just two months increases gray matter in areas related to spatial navigation, working memory, and planning.9 Similarly, other studies show that attention, perception, and executive control tasks can be improved after only 10 to 20 hours of video game playing.10–12
Learning a new language—even later in life—enhances gray matter density, cortical thickness, and white matter integrity.13 Adding a motor element, such as sign language, amplifies these effects by engaging visual and spatial processing regions.14
Sleep is essential for consolidating learning and memory.15 During sleep, processes like long-term potentiation (LTP) and synapse formation optimize brain plasticity.16,17 Research shows that memory recall improves significantly when learning is followed by sleep, particularly when sleep occurs shortly after acquiring new information.18–20 Poor sleep, however, disrupts these processes and is associated with reduced gray matter and hippocampal volume.21–26
Regular physical activity benefits the brain on multiple levels:
Even a simple 40-minute walk can spark neuroplasticity, with cumulative effects improving hippocampal structure and memory over time.36
Constant stress undermines neuroplasticity, while practices like mindfulness meditation counteract these effects by reducing stress hormone levels.37–40 Studies link meditation to structural brain changes in regions supporting attention, emotion regulation, and cognition, helping the brain recover from stress and promote plasticity.41,42
Nutrition can influence a number of cellular processes and structures essential for the viability of neuroplasticity mechanisms, including cellular metabolism and mitochondrial health. Natural nootropics are dietary ingredients and other compounds available in nature, such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, and mushrooms that are studied to support and protect the functional and structural status of the brain. Examples of popular nootropics are: L-theanine, Citocoline, Magnesium, and Lion’s Mane.
The key to harnessing neuroplasticity lies in engaging the brain through diverse, novel, and stimulating activities. Engaging the brain means more than simply doing something; focus and repetition are crucial for neuroplasticity. Treat your brain like a muscle: challenge it, nourish it, and allow it time to rest and recover. From learning new skills to sleeping well, every effort counts toward a healthier, more adaptable brain.
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