Neuroplasticity
'Any human could, if they were so inclined, be the sculptor of their own brain'
- Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Our brains are truly extraordinary. In our previous article, we talked about the functions of the brain. It’s responsible for all our conscious (motor) and unconscious (automatic) functions and has been described as the most complex object in the universe. It’s responsible for everything we do, think, feel and say – the things that make us who we are and enable us to go about our daily activities.
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 become dormant, and are created and discarded, in response to our experiences.
Before you read on, let me remind you that I am not a medical doctor and your health and well-being are your responsibility. I don't prescribe anything. I am a humble student, curious about how to live a long and healthy life and how I can help others do the same. All of the resources you find on my website and my practice are based on numerous hours I have spent learning and researching over many years. If there is any information that you feel is inaccurate or needs explanation, please get in touch with me.
A few facts about our brain:
The average adult human brain weighs roughly three pounds and is about the size of a medium cauliflower.
The average adult brain contains around 100 billion brain cells. Each of these brain cells is connected to about 1,000 others– that’s 100 trillion connections.
Our brains account for about 2% of our total body weight, yet receive 20% of our blood supply and use 20% of our total calorie intake.
If you took one second to count each brain cell in a single brain, it would take over 3,000 years to count them all*.
[*source: National Geographic]
Einstein's brain
For years, it was thought that the size of a person’s brain determined their intelligence. Albert Einstein was one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century. The physicist changed how we think about time, energy, and the world we exist in. The theory that the size of the brain is determined by a person's intelligence would make us believe that Einstein's brain must be enormous. In 1955, when he died in New Jersey, scientists weighed his brain to test this theory. It weighed around 2.7 pounds. Despite Einstein's advanced age, it seemed ridiculous that his brain would be smaller than average. However, when it was studied by scientists, they found that although it wasn't larger than normal, it was more complicated than normal. Einstein's brain had a greater neuron density than the average brain, and one of its main fissures was missing. It is believed that this missing fissure allowed greater connectivity in the area.
[*source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32354300]
What is neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity is an incredible feature of our nervous system that allows our brains to change in response to our experiences. It is one of the most important aspects of our biology and holds the promise for each of us to think differently, learn new things, forget painful experiences, and essentially, adapt to anything that life brings.
According to Dr Celeste Campbell,‘'It refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of our interactions with our environment. From the time the brain begins to develop in utero until the day we die, the connections among the cells in our brains reorganise in response to our changing needs. This dynamic process allows us to learn from and adapt to different experiences'‘
The basics of neuroplasticity are pretty simple: when you use your brain, it changes. This unique ability of our brain to change is determined by what we try to do and how hard we try to do it, not by the size and weight of the brain we are born with.
There are several different ways that the brain naturally changes. It could, for example, change in response to some traumatic event or due to a sense of fear around a particular place or object. It could also change when something positive happens, like the birth of our first child or when our pet does something amusing.
However, there are aspects of our nervous system that are wired so plasticity or changes in those circuits is very unlikely. They are designed to not be plastic. Those circuits include the ones that control our heartbeat, breathing, and digestion, and thankfully exist this way to be extremely reliable and automated. We never want to have to think about whether or not our heart is beating, we’re breathing or we’re digesting our food.
In short, many nervous systems features like digestion, breathing, and heartbeat are hard to change. Other aspects of our nervous system are actually quite easy to change.
History of neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity has a long and important history. For many decades, it was thought that the brain was a “nonrenewable organ,” and we have a finite amount of brain cells which slowly die as we age.
In 1948, a Polish neuroscientist named Jerzy Konorski used the term "neuroplasticity" to describe changes in neuronal structure, although it wasn’t widely used until the 1960s. In the 1960s, it was discovered that neurons could “reorganise” after a traumatic event. Further research found that stress can change not only the functions but also the structure of the brain itself.
However, the idea goes back even further—the “father of neuroscience,” Santiago Ramón y Cajal, talked about “neuronal plasticity” in the early 1900s. He recognised that, in contrast to current belief at that time, brains could indeed change after a person had reached adulthood.
The science of neuroplasticity
There are several different ways that the brain naturally changes. When the strength of the connections between synapses changes, it’s called synaptic plasticity. Other changes that come under the broad banner of neuroplasticity include synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning. This is the effect of creating or removing the whole synapse and adding or taking away connections between neurons. Neurogenesis is the creation of whole new neurons while neural cell death is when neurons die– this can be a natural process but could also be a result of damage, over-excitation or disease. If an area that was solely responsible for movement of the left arm, for example, was destroyed in an accident, then the old way of thinking would suggest that the person would not be able to move this arm again. However, with neuroplasticity, it is possible for cortical remapping to occur, so the role of moving the left arm can be taken over by other neurons in a different place in the brain through therapeutic approaches.
Does neuroplasticity change with age?
As you might expect, neuroplasticity changes with age, but it’s not as black and white as you might think. To see some of the amazing ways that neuroplasticity can affect the adult brain, read on!
Neuroplasticity in children: All of us are born with a nervous system that isn't just capable of change, but was designed to change when we come into the world. Our nervous system is primed for learning from the moment we are born. However, the brain and nervous system of a baby are wired very crudely and connections are not precise. That is the reason why babies can't do anything with precision. They can't speak or have any coordinated movements. We enter the world over-connected with neurons and these connections are everywhere. It's sort of a mess.
As we grow, particular connections get reinforced and get stronger, and other connections are lost. This is called developmental plasticity: the neuroplasticity that occurs from the time we were born until about age 25. You can think of developmental plasticity as a process of removing connections that don't serve our goals. Positive and negative events happen during our life that shape our nervous system.
So, imagine in your mind that when you were brought into this world, you were essentially a widely connected web of connections that was incapable of doing anything. Through your experience, what you were exposed to by your parents or other caretakers, your social interactions, your thoughts, the languages you learned, and the places you've travelled or didn't travel, your nervous system became customised to your unique experience.
Neuroplasticity in adults: The young brain is a plasticity machine. During our childhood, adolescence and young adulthood years, we don't have to focus that hard in order to learn new things. We can learn through almost passive experience. In fact, children go from being able to speak no language to be able to speak many words and sentences, including words they've never heard before. It's remarkable. This ability to learn passively and with little or no effort is not absent in adults, but it is at lower strengths than in children. However, the adult brain is still capable of extraordinary change. It can restore old, lost connections and functions that have not been used in some time, enhance memory, and even enhance overall cognitive skills. With sustained effort and a healthy lifestyle, adults are just as able to promote positive change and growth in their brains as children.
Is neuroplasticity deliberate or reflexive?
This incredible ability of the human nervous system to change can be deliberate. This means that we can direct our own neural changes. We can decide that we want to change our brain and nervous system. Even though other organs of our body have some ability to change, they can't direct it. For example, we cannot just decide for our gut that we want it to digest spicy foods better and rearrange neural connections to do that. Whereas if I decide that I want to learn a language or be less emotionally reactive or more emotionally engaged, I can undergo a series of steps that will allow my brain to make changes deliberately. And as I practice, eventually these skills or behaviours become reflexive. This means that we can actually decide which aspect of our nervous system we want to change. Isn't it absolutely incredible?
How to rewire your brain with neuroplasticity?
'In the past, we humans have learned to control the world outside us, but we had very little control over the world inside us'
- Yuval Noah Harari, 21 lessons for the 21st Century
We can rewire our brains just by thinking! As we learn and adapt our thought processes, our brain literally remodels itself based on our new experiences. The fascination with neuroplasticity has led many of us to try to optimise our intelligence, memory, and concentration. People obsessively track and optimise their sleep, nutrition, and exercise regimens. But people who obsessively and deliberately optimise the structure of their minds are less common. So let’s look at a few of the methods that have been shown to enhance or boost neuroplasticity:
Intermittent fasting: increases synaptic adaptation, promotes neuron growth, improves overall cognitive function, and decreases the risk of neurodegenerative disease
Travelling: exposes your brain to novel stimuli and new environments opening up new pathways and activity in the brain
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 (see art therapy activities)
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). More on sleep and neuroplasticity in our next article
For references on each of these methods, see Thai Nguyen’s work.
How coaching can rewire the brain?
Coaching is about helping people achieve their goals and create change. It facilitates self-directed neuroplasticity. The ability of the brain to change through experience underpins all behaviour change and learning. It’s at the heart of the work I do with my clients. During coaching sessions, I help clients direct plasticity to shape their brains or optimise them to enable them to fulfil their potential and achieve their goals. Success is measured by whether there is evidence of behaviour change or new learning.
Whether brain changes endure over the long term depends on whether you have a goal and are willing to put in substantial effort to achieve that goal. For neuroplasticity to lead to long-term change requires consistent action and reinforcement through committed, determined, and deliberate practice. Having an "Aha" moment without deliberate practice will not lead to long-term change.
As a coach, I partner with my clients on this journey and help them bring long-lasting change through performance-enhancing techniques, belief change, and other cognitive change strategies.
Conclusion
Everybody can benefit from neuroplasticity. We just have to harness our brains’ natural ability to adapt to bring positive change to our lives. We can practice this on our own or through coaching or therapy. Not everyone needs a coach or a therapist. We can take advantage of neuroplasticity in our everyday lives by trying out the newest "brain training" games and apps or just studying more or harder. Several computer games and applications have been developed to help users practice difficult tasks, usually in a fun way, to help to influence the way their brain shapes regardless of their age. These games are related to the theory that doing word puzzles and other mental exercises can help to keep you sharp in old age. The science is still debated among experts as to those theories. However, there has never been a study that showed that they hurt. So, while we may not want to pay for a subscription to any fancy brain training games or apps, doing the number or word puzzles in the newspaper might do us some good. And it never hurts to pick up a book instead of scrolling social media on our phones.
