What is Neuroplasticity and How Can I use it to Improve my Brain Health?
Understanding neuroplasticity can be a great way to help personal growth, learning and general cognitive health. This article will explore what Neuroplasticity is and how it can be used to improve brain age, learning abilities and more...
Published: 13/06/2024
Understanding neuroplasticity can significantly contribute to personal growth and overall cognitive health. It may also influence how healthcare professionals approach care, support, and rehabilitation.
In this article, we will discuss what neuroplasticity is, its benefits, practical ways to enhance your brain's plasticity, factors that may impact it, and the ten principles of neuroplasticity. By the end, you should have a broad understanding of neuroplasticity and its potential, whether you want to boost your cognitive abilities, are recovering from an injury such as a stroke, or would like to keep your brain healthy.
What is Neuroplasticity?
"We're... referring to the capacity that our brain has to adapt and respond to new or novel experiences," explains Dr Tworek in Neuroplasticity: Building Brain Power (2023).
Neuroplasticity describes the brain's ability to absorb new information and allows you to develop as a person; it is also the neurological flexibility that enables our brains to tackle and manage new challenges. This process brings about physical changes in the brain, rewiring itself in response to new experiences and information. “Morphological alterations and structural changes occur within our brains,” says Dr Tworek (2023). “New synaptic connections form between the billions of neurons in your brain as you take in information. It’s a constant process.”
Simply put, the brain can relearn once-learned skills and acquire new ones. Through motor training and cognitive learning, the brain recognises and strengthens connections.
The Benefits of Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity comes with many benefits that allow the brain to adapt and change can help promote
- The capacity to continue learning new things
- The ability to enhance existing skills and cognitive capabilities
- Recovery and rehabilitation following a stroke or traumatic brain injury
- Strengthening regions where function is lost or has decreased
Neuroplasticity and Dementia
Neuroplasticity becomes an increasingly interesting topic when you consider the capabilities it has with neuro diseases and conditions such as Dementia and strokes. If our brains get damaged, neuroplasticity allows us to create new pathways and potentially maintain functions and memories. So, in theory, if the brain continues to be stimulated, nurtured and supported to form new connections, despite the Dementia, stroke or brain injury, the brain can continue to show neuronal plasticity and even continue to create new links. Neuroplasticity supports the theory behind therapies such as cognitive stimulation, creative therapy and other stimulation therapies.
The adaptability and physical changes behind neuroplasticity mean that the brain can bypass damaged areas. Synaptic connections can essentially create new pathways to work around the injury. This is where the various types of therapy and rehabilitation activities after a stroke or head injury will look at using the regenerative power of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity isn't always about learning new things, but the brain can relearn too, which is critical following a stroke or traumatic brain injury.
Types of Neuroplasticity
There are two main types of neuroplasticity:
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Functional Plasticity: The brain's ability to move functions from a damaged part of the brain to undamaged areas, working around an injury or weakness.
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Structural Plasticity: Experiences that create pathways to solidify learned information, like learning a new skill or information.
How to Improve Neuroplasticity
There are activities and steps you can do to encourage your brain to adapt and change (at any age!) The main way to improve neuroplasticity is to challenge yourself regularly with new activities and experiences - this doesn't mean travelling across the world or going bungee jumping, you can look closer to home.
Some examples of ways you can break from routine, even if just slightly, include:
- Taking a new route to work, or even turning off the GPS.
- Listen to a new song (instead of the same playlist repeatedly).
- Finding a new recipe to make for dinner.
- Using your non-dominant hand for tasks like brushing your teeth.
- Getting enough quality sleep is how we consolidate information in our brains.
If you feel adventurous, escape your comfort zone completely:
- Sign up for a class.
- Learn a new language.
- Start playing a musical instrument.
- Go travelling.
It also won't matter how successful you are at these things either, it's more about the experience rather than the outcome and "your brain will benefit from that no matter how great you are at this new thing you try." encourages Dr Tworek (2023).
Neuroplasticity and Mental Health
Unfortunately, neuroplasticity can also have a negative effect on our brains. Brain plasticity can be problematic when detrimental changes like substance abuse, disease, or trauma are allowed to take place.
Negative plasticity can happen when the brain builds connections between disparate experiences and our fight-or-flight reactions, including sweating, accelerated heart rate, dread and panic that typically accompany anxiety.
Despite the potential negative neuroplasticity occurrences that accompany anxiety, depression, PTSD, stress and more, there is an obvious target to use our plasticity to create more positive associations through brain training and therapies.
The Ten Principles of Neuroplasticity
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Use it or Lose it
Connections degrade over time if not engaged in a particular task. If you don't use a skill, you will eventually lose it. -
Use it and Improve it
Training drives improvement in specific brain functions. Practice makes perfect! -
Specificity Matters
Tailor activities to the desired outcome. For instance, to improve balance and walking, focus on gait training and balance exercises. You can only excel at something by doing it consistently. -
Repetition Matters
Plasticity requires extensive repetition; consistency is key. -
Intensity Matters
Push beyond your comfort zone to achieve results. Stretching into discomfort can eventually lead to a lasting, improved range of motion. -
Time Matters
The brain strives to recover, but the longer we wait, the lower the chances of full recovery. -
Salience Matters
Plasticity needs meaningful interventions. Always remember what you are working towards and why. -
Age Matters
Plasticity occurs at all ages, although more readily in younger individuals. However, you are never too old to relearn an old skill or learn a new one! -
Transference (Generalisation)
One experience can transfer to more generalised situations. For example, performing step-ups or obstacle courses can help with activities like stepping onto a curb or walking over obstacles at home. -
Interference
Plasticity can also occur with improper practice. Practising incorrect forms can lead to the need to relearn the skill correctly.
Neuroplasticity Summary
Neuroplasticity is the way our brain adapts and changes from experiences and learning new skills. Neuroplasticity can improve personal growth and cognitive abilities, especially when we actively make our brains work by changing routines and trying something new. The benefits of utilising the plasticity we have include:
- The ability to learn new things
- Enhance existing skills
- Improved recovery and rehabilitation
- The ability to strengthen areas where cognitive functions have been lost or have declined
Neuroplasticity also can have a negative effect, like creating links between disparate experiences and our fight-or-flight reactions. Trauma, Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder, Anxiety, and other mental health conditions can be from negative Neuroplasticity. On the bright side, the flexibility and adaptability of our brains mean that we can target these links and work towards rewiring those connections through personal development or various therapies.
