One of the things I like to do when I’m teaching an exercise class is to challenge people with new movements and change up the order of what we do. I do this on purpose and even say we are doing our “anti-dementia training” when people find it hard to execute the new movement. This usually gets a few laughs, but I am in fact deadly serious. The fact that we try new things makes all the difference in stopping brain shrinkage and encouraging it to remain active and healthy.
Here is the why and some tips as to what you can do
This is a lovely little video demonstrating what happens when we make new connections in the brain. You may have heard of the term neural plasticity; this is what it looks like in action. These particular neural pathways are in a part of the brain called the hippocampus and this forms part of a greater region called the limbic system.
This part of the brain is primarily responsible for learning, memory, and regulating emotions and emotional responses. It is also involved in flexible goal-oriented and social behaviour. Why it is so important and interesting is that we need a healthy hippocampus to remember specific associations between objects and events; this is called relational memory.
The hippocampus is responsible for the consolidation of short term memory into long term memory, in other words, it is where we store our memories; our memories are the coloured threads that weave together to make a beautiful tapestry that tells the stories of our specific lives. These threads of the coloured string form a recognisable picture that is uniquely us, not a mess of tangled coloured string with no decipherable image or meaning. The hippocampus is involved in our capacity to form spatial memory; something which we utilise to navigate our way in the world.
The hippocampus is affected in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia as well as in neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disease, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, in direct trauma to the brain and in alcohol and drug-addicted people. Of course, as we age, even if we are mentally healthy our brain needs to be used or it too will diminish in its capacity to perform its normal function. It will start to shrink and who is not fearful of brain shrinkage?
We have the capacity to train our brains and specifically our hippocampus and stop brain shrinkage when we do the following:
1. Exercise; this stimulates neural pathway growth and as we age aerobic exercise, the stuff that increases our heart rate and makes us work up a sweat can help us maintain the size of our hippocampus – we avoid its shrinkage due to age.
2. Have a diet rich in fish, blueberries, coffee and dark chocolate.
Mackerel, sardines and salmon contain high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids which are beneficial for memory. Blueberries contain antioxidants, coffee increases our levels of the neurotransmitter called serotonin, needed for learning, memory and cognition, and improves our ability to concentrate as well as being high in antioxidants. Dark chocolate releases dopamine which is helpful for fast learning and memory and is also high in antioxidants.
Dopamine Release
3. Engage in new activities. Ideas for new activities include not being on autopilot. Do things in a different order, take a new route on your way to or from work or the shops. Just shake things up a bit to wake up your hippocampus and make new connections, just like in the video above.
Performing movements that are more complex – like standing on one leg whilst reaching across your body to reach to the top shelf, triggers our brain to engage more than if you are only standing on two legs or reach directly in front of you. Physio Pilates is a great way to learn new and complex movements. Try and memorise a poem or a shopping list, read books, write a story or keep a journal, or try and learn new words and then retrieve them from your memory.
Crosswords are popular to improve plasticity and connectivity in our brain. However, if these are not your thing then there are many problem-solving games and apps available to help your keep your brain sharp.
4. Deep Breathing. Our brain needs oxygen to perform its function. Engaging in specific deep breathing exercises can help not only to oxygenate the brain but will slow down the release of cortisol, your stress hormone. Not only will this will assist you in feeling less stressed, consistently high cortisol levels have been linked to increased chronic inflammation which scientist are now discovering plays a role in the development of many chronic illnesses that are prevalent in today’s world.
Abstinence from alcohol may help to reverse hippocampal damage within 6-12 months in people with alcohol addiction. A study of frequent cannabis users between 18-20 years old found that a bilateral shrinkage of the brain occurs, even after 6 months of abstinence. Another study by the cannabis cohorts research consortium demonstrated that teenage marijuana consumption has long term detrimental effects on cognition, memory and general wellbeing.
In people who suffer from depression, it has been found that some antidepressant medications can stimulate the formation of new brain cells thereby helping treat the depression and improving cognitive function.
So even though there are things we can’t avoid, like ageing, there is plenty we can do. So let us shake up our routines, try new things and keep our hippocampus active to stop it shrinking.
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