If you take good care of your brain, like other organs and muscles, it will stay strong and vibrant. Older brains even grow smarter in many ways. They are packed with "expert knowledge" and store more mental outlines of generic problems and solutions that can be tapped into, says Elkhonon Goldberg, Ph.D., author of The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows. "Because pattern recognition is the main cognitive asset of aging, the capacity for problem solving in one's area of expertise exceeds that of young people," he says.
If you don't take care of your brain, it will slowly weaken. At first you'll experience short-term memory loss, then you'll find it increasingly difficult to sort the names and faces of family and acquaintances, remember recent events, keep track of belongings, think clearly, and even remember your own address and phone number.
But cognitive decline is not inevitable. You can fight back. If you learn how to exercise your brain, how to provide it with the nutrition it needs, the environment stimulation it craves, and even the sleep it requires, you can not only avoid dementia, but you can, in fact, strengthen your brain. You can actually sharpen your memory, improve your concentration, shorten your reaction time, and increase your capacity to learn and your ability to manage stress.
Dr. Michael Merzenich, a 65-year-old "neuroplastician" who is most responsible for convincing other neuroscientists that the brain maintains its "plasticity" throughout life, says, "Your brain is capable of changing, for the worse or for the better, at any age." Just as muscle cell growth increases with physical exercise, the rate of neuron production increases with cognitive exercise. Therefore, according to Merzenich, "Your brain always has the capacity to get stronger."
Indeed, MRI images show extended, vigorous mental activities change brain structure in these ways:
• Synapses, the junction between nerve cells where impulses are transmitted and received, become stronger and denser.
• Blood vessels increase in size and number.
• Myelin, the fatty sheath that wraps around nerve connections to aid the flow of nerve signals, becomes thicker.
• New neuron production increases in a process known as "neurogenesis."
Thanks to a study of London cab drivers, we know these changes can be so pronounced as to result in easily measured increases in brain size. Unlike cab drivers in most other cities, London cab drivers are required to decide routes immediately in response to a passenger's request or traffic conditions. Just getting a license to drive a cab in London takes 34 months of study on average and 12 appearances before the licensing board. Drivers must memorize 360 main routes through London, plus the 25,000 streets that cross those routes, as well as "points of interest" including streets, squares, clubs, hospitals, hotels, theaters, churches, cemeteries, parks, etc.
Just as weightlifters strain their muscles to make them grow, memorizing the London street map puts a tremendous strain on the part of the brain called the hippocampus. Not too surprisingly, scientists have found London cab drivers have especially large hippocampi. Furthermore, the longer they are on the job, the bigger they become.
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