By Melissa Hogenboom
There is growing evidence that simple, everyday changes in our lives can change our brains and how they function. To find out, BBC journalist Melissa Hogenboom scanned her own brain.
“It’s surprisingly difficult not to think about anything,” I think as I lie in the jaws of a machine scanning my brain.
I’m told to focus on a black cross while the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine does its noisy work.
I also find it impossible to keep my eyes open. The whirring of the scanner is a bit hypnotic and I’m a little worried that I’ll fall asleep and that this will affect how my brain appears in the resulting images.
As a science journalist, I’ve always been fascinated by how the mind works, which is why I found myself in a scanner at the University of London’s Royal Holloway Hospital to have my brain examined before setting off Six-week course on brain disorders.
My goal is to investigate whether there is a way we can influence significant brain change ourselves.
For the Changing aspects of my daily lifeI hoped to find out if it was possible to strengthen important connections in our brains while keeping our minds healthier. Along the way, I learned techniques that we can all use, with impressive results.
Hogenboom began a six-week course on brain disorders at BBC M
Neuroplasticity and mindfulness
Our brain has one incredible ability to adapt, learn and grow because it is inherently plastic, meaning it changes.
This is called Neuroplasticitywhich simply means the ability of the brain to adapt and evolve in structure and function over time.
This was once thought to be limited to the youth, but now we know it is a problem constant force that shapes us. Every time we learn a new skill, our brain adapts.
Neuroscientists and psychologists are now discovering that we have the power to control this to some extent. And there are good reasons to want to stimulate our brains: more and more studies suggest that it could play a role Delay or prevent degenerative brain diseases.
With the help of Thorsten Barnhofer, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, I set out to do this.
He is currently conducting a study on the effects of Mindfulness -or full attention in the here and now– in managing stress and difficult emotions, with particular attention to people with severe depression.
I was surprised that something as simple as mindfulness could play such a crucial role in keeping our minds healthy.
Research shows that mindfulness is a simple but powerful path improve various cognitive functions. It can improve attention, relieve pain and reduce stress.
It has been found that after just a few months of mindfulness training, certain symptoms of depression and anxiety can be alleviated, although, as with any complex mental health problem, this can of course vary depending on the individual situation.
And that’s not all. The Mindfulness can change the brain. Because if the level of the stress hormone cortisol rises and stays high, this can “become toxic for the brain,” says Barnhofer.
Stress can too directly inhibit neuroplasticityControl allows the brain to remain more plastic.
experiment
The question is: Will this work for my brain? Over the course of six weeks, Barnhofer modified a mindfulness research course for me to try out. While 30 minutes a dayWhether in a single session or two 15 minute sessions, I practiced a guided mindfulness meditation listen to a recording.
Besides, I had a weekly meditation session with Barnhofer, who guided me through Zoom. The complete mindfulness course is available free of charge online.
My instruction was to be as aware of the present moment as possible and to pay attention to things I normally ignore, such as where my thoughts go and what preoccupies me from one moment to the next.
It also encouraged me to be more mindful in everyday life, like when cooking or walking, to really focus on the moment, bring my mind back to what I was doing, and notice how often I was wandering.
What’s fascinating about this area of research is that mindfulness, which seems like such a simple process, can have an impact measurable impact.
“What mindfulness does is buffer stress, it makes us aware of challenges and the more ruminative reactions, the tendency to worry,” explains Barnhofer.
Hogenboom practiced mindfulness meditation for 30 minutes every day for six weeks, telling BBC World
While I may not be an ideal candidate (my stress levels, measured before and after the process, are generally low), I still felt a benefit.
Once I started a session, I felt like the first minute or two were easy. I would focus on my breathing or parts of my body as instructed. But in every moment of silence, my mind went on a journey through time.
I thought about a conversation with a friend from weeks ago, then in a matter of seconds thought about making a dentist appointment, then an upcoming work appointment… and so on.
I could see how quickly my mind was switching from one thought to the next in quick succession. If you rush this, everything can become extremely tiring.
“Mind wandering can of course be useful in many ways,” says Barnhofer. “It could help us be creative, but it could also be bad. And here it is repetitive thinking, pondering thought, worry. And these are the factors that increase stress as soon as it arises.”
Once I realized this, it became clearer to me that this brilliant ability we all have to think ahead, plan and worry can be debilitating if we overdo it.
In other words, reveal the workings of our own minds It’s a crucial first step in letting go of some of the constant busyness.
Thorsten Barnhofer, Professor of Clinical Psychology, explains how mindfulness can shape the brainBBC World
Relationship between brain and body
During the six weeks I spent on this mindfulness course, I also spent time filming other neuroscientists for my documentary Brain Hacks to see if there were any suitable “hacks” I could implement.
For example, there is evidence that both are the case Meditation and exercise increase plasticity.
Meditation and exercise increase brain plasticity.
I didn’t increase my usual exercise level, but I did push myself to run faster: I regularly ran a 5K at my local mountain park in about 21 minutes.
Knowing that this could also stimulate my brain kept me motivated. “Physical activity facilitates the plasticity processsays Ori Ossmy, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck University of London.
Meditation and exercise increase brain plasticityGetty Images
“If you combine it with cognitive tasks to improve the skills you’re interested in, you’ll probably do better,” he says.
This makes sense given the close relationship between the health of our bodies and our brains, agrees Gillian Forrester, professor of comparative cognitive science at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. “Our Physical health and our mental health are absolutely linked to create quality of life,” he says.
Physical health is also linked to cognitive health. By studying babies, scientists like Forrester learn to see the connection Brain/Body in action.
At Birkbeck University’s new Baby Lab, Forrester showed me their latest project called Baby Grow. The study will monitor babies’ growth during the first 18 months, with the aim of detecting signs of cognitive problems before they become obvious.
And the reason why it’s so important to do this so soon? This is also related to neuroplasticity. A child’s brain is especially plastic in its early years of development– As they grow and learn about their surroundings, new connections and neurological networks emerge at a rapid pace.
This means it may be much easier to deliver interventions to those who need them in this very plastic state.
This is one reason why Forrester believes it is so important to learn more about the everyday processes that help form the brain.
Learning new things helps the brain continue to grow. BBC World
Neurorehabilitation
The same idea also comes into play when patients are recovering from severe brain injuries.
I met with Angelo Quartarone, scientific director of Centro Neurolesi Bonino Pulejo, a brain injury center in Sicily, Italy.
The expert experiences plasticity in action every day. “Even under the worst conditions, the brain somehow helps repair itself… With With neurorehabilitation we can speed up recovery“, It says.
His team uses a variety of methods to aid rehabilitation, including robotics, virtual reality and placing electrical currents in the brain. “A small amount of electricity can interact with the same mechanisms used in neurorehabilitation techniques,” he says. “So you have a double whammy.”
I was surprised to learn that one of his patients, who had lost strength in his right limbs, was able to form new neural connections using simulated computer games. This helped him regain lost motor skills.
This type of brain enhancement is something we can all learn from. It is clear that It helps to practice new skills and regularly expose yourself to new situations The brain must continue to adapt and grow.
So I ordered sun-dried tomatoes in Italian and got a quick lesson in playing a traditional Sicilian tambourine before sitting and meditating at the foot of Mount Etna. Of course, I have to add a big caveat. I am a sample of one and much of it was more illustrative than scientific.
Structural changes
At the end of the six weeks, I was very curious to see whether all this work had had any effect on my brain.
After another brain scan and some concern about what might have been going on in my head over the past few weeks, I visited Barnhofer at the University of Surrey to find out.
I had been analyzing and comparing my two brain scans late into the night.
The result was that the The structure of my brain had changed. And some measurable changes could be observed.
The half of my amygdala (an almond-shaped structure important for emotional processing). its volume reduced On the right side. The change was minimal but measurable.
What’s interesting, however, is that this is consistent with scientific literature showing that mindfulness can decline because of this cushions stress seen in the amygdala.
Our brains are naturally very plasticGetty Images
When we experience more stress, the amygdala grows. When we started I didn’t feel particularly stressed, but it was still exciting to see a change.
The other change took place within me cingulate cortexPart of the limbic system involved in our emotional and behavioral responses.
It is also important for the standard neural network (DNN), a region that activates when the mind wanders and thinks. In my brain there was slightly increased in size over the six weeks, reflecting a greater control over this area. Again, this is consistent with studies published in the scientific literature.
It also matches what I noticed during my sessions. Over time, I discovered that I could keep my mind calmer: I was better at banishing many thoughts.
It was pretty overwhelming to see these results on a big screen in my brain. By simply being mindful, I managed to increase the size of a part of my brain that keeps my mind from wandering too much.
A final warning: It’s important to recognize this Any brain changes we observe could also be coincidental. However, the brain is constantly changing. However, studies suggest that the entire experience was a worthwhile challenge and a process that many people could easily benefit from.
Of course, in order for the changes to be permanent, it is clear that I should try to perform some of these “tricks” myself.
Will I continue to meditate every day? I would like to say “Yes, of course.”
Of course, if life doesn’t get in the way.
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