Updating Helps Us Succeed
How well a person’s brain functions is very important. This determines how well the individual performs at work, and that can have a profound impact on their socio-economic level and overall success. As adults, we need cognitive abilities to succeed in life and support the development of our kids and grandkids. These capabilities help us to get and keep a job, provide care for those who can’t care for themselves, manage a household, and contribute productively to the community. When these skills don’t work as they should, the person (and sometimes the whole family) pays the price. This is especially true of certain Executive Functions, referred to as the Core Capabilities. These Core Capabilities include working memory, planning, focus, self-control, awareness, flexibility and updating.Updating Helps Us SucceedHow well a person’s brain functions is very important. This determines how well the individual performs at work, and that can have a profound impact on their socio-economic level and overall success. As adults, we need cognitive abilities to succeed in life and support the development of our kids and grandkids. These capabilities help us to get and keep a job, provide care for those who can’t care for themselves, manage a household, and contribute productively to the community. When these skills don’t work as they should, the person (and sometimes the whole family) pays the price. This is especially true of certain Executive Functions, referred to as the Core Capabilities. These Core Capabilities include working memory, planning, focus, self-control, awareness, flexibility and updating.
So how do these executive functions develop and when? They start in childhood and get stronger over time. In fact, they reinforce each other. The orchestration of these cognitive skills requires the prefrontal cortex and other brain regions to communicate. With time and the right experiences, brain regions devoted to different mental functions start to form connections. These connections allow the regions to communicate and they become more and more efficient. Two things are happening in the brain:
- Increased efficiency within specific regions of the brain; and
- Faster flow of information between regions, which allows for better integration.
This keeps developing into adulthood, with a big increase in proficiency occurring between ages 15 and 23. Neuroplasticity occurs at the chemical, structural and functional levels of the brain. These changes work in concert with one another.
Chemical Change – This occurs in the initial stages of learning something new and primarily influences short-term memory or short-term improvement in a motor skill.
Structural Change – This occurs when neurons in the brain change their connections, altering the brain’s structure. This change requires more effort and time, and involves long-term memory and long-term improvement of a motor skill.
Functional Change – This occurs when entire brain’s network changes. These brain networks, as they are used over and over again, become more excitable and more efficient when activated.
This is all good. But how to get this to keep happening past the age of 23? Adults of all ages can keep improving and creating more connections. In fact, Santiago Ramon once said that “Any man could, if he were so inclined, be the sculptor of his own brain.” Indeed, certain kinds of exercises help improve those connections which help the core capabilities and help superpower the brain. These exercises go beyond the basics of exercise, sleep, and eating right. Here are a few.
1. Expand your vocabulary
Growing one’s vocabulary is actually a really good exercise for the brain. This is not just conjecture. It’s been proven.
In 2013, The Economist magazine published a blog article on “Lexical facts,” based on results gathered by researchers at TestYourVocab.com. The study of English speakers revealed that most adult native test-takers had a vocabulary range of about 20,000-35,000 words and learned almost one new word a day until middle age, but they estimated that vocabulary growth stopped at middle age. However, in August 2016, UPI.com conducted a much broader study in which a vocabulary test was taken by one million respondents via social media. The study found that most U.S. adults had a vocabulary of more than 42,000 words at age 20 and about 48,000 words by age 60. So Americans were able to continue to expand their vocabulary every day.
So how does knowing more words help brain functionality? The simple act of learning just one word per day sparks the formation of a multitude of new neural pathways. These are both visual and auditory neural connections. That helps grow the brain. This is something anyone can do easily. There are even apps and daily calendars that help with that.
2. Learn a new language
Hearing a new language and learning how to speak it forces the brain to develop new neural pathways. These pathways make it possible for all of the brain’s Executive Functions to be strengthened.
Case in point. ABC News Reporter Bob Woodruff suffered a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) when a roadside bomb detonated next to his vehicle on January 29, 2006 as he was covering news developments in the war in Iraq. Woodruff spent four months in the hospital including 37 days in coma. His skull had to be surgically rebuilt. Then he spent six months of structured cognitive therapy focused on speech and language because that was the part of his brain that had been most damaged. Could there be anything worse for a reporter than injuring the very part of the brain that deals with communication? And yet Woodruff was able to recover from that devastating injury and return to prime time reporting, despite the severity of his injuries, because of the reserve of neurons and connections his brain had built throughout his intellectually stimulating and diverse life. He had lived in China for several years and learned how to speak Mandarin, which had developed many neural connections. He had also traveled to dozens of countries, worked as a lawyer and as a journalist, and had a deep curiosity and desire to learn.
People who are mentally active throughout their lives have greater neuroplasticity… even enough to recover from a TBI. If it can help Woodruff recover from a TBI, imagine what might learning a new language do for someone with no brain injuries.
3. Use the “wrong” hand
Non-dominant hand exercises are excellent for forming new neural pathways, as well as strengthening the connectivity between existing neurons. For instance, right-handed people should brush their teeth and hair with the left hand. For a double neuroplasticity bonus, do it while balancing on one leg.
4. Learn to juggle
Juggling is frequently cited as an excellent means for improving neuroplasticity. Keep a small set of balls nearby. Give your brain a boost whenever there are a few spare seconds between tasks. The better a person is at juggling, the bigger the benefits. And to think, clowns must have incredible neuroplasticity.
5. Play chess
Chess is a complex intellectual game that improves neuroplasticity as players have to use strategic thinking, problem-solving, as well as memory and cognitive abilities. These skills are further stimulated and strengthened as players continue practicing. Chess players have significantly more grey matter in their anterior cingulate cortex than those unfamiliar with castling, checkmate, queening or stalemate. These days, one needn’t even have another player or a board in order to reap the mental benefits of chess. At chess.com, a person can play for a few minutes anytime. And there is no need to finish a game to get the neurological benefits.
6. Learn to play an instrument
Both the brain and body needs exercise. When we exercise them together, we help various functions of the brain work more collaboratively and stay in sync. Motor coordination is a function of our brain as well as our body. Exercises that promote integration between essential brain functions, leading to an overall better-performing brain, are good. One excellent form of “exercise” that involves body and mind is learning how to play an instrument. Piano. Guitar. Violin. Upright bass. Any instrument that requires some physical aspects, such as tickling the ivory while pressing on the pedals of a piano, is one of the best ways to improve brain integration. This does not require expensive lessons. There are online instructional videos available.
7. Do mnemonic drills
Learning mnemonic devices, like formulas or rhymes, can enhance connectivity in the prefrontal parietal network, paving new, positive pathways in the brain.
8. Do crossword puzzles and Sodoku
Regular crossword puzzles and number puzzles such as Sodoku have been linked to sharper brain in later life. Crossword puzzles are a classic brain trainer, accessing not only verbal language but memory from many dimensions of knowledge. Doing crosswords late in life has also been proven to help prevent the advance of dementia. According to a University of Exeter study, older adults who regularly did word and number puzzles had increased mental acuity. Also, a 2011 experiment with members of the Bronx Aging Study found that a regular regimen of crosswords could delay the onset of cognitive decline.
These can be found in newspapers and online. The Washington Post, Dictionary.com and AARP all offer a free daily crossword puzzle.
These simple exercises combined with a healthy lifestyle will ensure that the brain is firing on all cylinders and the executive functions are working in maximum efficiency. As Donald O. Hebb once said, “Neurons that fire together wire together.” Just try these activities out for a while and see if it doesn’t help you do better at work and home.
Quote of the Week
“Our minds have the incredible capacity to both alter the strength of connections among neurons, essentially rewiring them, and create entirely new pathways. It makes a computer, which cannot create new hardware when its system crashes, seem fixed and helpless.” Susannah Cahalan
© 2022, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.
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