Wake Up Your Neuroplasticity

• Related post: Lifelong connectivity: neuroplasticity

The core of neuroplasticity is increasing the number of nerve cells and strengthening the network of synapses

People say our heads stiffen with age. They say that once we’re past our twenties, brain function declines step by step. So let’s take some time to look into how to wake up neuroplasticity and check for yourself what state your brain is in right now.

In early 2012, researchers at the University of Edinburgh investigated how much genes affect intelligence. The experiment found that they account for only 24%. In other words, environment and experience, how we’ve lived, had a much greater effect on intelligence than the DNA we inherited. Hearing that it doesn’t matter whether you were born with a dirt, silver or gold spoon of DNA, I, the one writing this, feel truly happy that my future looks bright.

That’s because I’ve kept saying that we can use neuroplasticity so that the brain stiffens slowly, or rather, develops further as the transmission of neurotransmitters becomes more active.

You may be wondering how much you have to do for the brain to grow, and how often you need to invest in it.

According to the McGuire research team’s study of the hippocampus, neuroplasticity happens within weeks or months. “Changes can happen in as little as two hours, but for them to show up properly in visible form can take years,” said Bryan Kolb of the University of Lethbridge in Canada.

The core of neuroplasticity is increasing the number of nerve cells and strengthening the network of synapses. Neuroplasticity only serves as a map: even if someone tells you where Treasure Island is, if you don’t go there yourself, decades later all you’ll have in your hand is a scrap of paper called a map.

Put simply, even to enjoy an apple hanging on a tree, you have to reach out to the branch and twist it until the stem comes off. Then you have to take a bite and chew before you can taste the apple’s crunch and sweetness.

In other words, we have to put in as much effort as we can. If you keep up steady effort toward the one thing you want while adding ways to raise your efficiency, a synergy effect occurs and shortens the time it takes to reach your goal!

In Kim Dae-sung’s book How Are the Brains of People Who Eventually Achieve Built?:

“Neuroplasticity is interconnected. It’s connected like a rhythm, as if things pull at one another. The body is like a magnet. It’s connected to circuits similar to mine. If my head has positive neuroplasticity, that’s what gets connected. If the concept of a knife doesn’t exist in your brain, you don’t know it’s dangerous. Because there’s no synapse for fear, there’s nothing to be afraid or angry about. There will be times when someone’s attitude displeases you. Negative feelings arise because negative synapses are connected to each other. To escape these feelings, you need to form positive synapses.”

Because it’s a mechanism that protects our bodies, neuroplasticity takes longer to form for information in areas where we haven’t yet built a path. So give your brain time to get used to the change (just as it takes time for two people to become a couple), tell yourself the brain must be adapting, and keep at it steadfastly like Hanamichi Sakuragi in Slam Dunk, and a solid path will form.

Coming back to the brain that doesn’t age (or ages slowly?):

Intelligence is divided into fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence, the ability to calculate and remember, declines as brain function deteriorates. But crystallized intelligence can improve through learning and experience, regardless of age.

The best way to trigger neuroplasticity is movement. Moving your body activates the heart, which supplies blood to the brain and body, and increases blood flow to the brain, which consumes 20% of our energy. When more nutrients and oxygen are supplied to the brain, brain function is activated and neuroplasticity grows even greater.

Professor Yoo Im-joo of Korea University College of Medicine said: “To exercise, commands that control each muscle must be sent down from the brain. While you’re exercising, it’s actually your brain that is commanding each part of your body to move. The very fact that you’re exercising means the brain’s circuits keep running. So by steadily activating particular brain circuits, you can develop that part of the brain.”

Paul Zientarski, a physical education department head, said: “That exercise stimulates the brain isn’t just a belief; it’s real science. Exercise, especially cardiovascular exercise, releases chemicals in the brain such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, which actually help the brain function. They affect memory, mood, alertness, attention and motivation.”

The gut affects neuroplasticity

The gut affects neuroplasticity. Dr. Michael D. Gershon called the gut the second brain. Serotonin, which makes us happy, is concentrated in the gut. So a lack of serotonin causes emotional anxiety, and serotonin is also the precursor that produces melatonin, the sleep hormone.

That’s why the gut has to be happy for the brain to be happy. When your gut hurts, you lose motivation, so how could you want to do anything or perform better!

Sleep affects neuroplasticity

Sleep affects neuroplasticity. If you don’t get enough sleep, it lowers your focus and interferes with long-term memory, making it hard to get results in study or work even when you try.

Information, laughter and happiness affect neuroplasticity

Information, laughter and happiness affect neuroplasticity. You know that when a home is full of laughter, based on the information that “our family is a happy one,” people feel happy and secure.

Beyond this, the brain feels happy when activities that help survival take place. Happy hormones are released through activities such as eating when you’re hungry and sleeping when you’re sleepy.

“The brain changes depending on how you use and train it. If you stay discouraged because something bad happened, it affects your brain. If you keep worrying, your neural structure changes for the worse. In fact, persistent stress and depression cause damage to the frontal lobe and temporal lobe. If you act positively and proactively, your brain structure will change for the better. People who make good use of neuroplasticity accept whatever happens with an open mind. They make good use of neuroplasticity by changing their brains according to what they think and dream. Even when something bad happens, they seem to handle it flexibly and solve it easily.”

Kim Dae-sung, How Are the Brains of People Who Eventually Achieve Built?

The laws of neuroplasticity BTS learned

The Korean Spirit column “Is my brain now really my brain?” introduced the five BOS laws:

1. BOS Law 1: Wake up and pay attention
2. BOS Law 2: Good news makes a good brain
3. BOS Law 3: Choose it, and it will happen
4. BOS Law 4: Be the master of your time and space
5. BOS Law 5: Design every environment

Written after reading Kim Dae-sung’s How Are the Brains of People Who Eventually Achieve Built?

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