The degradation of the brain is a process that is natural for this most important organ of the body. As we age, we begin to forget many things, our cognitive abilities deteriorate, and it becomes harder and harder to concentrate. What can be done to delay mental degradation as much as possible and keep brain functions in good condition? Estet-poral found the answer to this question. You can read below for practical tips on keeping your brain functioning.
Danil Dekhkanov, editor-in-chief of the TrendClub resource and owner of the Fu2re digital agency, wrote a column on why the human brain degrades over time and how to prevent it. The point is that when you stop moving forward, you start moving backward, and unfortunately, it is impossible to stay still.
Have you noticed that the older you get, the less eager you are to take on jobs that are unusual for you or involve a lot of concentration and mastering unfamiliar skills?
Let me tell you a little secret. Reading your favorite newspapers (authors), working in a well-known profession, using your native language and communicating with friends who understand you well, visiting your favorite restaurant, watching your favorite series & hellip; – all this, so beloved by all of us, leads to the degradation of the brain.
your brain – lazy (like you), and therefore seeks to reduce energy costs for a particular activity by creating a kind of "macro" – programs that you execute according to templates.
The biologist Richard Simone at the beginning of the century before last called these programs "engrams" – a physical habit or memory trace left by repeated exposure to a stimulus. Engrams can be thought of as paths that neurons "trample" in your brain, performing the same action. The longer we do it, the less energy our brain spends on it. Sometimes these paths turn into roads, and then even into autobahns, like this Chinese who collects a deck of cards faster than a robot.
On the one hand, this is a great superpower – Indeed, why waste extra energy for the implementation of the same type of action? However, the downside of this ability — decrease in the plasticity of our brain. The fact is that the longer we use engrams, the less the basal ganglia in our brain work. Their main function – to produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which helps neurons "cut through" new paths among the informational noise of our brain (this is approximately what is happening to you now, after reading this sentence).
Remember your way to work or college. If you drive on the same route for more than six months, then your actions become so automatic that you can perform other actions in parallel – read, listen to music, answer emails. In your favorite restaurant, you do not have to squeeze out acetylcholine and think about what to take for lunch, you already know the whole menu by heart. Behind a friend's fake smile, you will immediately recognize the alarm, and you will not need to strain in order to decipher these communication signals.
It would seem, why change all this? And then, that our life – a continuous source of change beyond our control. We have to adapt to most of them, and in this "chameleon race" the one who quickly changes its color to the color of the environment survives and can sneak up closer to the insect (of which there are fewer and fewer during the crisis). You may be made redundant, the tasks of your department may change and you will be required to learn new skills (and if you fail, you will again be made redundant), you will fall in love with a Chinese woman and want to learn the Dungan language spoken by her relatives, and so on. . Therefore, the plasticity of the brain must be constantly maintained and trained. Imagine that your brain – it is concrete that will harden after some time.
The image of "hardened" brains will become clearer to you if you look at the majority of 70-year-olds who are not able to master the timer on the microwave, accepting everything new with hostility, performing the same type of actions (or reproducing thought patterns) for years. These "paths" in their heads turned into burrows and tunnels in the rocks, and it is almost impossible to "dig" a passage to the neighboring cave. Your task – constantly mix this "thinking mixture", do not let it harden. As soon as we relax and start using engrams, some part of our brain hardens and we don't even notice it.
What can be done to stop brain degradation?
I have highlighted the ten most simple, but quite effective, tricks:
1. Look after yourself
If you suddenly feel discomfort because something is wrong (for example, your favorite site has changed its design or your favorite yogurt has disappeared in the store), grab this feeling by the tail and start to "untwist" it. Why not try all the yogurts or start making your own?
2. Don't re-read books you've already read
Do not review films you have already watched. Yes, this is a very pleasant psychological feeling – plunge into that cozy little world, in the lives of already familiar characters, no surprises, you already know the end and you can enjoy the little things that you didn’t notice for the first time by swallowing a book in an hour (or watching the season over the weekend). But at the same time, you are taking away from new books and films the chance to reveal something fundamentally new to you, depriving your brain of the formation of alternative neural connections.
3. Look for new routes
Try to look for new routes for the usual way home and back, find alternative shops, cinemas and other infrastructure points on the map of your life. This may take extra time, but it can also bring nice bonuses – for example, lower prices in stores or fewer people in the cinema.
4. Looking for new music
If you are a music lover with tens of thousands of songs in your playlist, and it seems to you that your taste is very rich and varied, then I hasten to disappoint you – most often we listen to 50 & ndash; 100 familiar tracks that are pleasant to us for the same reasons – we have adapted to them, and our brain does not need to spend additional resources to process and comprehend them. There are several hundred thousand Internet radio stations in the world, and even if you switch to a new one every day, still our life will not be enough to listen to them all.
5. Look for new friends and acquaintances
Yes, it's certainly great when you have friends with whom it's nice to get together every Friday and discuss football or Beyoncé's new dress. Psychologically more comfortable. But after all, most of us live in megacities, why limit your circle to 4 & ndash; 5 people, most often chosen not by us, but "imposed" by circumstances – school, college, job? The social tools embedded in us greatly influence our way of thinking, and sometimes it happens that, under the influence of certain friends, we change our point of view, a set of interests, and sometimes even the type of activity.
6. Have kids
Children are a permanent source of chaos and uncertainty in your life. They – living "concrete mixers" in your head, destroying all patterns and reshaping your established routes in a new way. I have three sons of different ages who bring something new every day with their questions, behavior, inquisitive mind and continuous experiments with everything around. You yourself will not notice how your thinking will be liberated, and you will begin to think differently. If you have not yet succeeded in having children, then you can start with a dog. First of all, it requires a walk (and fresh air is good for the brain). Secondly, it involves you in involuntary communication with other dog owners. And thirdly, it can also become a source of chaos (mine, for example, when she runs after flies, does not pay much attention to obstacles that arise in her path).
7. Stop criticizing
"What a terrible design!", "How disgusting they did the denouement!", "How uncomfortable to sit in these new chairs!" – these and millions of other messages on Facebook, from your colleagues and your own, are indicators of resistance to change that suddenly comes in life. Changes that, most of the time, you can't change. Or you can, but with a lot of effort that is not worth it. Agree, there are more interesting things to do than to demand a book of complaints in a restaurant and write a slander about a rude waiter? It will be much more beneficial for your own development to accept these changes and motivate the brain to continue living in the new reality. Your dialogues should look something like this: "New menu? Great, otherwise the old dishes are already boring!", "New road repair, need to find a detour? Great, so in a month there will be no such potholes here, but while the renovation is going on, I will learn something new about this area!”, “New operating system? Super! I now have a new entertaining quest – find the control panel!"
8. Stop labeling people
This is very convenient – instead of understanding a person, reflect on why he did it – succumb to weakness and simply "stigmatize" him by attaching him to one or another psychotype. Cheated on her husband? A prostitute! Drinking with friends? Alcoholic! Watching wrestling? Moron! Each of us is under the influence of, perhaps, even greater pressure of life circumstances than the same Rodion Raskolnikov, however, many find his reflections described by Dostoevsky interesting, and divorced neighbors with two children – something vulgar and not worthy of attention.
9. Experiment with flavors
Despite the fact that evolution has pushed our sense of smell into the background, smells still have a huge influence on us. And if you have a favorite toilet water that you have not changed for years, then it's time to change it. And do it with some frequency.
10. Learn foreign languages
And for this it is not necessary to fall in love with a Chinese woman, you can find another motivation, related, for example, to professional interests or hobbies. Foreign words and the semantic fields associated with them are often different from your native language, and learning them is perhaps the most effective tool for training brain plasticity (especially if you move further away from the tourist lexicon and delve into cultural characteristics).
We should also not forget that our brain is much more complex than many people think. Engrams associated with listening to the same music affect how we communicate with friends. Unexpected sensations from the smell of dishes in a new restaurant may awaken in you the desire to re-evaluate the words and deeds of a loved one (understand and forgive). A walk after work along an unfamiliar street will give you an idea of how to find a suitable solution to a problem that has arisen at work. Therefore, the above life hacks are best combined to prevent mental degradation.
And maybe one fine day, like 30 years from now, when your grandson brings you his new gadget, which is a cloud of nano-robots, you won't say "Oh God, get this buzzing thing away from me!", and dip your hand into it with the words "Wow!" and immediately ask "How does it work and where can I buy it?".
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