What is neuroplasticity?
Why, it’s only the coolest most hopeful thing our brains do! Neuroplasticity is your brains ability to change, to create new neural networks through growth, learning, and reorganization. It was once believed that adults could not change their brains or learn new ways of being particularly as we got older. Science came to the rescue and proved this incorrect! Neuroplasticity is therapy’s most relied upon companion no matter what age you are. It is what allows you to learn, grow, change patterns, and do life differently, instead of just how you’ve always done it. Let’s nerd out for a moment.
Neurons are the nerve cells that make up your nervous system. For simplicities sake, we will discuss neurons as brain cells. Your neurons communicate using electrical and chemical signals. While neurogensis (making new neurons) is possible, a lot of your brains plasticity comes from synaptic growth. The synapse is the space between neurons, where chemical neurotransmitters are released from one neuron and picked up by the next as information on what to do, like a telegram. Imagine a cell with little appendages coming off of it that almost touch appendages from another cell. Each neuron has on average 7,000 synaptic connections!!! Like your muscles, your synapses are a “use or lose it” kind of deal. You shape them through experience. Your neurons will prune off synaptic connections you do not use, like the algebra from middle school. Your neurons will keep and strengthen what you use regularly, like language. You can grow new synaptic connections through consistent practice and experience. So learning is your neurons growing! On that note, you think your cells can literally grow a new arm overnight? No way, it takes time. You are growing new limbs off your cells after all. So be patient, kind, and gentle with yourself. Remember that consistent practice and life experience is the way. The more you practice what you want and stop practicing the old ways of being, your brain will get the hint. Your brain will prune the old synapses when it realizes you no longer participate in that way of being, while simultaneously creating new ones for your new habits and patterns. It’s pretty remarkable. So thank your brain for how hard it works for you, give it some rest so it can grow, feed it nourishing foods so it has what it needs, and maybe most importantly, give it encouraging words.
Questions to ponder.
What patterns are you trying to practice more to strengthen those synapses?
What patterns do you want to stop practicing so your brain prunes them away?
What tools do you need to be giving your brain so it can grow new synapses?
