Brain stimulation - why is it important?!


Question: Brain stimulation - why is it important?
By brain stimulation I mean like, doing puzzles etc - keeping your brain active.

Why is important and why is brain stimulation important to maintain good health?

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Answers:

different parts of your brain function for different things, by doing a variety of things, drawing (or in ky case doodling) listening to music, math problems, reading you are firing up different parts of the brain.
Recently Doctors have started to link between active brains and disease like Alzheimer and Parkinson's, It seems the more stimulated we keep our brains the less likely we are to get these disease (or if we do get them they won't have as much as a devastating effect on our memories)
Keeping your brain active will also boost your IQ.

hope this helps



Think of it in terms of a 'muscle'. Even though the brain is not a muscle, and has little in common with a muscle.. the fundamental theory is the same.

The more you stimulate a muscle, the more it adapts and 'grows' , becomes stronger, and so on. This is generally done via weight lifting, resistance training, sports, cardiovascular activity, basically anything that 'stimulates' the muscle(s).

Just as the muscle 'grows' with this stimulation,.. called hypertrophy (getting larger).

It can also shrink,.. with lack of stimulation.. called 'atrophy' (becoming smaller).

Muscles often atrophy if one works out then suddenly stops. The muscles over time will atrophy to the resistance that, over time, is being applied. Which is why we are an 'ordinary' size.. from ordinary tasks, walking, bending, moving etc. These aren't greatly stimulating, but stimulation none the less and the body adapts to be able to handle these tasks -- weight training is 'tricking' the body basically into adapting to a greater force. A similar effect would happen if the earths gravity suddenly increased,.. and opposite DOES happen to astronauts over time (atrophy).

Anyhow.. as you can imagine the brain can 'grow' in capacity and ability and atrophy in its ability. (It can also grow and shrink due to disease.. but this isn't the case in a normal brain) -- The 'grow' here simply means in terms of ability.

Simply to maintain ability the brain needs constant stimulation, it is a complex organ that just as our muscles need constant stimulation from everyday activity to remain where they are.. the brain needs everyday activity to maintain ability. When you work the brain with puzzles, video games, MUSIC (an excellent activity), social interaction, exercise (yes exercise helps greatly), and so on (the list is endless).. it is stimulated and the more balanced and broad the stimulation the greater the potential of ability exists.

The less you work the brain, or less you stimulate the lower the potential.

So if you were to (as many people tend to do) focus on a fairly narrow minded way of life.. the brain would not work to capacity. IE: If you did your 9 to 5 job, that was fairly redundant, and mundane. Perhaps came home watched television, ate dinner with the family, and went to sleep. (Then basically did this over and over for decades). You wouldn't become 'stupid'... you just wouldn't be what you 'could' be.. if that makes sense.

If this same person suddenly decided to change some of the activities to learning an instrument, (or a few).. learning a language, seeking more social interaction, seeing things they never had before (say broadway shows.. jazz bar.. concerts.. travel.. etc) -- Did 'brain games' .. chess, puzzles, honed their drawing (painting, etc) -- (works even if you aren't very 'good'.. same with the music).. Practiced mathematics, exercised regularly.. took up a sport etc. You name it.. everything stimulates the brain a bit differently. If this person were to change their life this way, it would become more enriched, but over time their actual brain activity would increase and become more efficient.. likely effecting their perception of everything, etc. It is very hard to study and quantify because of the socio-economic factors, the anthropologic, sociologic, and environmental factors that create a somewhat 'grey' area of absolute 'proof'.. but the idea is sound and proven.

Your question is simple, but the brain is not. The brain is basically huge, VERY dense mesh of neurons (covered in myelin *a fatty substance*).. along with blood flow, high metabolic process, and chemicals (neurotransmitters). Within this mesh are what are known are neurologic -pathways. These are branches of nerves connected with a specific behavior, thought, emotion, activity, fact, etc.. any facet of activity. The more you repeat an activity, or study, etc the stronger these pathways become. The structure of the brain actually physically changes... in a process referred to as neurogenesis. (Or nerve growth). At first the pathway is created and is a very weak link.. that can easily be broken based on the weak physical structure.. but as you repeat it, or ingrain it into life it becomes stronger and stronger and becomes 'better'.

You know how you can do any new activity and not be 'so great' at first? But you expect to get better with time and practice.. This is this process occurring .. why we have our strong traits.. or things we tend to get better at than others is up for debate...

Hope this opens up your mind a bit on the subject.. look up terms like neurogenesis, neuroprotective, and just neurology in general.



For the same reason that your muscles need stimulation. If, for instance,. you were confined to bed for a very long period of time, there is the possibility that your muscles could atrophy. The brain needs a certain amount of exercise in order to keep the synapses working appropriately,



Because you don't want to end up like a Cabbage!




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