Monday, January 21, 2008

Use More of Your Brain to Get Things Done

Use More of Your Brain to Get Things Done
Recent advancements in brain imaging show us that older
people use more of their brain to perform tasks than
younger people do. Scientists interpret this to mean one of
two opposite things:

First, older people recruit more brain activity to do the
same things in order to compensate for degeneration of
specific brain circuits that can no longer get the job done
by themselves. This is the compensation hypothesis. Think
of it like one brain region asking for help from another
brain region in order to do something that, in its younger
days, it could do on its own.

Second, the older brain may become 'over-activated' when
trying to perform a task because it doesn't do as good of a
job at assigning the task to a specific region. This is the
de-differentiation hypothesis. Think of this explanation as
different brain regions being unsure whose job it is to do
something and then getting in each other's way.

Do older brains cooperate or compete?

A Belgium group used an elegant approach, published in The
Journal of Neuroscience, to try to figure out which one was
correct. The first hypothesis predicts that increased brain
activation is a sign of participation, so should improve
performance. The second hypothesis predicts increased
activation is due to competition, so should decrease
performance.

Researchers asked younger (20-25 year old) and older (62-72
year old) participants to perform a simple motor task while
the investigators watched their brain activity.
Participants simply moved their hands and feet in the same
direction (easy task) or in opposite directions (harder
task) while undergoing a brain scan to determine which
brain regions became active. In the end, the older folks
that performed better had more active brain regions,
supporting the first hypothesis. The increased activity in
older brains, while performing a task, appears due to
participation between different regions.

Tying it back to lifestyle

This study is important because it supports the notion of
cognitive reserve and EPIC performance that we have
discussed in previous articles. To give a brief re-cap, the
more you learn and experience in life, the more connections
you make in your brain, and the more easily it will be to
recruit other brain regions to get things done.

When you give yourself different experiences, you force
your brain to look at new situations from different
perspectives. This may help 'link-up' brain regions and
make it easier for them to communicate with each other as
you age, at a time when they become more dependent upon
each other.

If you create enough different brain connections throughout
your life by committing to life-long learning, you may
protect yourself from losing mental performance as you age.
Even though your brain will inevitably age, you ensure that
the different regions cooperate with each other when
necessary and keep your mental capabilities sharp.

The best way to do this is to adhere to the four
cornerstones of brain fitness that we have discussed in the
past.

1. Feed your brain healthy foods, as they are the raw
materials for building brain circuits.

2. Exercise your body since it improves the blood supply to
your brain.

3. Exercise your brain by continually learning new things
and challenging your mind.

4. Get plenty of rest and sleep to allow your brain to
rebuild and regenerate.

Boosting the odds to maintain life-long brain fitness is
simple. You don't have to understand all the science that
supports these lifestyle choices, but it's nice to know
that it's there.


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