There is one easy thing you can do every day to help build your brain’s reserve and open up new pathways. As a bonus, this one simple thing will help you think about and experience the world in a fuller, richer, more engaged manner while firing up the chemical and electrical qualities that keep your brain pumping.
Tune into your senses.
We know that heightened sensory experiences light up areas in your brain. * So, when you bite into an apple and you feel the resistances as your teeth break through the skin, hear the crunch, and taste / smell the sweet/tart flavors and aromas of the fall harvest, you are firing up the activity in your brain in a different way. The process of triggering those brain regions bathes them with good chemicals and activates electrical connections that keep those pathways – those direct routes to experiencing the world – open, nourished, and ready for action.
Sensory information lighting up the brain!
Did you know that you can get that same result by thinking about a sensory experience or reading about a sensory experience? That description of biting into an apple – as you, in your mind’s eye, see, feel, hear, taste, and smell the process — set in motion the process of nourishing your brain with the same kinds of good activity as actually participating. *
Think about this…. You can take a moment in your life and imagine everything you might see, hear, taste, feel, and smell. Heighten that experience, taking information from your sensory life, and light up your brain.
Take this moment, right now, and examine it through your senses. Yes, you are looking at a screen of some kind reading words. As you are thinking about the moment, tune in to what else is happening. Take a moment and turn up your senses.
Be very careful, though… you may trigger something even more powerful. Experiencing your life more fuller could lead to increased enjoyment, amplified pleasure, and a deeper appreciation for the moment.
From the brain geek’s corner:
*This chapter in NIH supported research The Neural Basis of Multisensory Processes introduces methods (fMRI and BOLD) for measuring brain activity and the data to support.
*Harvard is working with MEG as a way to measure brain activity and this study deals with heightened sensory data.
*Here is the foundational research on rewiring your brain – actual neuro-regeneration – through sensory experience.
Cranium Crunches 