• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Spanish
sb-logo-with-brain
  • Resources
    • Monthly eNewsletter
    • Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle
    • The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness
    • How to evaluate brain training claims
    • Resources at a Glance
  • Brain Teasers
    • Top 25 Brain Teasers & Games for Teens and Adults
    • Brain Teasers for each Cognitive Ability
    • More Mind Teasers & Games for Adults of any Age
  • Virtual Summits
    • 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • Speaker Roster
    • Brainnovations Pitch Contest
    • 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2015 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2014 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
  • Report: Pervasive Neurotechnology
  • Report: Digital Brain Health
  • About
    • Mission & Team
    • Endorsements
    • Public Speaking
    • In the News
    • Contact Us

Want to Improve Memory? Strengthen Your Synapses.

January 10, 2007 by Caroline Latham

News­wise released an arti­cle called “Want to Improve Mem­o­ry? Strength­en Your Synaps­es. Here’s How.” based on find­ings find­ings pub­lished in the Feb­ru­ary issue of Mind, Mood and Mem­o­ry, a newslet­ter from Mass­a­chu­setts Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal, a lead­ing cen­ter of excel­lence in the field of cog­ni­tive fit­ness. Essen­tial­ly, they explain how a decline in the health of neu­ronal synaps­es can lead to a decline in mem­o­ry and gen­er­al men­tal fitness.
Neuronal Synapse
For those you aren’t famil­iar with synaps­es, they are the spaces between neu­rons where the elec­tri­cal sig­nal trav­el­ing down from the tree-like den­drites at the top of the cell through the cell body and down the tubu­lar axon changes into a chem­i­cal sig­nal (neu­ro­trans­mit­ter) to talk to neigh­bor­ing cells. In this pic­ture from the arti­cle, the neu­ro­trans­mit­ter is rep­re­sent­ed by the red dots. We have more than 100 bil­lion neu­rons that can be con­nect­ed to hun­dreds of oth­er cells by as many as 10,000 synapses.

Here are a few good quotes from the article …

New infor­ma­tion is absorbed and retained through a process char­ac­ter­ized by changes in synap­tic inter­con­nec­tions among neu­rons in the hip­pocam­pus and cere­bral cor­tex, regions of the brain asso­ci­at­ed with mem­o­ry. But the abil­i­ty to learn and remem­ber, along with oth­er men­tal and emo­tion­al process­es, can be influ­enced by the effects of lifestyle and envi­ron­ment on the synaps­es. Stud­ies sug­gest that neu­rons that are adverse­ly affect­ed by fac­tors such as stress, lack of stim­u­la­tion, or neu­ro­tox­ins may be ham­pered in their abil­i­ty to form new pat­terns of con­nec­tiv­i­ty and may lose synap­tic connections.

It is gen­er­al­ly agreed that learn­ing occurs when the acqui­si­tion of new infor­ma­tion caus­es synap­tic changes, but sci­en­tists are not yet cer­tain pre­cise­ly how these changes come about. Sev­er­al the­o­ries have been pro­posed. In one, called the Heb­bian the­o­ry, it is thought that any two cells or sys­tems of cells that are repeat­ed­ly acti­vat­ed at the same time will tend to become “associated,” so that activ­i­ty in one makes it more like­ly the oth­er will become active. Repeat­ed co-acti­va­tion of con­nect­ed cells is thought to make phys­i­cal changes in the brain—such as the devel­op­ment of new synaps­es between neu­rons or more recep­tors in the post-synap­tic membrane—that lead to a last­ing memory.

The arti­cle con­cludes with these rec­om­men­da­tions to help you keep your mind active and alert:

  1. Reduce stress: Make time for leisure activ­i­ties. Learn relax­ation tech­niques such as med­i­ta­tion. Cut down on unnec­es­sary respon­si­bil­i­ties and avoid over-scheduling.
  2. Stim­u­late your brain: Avoid rou­tine. Enjoy new sen­so­ry expe­ri­ences. Chal­lenge your mind and body with new situations.
  3. Exer­cise: A brisk walk or oth­er car­dio­vas­cu­lar work­out oxy­genates the brain and pro­motes brain growth factors.
  4. Chal­lenge your mind: Tack­le puz­zles, games and demand­ing intel­lec­tu­al tasks. Make an effort to learn new infor­ma­tion through class­es or reading.
  5. Stay healthy: Eat a nutri­tious diet, get ade­quate sleep, avoid smok­ing, and if you use alco­hol, drink in moderation.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health Tagged With: Brain-anatomy-and-imaging, Brain-Fitness, Brain-health, Brain-Training, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive-Training, Health & Wellness, Learning, Lifelong-learning, meditation, Memory-Training, Mind-Fitness, Nutrition, Physical-Fitness, Stress

Primary Sidebar

Top Articles on Brain Health and Neuroplasticity

  1. Can you grow your hippocampus? Yes. Here’s how, and why it matters
  2. How learning changes your brain
  3. To harness neuroplasticity, start with enthusiasm
  4. Three ways to protect your mental health during –and after– COVID-19
  5. Why you turn down the radio when you're lost
  6. Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle Is the Key to Self-Empowered Aging
  7. Ten neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment & health
  8. Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright
  9. What Educators and Parents Should Know About Neuroplasticity and Dance
  10. The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains
  11. Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress
  12. Can brain training work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
  13. What are cognitive abilities and how to boost them?
  14. Eight Tips To Remember What You Read
  15. Twenty Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health

Top 10 Brain Teasers and Illusions

  1. You think you know the colors? Try the Stroop Test
  2. Check out this brief attention experiment
  3. Test your stress level
  4. Guess: Are there more brain connections or leaves in the Amazon?
  5. Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal mus­cles
  6. Count the Fs in this sentence
  7. Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?
  8. Ten classic optical illu­sions to trick your mind
  9. What do you see?
  10. Fun Mental Rotation challenge
  • Check our Top 25 Brain Teasers, Games and Illusions

Join 35,214 readers exploring, at no cost, the latest in neuroplasticity and brain health.

By subscribing you agree to receive our free, monthly eNewsletter. We don't rent or sell emails collected, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

IMPORTANT: Please check your inbox or spam folder in a couple minutes and confirm your subscription.

Get In Touch!

Contact Us

660 4th Street, Suite 205,
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA

About Us

SharpBrains is an independent market research firm tracking health and performance applications of brain science. We prepare general and tailored market reports, publish consumer guides, produce an annual global and virtual conference, and provide strategic advisory services.

© 2022 SharpBrains. All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy