10 Proven Ways To Grow Your Brain Neurogenesis and Neuroplasticity

10 Proven Ways to Grow Your Brain: Neurogenesis & Neuroplasticity by Thai Nguyen, The Utopian Life Here are ten proven ways to promote neurogenesis and neuroplasticity in your brain 1. Intermittent Fasting During fasting, a metabolic shift to fat metabolism lowers the body’s level of leptin. As a result, the brain receives a chemical signal for neurons to produce more energy. 2. Travel Traveling promotes neurogenesis by exposing your brain to new, novel, and complex environments. This causes the brain to sprout dendrites. 3. Use Mnemonic Devices Mnemonic devices are a form of memory training that combines visualization, imagery, spatial navigation, and even songs. Start using mnemonic techniques and engage in memory training; work at remembering names, scriptures, poems to memory. 4. Learn an Instrument Neuroscientists explain that playing a musical instrument requires the association of motor actions with specific sounds and visual patterns; the process leads to the formation of new neural networks. 5. Non-Dominant Hand Exercises Using your non-dominant hand to do simple tasks such as brushing your teeth or texting causes the formation of new neural pathways. 6. Read Fiction Reading fiction heightens connectivity in the brain. Add some novels to your reading list to stimulate your brain. 7. Expand your Vocabulary The task of learning new words activates the brain’s visual and auditory processes (seeing and hearing a word) and memory processing. 8. Create Artwork Whether it’s creating mosaics, jewelry, pottery, painting, or drawing, the combination of motor and cognitive processing will promote better brain connectivity. 9. Hit the Dancefloor Dancing increases neural connectivity because it forces you to integrate several brain functions at once —kinesthetic, rational, musical, and emotional. 10. Sleep Studies from NYU showed that sleep helps learning retention with the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions that connect brain cells and facilitates the passage of information across synapses. Originally posted here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thai-nguyen/10-proven-ways-to-grow-yo_b_10374730.htmlRead less