Your Brain Has A Delete Button. Here’s How To Use It
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The Power of Ideas - November 1, 2016
“Neurons that fire together, wire together.” You’ve probably heard this before, right? It comes from neuroscience and what it basically means is that our brain’s neuro-circuit becomes stronger as we use it more. That’s why you always hear the saying
“Practice makes Perfect”.
We master any skill, task, and activity with continuous practice, from playing the guitar to speaking many languages. Science backs this up.
However, many researchers today are exploring the other side of the story. They are proposing an idea called
Synaptic Pruning, which means we must unlearn old neural connections to learn something new.
Our Brain is More Like A Garden We can consider the brain as a ;garden’ where neurons grow synaptic connections. Neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine are those links. There are gardeners present in our brain – Glial Cells. These gardeners boost the neurons’ signal speed. The microglial cells are the pruning gardeners, and they remove waste from synaptic connections.
How is our brain pruned? Researchers continue to explore and break down the mystery of pruning of these connections. The less used synaptic connections are marked down by C1q, which is a protein. The marks are then detected by the ‘pruners’ microglial cells, who proceed to prune the connection. As a result, our brain is maintained and developed to build new connections, as well as strengthen them in the process.
Good Sleep and Naps Leads Increase Clarity and Focus
We often experience a full brain, when we start something new. Our brain builds new connections whenever we learn something new. In order to build these new connections, our brain prunes and streamlines the old connections, for the new ones. The process usually takes place in our sleep. That’s the reason behind the 60% shrinkage of our brain cells.
It happens so that enough space is created for the glial cells to get rid of waste. A good sleep provides clarity. Therefore, naps are essential for the development of cognitive abilities. A brain that is sleep deprived is more like a swamp. You feel exhausted, lack energy and lose focus.
In short, by keeping the brain well rested we allow for the brain to prune itself so we can learn new tasks and abilities. In the coming years, more research will better enable us to understand how to fasten this process.
Source: http://thepowerofideas.ideapod.com/brain-delete-button-heres-use/?utm_content=bufferf29fe&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
