Brain Plasticity + Bringing a Change Into Your Life

Hey everyone!! I am so glad to be back to writing blog posts, I hope everyone is well! If you didn't read my 'announcement' in my previous post, I basically took a break from uploading for a few weeks because I had loads of university application deadlines and a bunch of tests to determine my predicted grades so I wanted to spend as much time possible to make sure that went well. Nevertheless, I am back now and ready to be posting! A couple weeks ago, I learnt about the coolest thing ever in psychology, brain plasticity, ad I thought I could apply it to real life scenarios and share that with you guys, I hope you enjoy :))

What is Brain Plasticity?

I guess the concept of brain plasticity is self-explanatory to some extent, if you think about plasticity, it talks about the ability to change and mould things. Brain plasticity refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt because of experience. Experiences could be anything, such as driving a car or playing an instrument. We essentially 'train' our brain to be able to do certain things which can change our mindsets, muscle memory and so much more. The more we do something in a particular way, the stronger that 'pathway' in our brain becomes. For example, if a person grows up bilingual, they have really strong connections to the language production and comprehension centres in our brain. This makes it much easier for them to pick up new languages as they do not need to build more connections which a person who only speaks one language may have to do.

Another feature of brain plasticity is that we can 'unlearn' old habits. For example, in terms of playing the guitar, you could have a habit of using certain fingers for chords which could make switching between them harder when playing songs. Instead, if you constantly try to use different fingers to make it easier to switch chords, the brain connections with how you used to play the guitar will become weaker and eventually you will unconsciously use the new method. I feel like it's quite hard to explain an example over writing about it but hopefully that made some sort of sense!

How Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life

I think that brain plasticity provides scientific evidence for things like mindfulness practices or meditation. Many people brush off techniques like this because it seems like some random 'hippie' method that doesn't actually help you. If you have read previous posts of mine, you know that I am a huge advocator for spiritual practices and I think they can really help being a positive change in your life. I think that as a society, even just having the knowledge that your brain is plastic and you can implement change through being consistent in your ways of living, we can really make a difference in the world.     

My psychology teacher was telling my class that when she did psychology A-Level, brain plasticity wasn't on the course and that it is a topic that has recently been researched on. It can really help us explain the trends in healthcare because I feel like nowadays, we are moving towards a more holistic way of healing rather than conventional methods like taking medication. I understand that medication is necessary in many cases and am most definitely not against it, but I think that there are many other ways to help people heal which people often 'brush off' because they don't seem like serious ways to help a person. As someone who has seen changes in my mental health after meditating, I can infer that my brain has formed more connections to a more peaceful state of mind when I am presented with a triggering stimuli rather than instantly feeling panic or anxiousness. 

I think that knowing this information can help people live a more fulfilling life in general, not just in terms of mental health. It can be quite empowering knowing that you have the ability to change your life. It can also make you feel as though the hard work you put into learning a new skill won't go to waste because, scientifically, practice does make perfect (although perfection doesn't actually exist, read my blog post on perfection here).

I hope you all enjoyed this week's post! Just a reminder (although this should be self-explanatory I guess) I am not a doctor in any sort of way and what I write on this blog is purely for entertainment. It does not replace any doctor's advice you have been given. I would've liked to write a bit more but I am on holidays right now and my teachers have set more work than ever, it barely even feels like a holiday. I am also currently in Spain right now which is super exciting!! Maybe next week's post might be a travel blog kind of post if I can actually get out of the resort and do something aside from work :(( Anyways, I hope you all have a great day and week ahead, love you guys <33