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Good Advice For Your Brain |
A great article appears in this month's (March 2008) HR Magazine entitled "The Brain at Work" by Adrienne Fox. Here I've summarized some of the key points and added some of my own thoughts as well. What is striking about the information provided and specifically about how we learn, is the fact that many of these concepts now proven through neuroscience were ideas that have in the past been assumed to be true by doctors, psychologist and cognitive researchers.
 For example, neuroscience tells us that the brain at age 71 can make as many new connections as it did at age 17. Most of us have about 100 billion neurons in our brain, but the real news, and key to learning, are the number of connections (synapses) that we develop. Alas, you CAN teach the old dog new tricks. However many of us simply choose to stop learning, resist challenging ourselves with new information, and because of this, actually lose mental capacity. Our brain exhibits a wonderful plasticity; a tremendous ability to grow, change and recreate itself. However we will often choose the road MOST traveled, the route we are familiar with and the one that offers little chance of surprise, novelty and new learning. It is somewhat of a dichotomy; we strive for the familiar because it is less threatening yet this natural inclination to find the safest path may be the most dangerous thing we can do. Learning is hard work. Most of us choose to stop learning around age 30 and our brain, as a result, can literally shrink! The brain's cortex is covered with bumps (gyri) and grooves (sulci). The aging process will naturally see each individual gyrus of the brain shrink, while the grooves in our brains become wider, and fill with fluid. The good news is that this process can be slowed to a crawl, but like every other part of our body it requires exercise. In the case of our brain this exercise must be both physical to keep the blood flowing and mental to keep the connections growing.
Learning is hard work and tiring. Research tells us that making just one decision reduces our glucose levels. Our blood sugar is diminished as we learn. This is why it is not advisable to talk and lecture folks for hours at a time. It is really a case of diminishing returns. We can't continually process new information for hours at a time. According to David Rock, Founder and CEO of Results Coaching Systems, "The brain shuts off after a certain amount of time." Twenty minutes is about the max, at which point some effort to more fully engage your audience becomes critical. Many teachers and trainers have long realized this fact, and design programs which incorporate frequent breaks, lots of review opportunities, and work to present information in the most engaging manner. Our 3 pound human brains which represent about 2 percent of our body weight actually consume about 1/5 of our body's energy. Learning is without a doubt, HARD WORK. It has always been said that students learn and test better after they have had a good night's rest. I, a 56 year old man, remember a college professor of mind touting the benefits of sleep prior to "the big exam". We crammed all night regardless. However neuroscience now has definitive proof that we process new learning as we sleep. According to Pierce Howard, Ph.D, Director of Research at the Center for Applied Cognitive Studies in Charlotte, N.C., "Without REM sleep, we lose what we learned the day preceding sleep." The thought is that learning is consolidated as we sleep. This is when our "working memory" is incorporated into our long term memory, which is learning we might be able to retain for the rest of our days. We've all had the experience of simply sleeping on a problem and somehow magically awaking with the answer. Apparently we organize and file learning as we sleep. According to Ed Boyden Ph.D, assistant professor in the MIT Dept. of Biological Engineering, "If you have learned a lot of information, and sleep on it, you can wake up with better insight into what you have learned. I would also contend that we sort out our previous days emotional concerns as well as we sleep. Imagine, and you thought a good night's sleep was, well, just a good night's sleep.
Finally a word about STRESS. According to the Howard "prolonged stress produces sustained levels of cortisol." As a result, the hippocampus, where memory is stored, shrinks, reducing the production of neurons, affecting memory, mood, and other mental functions. There is one case of an individual found wandering aimlessly about an army base. When stopped and questioned he indicated that he was 22 years of age, a single young recruit stationed on the base. This was actually true, only about 11 years prior. Somehow this individual had literally forgotten 11 years of his life. He was actually now a civilian, married with children, and 33 not 22 years of age. It was discovered that this person had developed a cyst on an area of his brain that connected the hippocampus to the rest of his brain. When the cyst was drained and treated his memory amazingly returned. The hippocampus is the area of the brain we believe first affected with the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Naturally we want to do everything we can to avoid a shrinking hippocampus, and this means doing something about a lifestyle that is riddled with chronic stress. Ellen Weber Ph.D, Director of the MITA International Brain Based Center in Pittsford, N.Y. warns "Did you know that stress shrinks the brain mass and knocks off at least 10 years of your life, while also lowering your body's immunity." To offset stress Howard recommends "Get ten minutes a day of vigorous exercise to get oxygen to the brain."
Learning is hard work. You know that. It appears the advice we're getting in this regard is advice many of us had heard before. For our brain and body we need to ensure we keep both well-exercised, receiving sufficient sleep, and design living environments for ourselves which avoid chronic stress. The difference perhaps is that we now more clearly understand why this advice was and remains such good advice. |
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