Play, new experiences and learning creates brain plasticity.  What is brain plasticity?  Strange to think that the brain being plastic is a good thing, right?  Plasticity is really about the brain still having the capability of being molded, rewired and improved.  It’s the brains’ ability to accept new stimuli and adapt to create new pathways and connections.  The more we place ourselves in “plastic” or new situations the healthier our brains will be.

Brain plasticity or new experiences is key to brain health, how do we ensure we are having “plastic” moments?

One way to promote brain health is to incorporate more play and movement in our lives.  Playing and movement, even if the action isn’t novel, maintains our neural network and may even add more layering and complexity to the network.  Movement by it’s very nature is fluid and dynamic which is the perfect environment for the brain to connect more neurons and nerve fibers.  It’s said that when we learn something new we are affecting 100 million to 10 billion nerve cells.  Wow!  That’s a major brain workout!

Play means a lot of different things to people.  What does play mean to you?  Some may say play is engaging in activity that is amusing, recreational, fun, moving the body, being silly, experiencing life, letting ourselves go  and being in the moment.

Not long ago I got the idea to  “play” on the playground.  With no kids in sight, no competition, it was too inviting to pass up.  I tried everything: the merry go round, the chin up bar, the monkey bars, slide and some other apparatus, not sure what it’s called.  Aha, something new!  Yes, it’s great to do new things.  However, even the old playground standbys affected my brain and caused it to think and connect differently.  Not to mention the fact I was dynamically moving my body and producing those feel good hormones called endorphins.  Endorphins are chemicals released from the brain in the bloodstream that give us a sense of wellbeing.

Britain also believes playing is good for us.  The UK is one of the first to create an adult playground for people 60 and older.  It’s a big hit and now I know why!

Even choosing an activity you haven’t done in a long time will still benefit your brain and force it to stretch and gain more flexibility.  Better yet if you can do the familiar activity in a new and different way it provides more stimuli for plasticity.

When was the last time you danced, rode a bike, went roller skating, ran through sprinklers, jumped rope, hoola hooped, learned a foreign language, listen to new music, worked a puzzle or played on a playground?

What are you curious about?  What would you like to do that you have never done before?  What sounds fun?

It’s nurturing to our bodies and brains to do new things especially if they involve movement and fun!

A more technical perspective, according to Michael Merzenich in his TED presentation, there are two processes to plasticity of the brain.  One, selective representation, meaning that we pay attention to what is important to us.  This process is behaviorally controlled based upon our values and what we feel we accomplish or receive awards.  The second process is specialization which the brain matches past experiences of behavior and stimuli in a statistical format to retrieve and streamline future behavior and information.

The umbrella that holds these two processes in conjunction is the correlation and temporal context the brain categorizes stimuli and experiential events.  In other words, the brain constantly logs all processes within the confines of timeframes.

Interestingly the body is the conduit wherein the brain receives all stimuli.  Every time the body relays stimuli to the brain it’s wrapped in an experiential shell called “you”.  With every stimuli we reinforce who we are.  When looking at the body mind connection one may say we are what we experience.  Perhaps this is what differentiates us from other people.  Because no experience shared by two different brains are laid down the exact way.  This is due primarily to differences of past experiences and the specialization of the brain.

When we share values and beliefs with others our selective representation and specialization become more closely aligned.  When these two processes are more similar to other people we have a higher chance of experiencing the event in the same manner.  This makes it even more important to know our loved ones’ values and beliefs.  Important conversations to have with people in order to truly understand them.  For a list of values to explore with people close to you, please check out this page on the Heart Path Coach website: 

http://www.heartpathcoach.com/value-exercise.html 

Michael Merzenich states that the most crucial component of maintaining, exercising and building upon the plasticity of the brain is the fundamental stage which he called the “critical period”.  This period is postnatal cognitive development in the early stages when things don’t seem to be happening.  This “setting up” stage is the most important time for the brain.  Soon after this “critical period” of seemingly “not much going on” shifts into refining the machinery of the brain.  The refining continues until we die.  Refining is the combination of selective and specialization that occurs with plasticity and learning.

Many times people in the creative process say they find themselves in a stage where “nothing seems to be happening”.  Some people call this a plateau, slump or block.  Could it be this stage may be a repeat of the brain’s “critical period”?  Could it be this may be the most important stage the creative goes through?  This setting up phase for creativity and more importantly how we describe it, may be most crucial.  How many times have you experienced or heard people express they get their best ideas in the shower, driving the car or in nature?  “Just out of the blue”, seems to be what we hear from people describing their process of stumbling upon a great idea.  Often times it’s when we aren’t “trying” or “working” perhaps even playing that many of our new, innovative and revolutionary thoughts occur.  There may be a link in the brain going through the plasticity process and our ability to be creative!

The next time you find yourself in a phase of “not much happening” you can do several things:  play, learn something new and give your brain a “plastic moment” so it thrives and builds valuable connections.  Last and certainly not least, you may want to shift how you describe or explain the phase of “not much going on”.  Just because we can’t see or don’t understand what is happening does not mean nothing is happening.  Never is there nothing happening.  If you think “nothing is happening” get ready for a fresh idea!

Click here to watch Michael Merzenichs’ Ted presentation.