by Richard Hemingway

Created on: March 21, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2009

A lot of people have always thought that eating right, thinking positive, exercising, ect... would mold a healthy brain. However, it has only recently that this idea has held any scientific weight. It used to be thought that the brain was fixed when you were born. You are what you are. This is entirely untrue. The brain is plastic - it rewires itself! Less than 50% of who you are is inherited. (LeDoux, 2001) A person is born with a broad outline of self. If a person tried hard enough; that person could be a different person every 3 to 6 months.

Something that is important to brain fitness that is not brought up to much is attention. You certainly can't do much good with your brain if you can't pay attention. You are not going to have a healthy brain if you cannot focus. Let me elaborate. Doctor Mike Merzenich hooked up a device to two monkeys that tapped their fingers. He put headphones on them and played music. He trained one monkey to recognize any changes in rhythms in the tapping of his finger and he trained the other monkey to recognize any changes in the rhythm of music. The interesting thing here is that both monkeys had the same physical experience, but the monkey that put his focus on his finger tapping; the area of the brain that processes physical sensation-somatosensory cortex-the neural representation expanded two- to three fold. It strengthened and became larger. The area that processed the music-the auditory cortex-nothing happened. The monkey who paid attention to changes in the music; the neural representation in the auditory cortex expanded and no changes took place in the somatosensory cortex. Attention increased-became more efficient-when it was initiated and used. For the monkey that focused on the tapping of his finger, the optimal pattern was found in order for him to block out-to a certain degree-all other distractions. He sensed even the smallest changes and if one occurred, he react as quickly as possible to get the reward. In all similar situation the same pattern is reinforced. It strengthens. The next time it will be easier for the monkey; meaning it will require less work and energy to perform the same task. Attention is important!

Exercise is an important environmental factor. It influences the actions of BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This will strengthen pre-existing synapses. It will form fatty tissue around pre-existing neurons. The most astonishing thing here is that this will promote neurogenesis -birth of new neurons-and

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