How to Improve Your Neuroplasticity

Welcome to the 6th issue of “My English Therapy Notes”.

I mentioned that I'd be discussing ways to improve your English pronunciation this week, but decided to focus on another area instead – hope you’ll forgive me!

Since I’m currently training to become a certified Neurolanguage coach?, I was inspired to incorporate some of the fascinating brain-related topics we’ve been discussing in our recent sessions. One of these topics is “Neuroplasticity”.

First of all, I’ve got some good news for you: You can create new neural pathways until you take your final breath!

?Why does this matter?

Like any other muscle in your body, your brain loses strength if you don’t use it.?Keeping it engaged and consistently rewiring itself is key – not only to your long-term cognitive functioning but also your overall well-being.

Up until the 1970s, it was a popular belief that the brain was fixed and unchangeable. We now know that the brain's plasticity has been used to help treat numerous mental conditions, such as stroke and multiple sclerosis.

This “neuroplasticity” is your brain’s amazing ability to reorganize itself through your environment, behavior, thoughts and emotions.?

?Your behavior plays a key role when it comes to rewiring your brain. This means taking daily steps to break negative habits and discover new ways to learn information.?

How can we develop neuroplasticity?

According to researchers, there are two major brain regions where you can increase neuroplasticity. These regions have the ability to continually create new neurons in adults:

• Hippocampus – for long-term and spatial memory
• Cerebellum – for coordination and muscle memory

Can language learning help?

Yes! Several studies have shown that bilingualism can improve the brain's cognitive function, producing greater cognitive control, increased nonverbal and verbal capabilities, increased perceptual sensitivity, and even protection against aging – including delaying the onset of dementia.

...sounds worthwhile, doesn’t it?

Here are 7 actionable tips to increase our neuroplasticity:

#1 - Find clarity

Knowing exactly what you want to accomplish, and more importantly, why you want to accomplish it, is key to making any real long-term changes.

It’s never too late to revive your core values and pursue your interests.?No matter how old you are, you can still cultivate passion, explore interests and improve your language skills.?

In other words, when you’re fulfilled and participating in activities that actually matter to you, you’re more likely to continue the behaviors that challenge your brain and increase your neuroplasticity… a positive feedback loop.

#2 - Set meaningful goals?

After finding clarity, you’ll be able to focus on creating meaningful goals to set for yourself and a better understanding of which ones to target first.?

Goal setting is essential to prepare yourself for lifelong learning, and lifelong learning is a critical part of increasing your neuroplasticity.

#3 - Create mini goals

The trick is to take small steps EVERY SINGLE DAY when working toward your goal.?

The last thing you want to do is to overwhelm yourself with too much to do, or worse yet, set such an ambitious goal that you don’t even know where to start.

To help create small steps towards your goal, you can first brainstorm a list of creative ideas to help you get there.?It’s amazing what happens when you fully commit to something…the how just appears.

You can also keep a daily journal (in English) where you can write down one simple task that you can complete each day to make progress. If you can work this into a routine, that’s where the magic happens.??

By focusing on small chunks of progress at a time, you’ll feel more accomplished, more confident and more motivated.

#4 - Practice mindfulness

Self-awareness is essential when developing any new behavior.? It might seem that the word "mindfulness" is overused these days, but I assure you that it's become popular for a reason.

Once you’re more aware of your thoughts and surroundings, and when you’re more awakened to what’s happening in your brain and consciousness, you’ll be more likely to make more meaningful decisions.

At the root of most of our unhealthy behaviors are bad habits and choices. Most of them are at a subconscious level.

According to research, we make an average of 35,000 decisions a day!

If you’re living on autopilot (as most of us are), it’ll likely take extra energy and focus to get used to awakening your prefrontal cortex, the decision-making part of your brain, before creating any new habits.

Practicing mindfulness is a critical part of awakening your consciousness.

?Here are some ideas to get you started:?

• Keep a journal and write about things you’re grateful for
• Develop a consistent morning routine
• Meditate or do breathing exercises
• Practice yoga, tai chi or qigong
• Reconnect with nature
• Commit to an exercise routine
• Regularly detox from social media and the news

Living each day with intention, especially when you set the tone with a morning routine, can better impact your choices and behaviors throughout the whole day.?

#5 - Carefully select your circle of influence

Your circle of influence is powerful. After all, you become who you most spend time with, so make it count. Allow people who align with your core values into your circle.

By spending more time with people who align with these values, you’ll most likely create meaningful growth experiences for yourself that will help increase your neuroplasticity.

The more you spend time with the right people and activities the more you’ll find yourself with increased energy and trigger the active decision-making part of your brain.

#6 - Create an exercise routine

Exercise and neuroplasticity go hand in hand. According to a 2013 study, greater amounts of physical activity lead to less cortical atrophy, better brain function and enhanced cognitive function.

Whether it’s intense and strenuous anaerobic or light and sustained aerobic exercise, try to fit into your daily schedule some form of regular exercise activity. ?

#7: Stop procrastinating

The longer you wait to change your behavior and habits, the harder it’ll be to increase your brain plasticity. And if you stop procrastinating, your brain will be less likely to fall victim to the use it or lose it principle.

Creating a new habit takes an average of 66 days.

While measuring your neuroplasticity isn’t a practical test you can conduct on your own, you can certainly keep track of your habits to measure the rewiring of your brain.

The reason why tracking new habits is a solid way to measure the rewiring of your brain is that the majority of your daily decisions and habits are done subconsciously. It takes conscious decision-making (in your prefrontal cortex) to form a new habit.?As soon as something becomes a habit, the behavior is done on the subconscious level again.

?Remember, your behavior is in your control.?

By practicing the above-mentioned tips, you will ultimately create more neural pathways and maintain cognitive functioning as you age.

Take a few moments to consider which steps you'd like to incorporate into your daily/weekly ritual to increase those powers of neuroplasticity.?

Are there any others you would add to the list?? Let me know in the comments.

If you’d like to have a chat about creating goals to improve your professional English communication skills, I’d love to hear from you!

Warm regards,

Heather

Website: www.myenglishtherapy.com / E-mail: heather@myenglishtherapy