Summary of 6 principles to follow:
- Escape the routine: seek discovery, novelty, develop curiosity (hey no it's not a bad default!)
- Escape the infobes: avoid too much information (social networks and cie ...)
- Avoid psychotropic drugs
- Practice sports or a minimum of regular physical activity
- Fleeing social isolation: going to others
- Have a varied and healthy diet (intestinal flora acting on neurogenesis)
Note that "avoid alcohol and / or drugs" is not in the list
You've just turned fifty, or maybe you're older than that? You probably do not imagine that in this region of your brain that is called the hippocampus, a key structure for the formation of your memories and for the good management of your emotions, all the neurons present at the time Your birth has since been replaced by neurons freshly produced from stem cells of the brain.
We all have the potential to regenerate our brain, at any age. Only there are conditions to respect so that this fountain of youth can spring up, as the research on animals shows. Take a mouse in a standard breeding and put it in a cage devoid of congeners, sanitized, with invariant food, without objects to discover during his explorations. Basically hell and prison, in his mouse life. You will find that in two to three weeks, the production of new neurons in his brain will have been reduced by 50%. This unfortunate mouse, you will also stress and you will see that this production will disappear completely.
Take the same mouse and place it this time in an enriched, stimulating universe. You will place new objects in her cage, congeners with whom she can communicate on a daily basis. You will offer her some physical exercise, by installing a small wheel on which she will be able to train. In the space of a few weeks, it will have tripled the production rate of new neurons. In the first experiment, we see that the brain is destroyed by the effect of the routine. In the second, we realize that the brain feeds on change.
A nursery with neurons in our brain
This is true because we house in our brain a kind of nursery in which are housed neuronal stem cells. The same ones that made it possible to build our brains at the embryonic age and that we took with us after birth. Thanks to this device, at the very moment you are reading me, new neurons are springing up in your brain. But to produce them, there are six principles to satisfy. And it is not sitting down without doing anything that will happen ...
First principle: you have to open up to change and run away from routine. Socrates tells us: wisdom begins with wonder. We are talking about the wonder of learning and understanding. It's about respecting the libido sciendi, the desire to learn and understand the human being.
Let's move on to the second principle. The brain is malleable because it is "informable". This is indeed the information that invites our brain circuits to regenerate, but what kind of information are we talking about? Today we are facing a real problem. We live in a digital ecosystem so without doing anything, we are bombarded with information. We must learn to fight against this overflow. We subscribe to blogs, letters. Our phones are ringing, vibrating. We realize that this type of information, which just leads us to know, is deleterious.
The brain bombarded with information, who knows but does not understand, is doomed to anxiety. As a subject I become a spectator, instead of being an actor. It is important for all of us to sort out the useful information, that is, the information that makes us understand, and to leave out the futile information that just makes us aware. This one, we do not want more! In other words, my second principle invites us to fight against infobesity.
Third principle: let's keep the easy temptation of anxiolytics and sleeping pills. Because the purpose of these substances is precisely not to let emerge this brain that seeks to understand. Do not want to mull over going to work? We will give you substances with which you will walk in the automatic brain, the very brain that is useful to know but not to understand. By taking these medications in a chronic way, you can no longer satisfy the first principle that is, I remind you: open to change and give meaning to this change.
The fourth principle is to fight sedentariness. Because science tells us that in physical activity, the muscles produce chemicals called trophic factors. Through the blood, these act on the brain and in particular on the nursery, the fountain of youth, and encourage him to produce more neurons. There is a direct correlation between muscle activity and the production of new neurons. So, choose the walk, rather than the subway or the car.
Exposing oneself to others
Fifth principle: take note that our brain is a true echo chamber of the other, of our neighbor. We do not have control over certain parts of our brain, whose commitment depends on exposure to others, the alter ego. This is called, globally, the social brain. In other words, the more you cultivate your otherness, flee isolation, the more your brain will be inclined to produce new neurons.
There is still a sixth principle to respect. Very recently, the neurosciences associated with microbiology have taught us that there is an intestinal flora whose communication with the brain is permanent. Depending on your diet, especially if you consume fiber and a varied diet, you will encourage the proliferation of certain bacterial species that will contribute to this proliferation of neurons. Conversely, if your food becomes little varied, high in sugar and fat, you will promote the proliferation of bacterial species that are real locks, blocking the production of new neurons, and whatever your age.
The ancient quest for immortality
Here are the six principles stated, it is now up to you to use this potential. Of course, when we talk about stem cells and neurogenesis, which is neuron production in the course of life, that probably resonates with you. We are immersed in the myths that accompanied the birth of civilization, at the time of the invention of writing by the Sumerian people - the famous epic of Gilgamesh, this legendary tale of the quest for immortality, or closer to us, the famous Goethe Faust. These are parables about the suffering of humanity that sees a possible redemption through eternity.
Far be it from me to come and feed or prolong these myths! In fact, here we are faced with a scientific discovery that carries with it all the seeds of a true scientific revolution, calling for the renewal of methods of education, an objective definition of the famous well-being of mental health, of invent new therapeutic strategies, both neurologically and psychiatrically, mainly mood disorders, based on the presence of these neuronal stem cells.
Everyone at our level, we have the power to take advantage of this scientific revolution, personally, but also vis-à-vis others. Goethe's famous maxim says: Treat people the way they should be and help them become what they can be. This power, you hold it in your hands. Enjoy!
