Are Your Habits Shrinking Your Brain?

We share a quick invitation to our May 12 book launch party in Lancaster, then dig into neuroplasticity and why the brain can keep adapting well into adulthood. We lay out simple, realistic ways to “bush up” your brain with novelty, small challenges, and better rest so you can stay resilient and sharp as you get older.
• book launch party details and what to expect in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 
• what neuroplasticity means and how the brain forms new pathways 
• why repeating the same routines can limit brain growth 
• meeting new people as a practical way to build new connections 
• easy novelty ideas like dancing, new music, new routes, and new skills 
• using small challenges to build confidence and calm the amygdala 
• prioritising sleep, evening wind-down, and morning light for brain health 

If you're near Central Pennsylvania, I'd love to have you join me for my book launch! Get on the list at https://maryrothwell.net/launchparty/

Transcript

Book Launch Party Announcement

Mary 0:00

Hi, and welcome to a mini episode of No Shrinking Violets. So, first, I want to share with you that I have found a date for my book launch party, May 12th. It's in the evening. Um, and it's in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. So if you're in central Pennsylvania, I would love to have you join us. It is really gonna be a fun time. We have fun things in the swag bag. Um, there's going to be a photo booth. I'm going to be interviewed, and you will have the chance to ask questions and of course purchase my book. And it's just going to be just a fun time to gather and talk plants and mental health. Okay, so speaking of mental health, what I want to talk about today is neuroplasticity. And maybe you've heard the term, maybe you haven't, but brain plasticity or neuroplasticity is the ability for our brain to adapt and learn new things. So the biggest example of this, or I would say the most serious example of this, would be if someone has a brain injury or a stroke and they need to relearn how to do simple things like tie their shoe, feed themselves, all of those things. And if the neural pathways that would typically govern those actions are damaged, then there needs to be new pathways established. So in our brain, our neurons communicate with each other and they communicate with the nerves in our body to create movement. And so when there's damage to the brain or there are there's neural neuron death, something like that, then we need to reestablish new connections. And we all know examples of when that can't happen. You know, there if there's a severe enough injury, but there's also a lot of advancement, a lot of hope in the area of plasticity and um creating new pathways. But in our everyday life, it's important for us to create as many neural connections as we can. So if we do the same thing all the time, we go the same way to work, we only create or invest in the same relationships, then though there's no challenge if we stick to the same activities, the same exercise routine. So one of the most important things in keeping our brain robust and creating our own variety of neuroplasticity. And I had a professor once for a neurology class, and she talked about wanting to bush up. In other words, if you have a shrub or a bush in your garden and you know that if you trim it a certain way, that it's going to actually make it more robust. And when we are babies, we have so many neurons we don't need. And so as we learn as infants, then some of those neurons are going to die off. But as we get older, we want to create more pathways, more ways of neurons communicating with each other. Because of course, as we get older, we also run more of a risk of having situations where thought or memory, cognition, those things may become a little less efficient just because we're getting older. So I want to talk about some things that we can do to boost neuroplasticity just in our everyday life. So one of those things, we all we want to think in terms of new experiences, new adventures. And I think as we get older, we sometimes want to do that less. You know, I know for me, like being home in the evenings and just reading a book and you know, putting my jummy pants on, I love that. But we also just moved to a new city, which is an entirely different existence from where we lived before. And part of the reason we did that was to quote bush up, as my old professor would say. So one of the new things you can do is to meet new people. And there's a really cool um option here. There's um uh someone in my new city and he writes a newsletter. And one of the things that he does is offer to coordinate surprise dinners once a month. So you fill out a questionnaire, and I haven't done this yet because we haven't been here long enough to be able to have a date that works for us, but you fill out a questionnaire and he will randomly connect you with other people. And so when you show up to the dinner and you find out the location, I think it's that day, um, you're seated with people you don't know. And so it's but it's the perfect way to get to know somebody new and you start with some things in common, which is kind of cool. So if there are ways in your own life to meet new people, that can really help make different connections because as we get to know someone, we're looking for similarities. We naturally figure out what our differences are, but we try to find ways to connect. And a simple first step to doing that is when you're out in public, don't be looking at your phone. Look around or sit in a park, or you know, just if you're in the grocery store, actually look around and notice who is around you. And that's kind of a good first step. Another idea is to dance. And I think that sounds funny, but I love to dance. So if you are making dinner or you're vacuuming, you know, work a few dance steps in there, put some earbuds in. Um, if you're driving, listen to a different radio station. That's the other thing, a different kind of music. You know, I'm a classic rock girl for the most part. Um, I also love blues, but listening to something different, even if you don't do it for very long because you know, like that's not really literally your jam, but listening to different music creates different pathways because the music is one of the things that makes a really robust brain, especially if you play an instrument. So you could try to learn a new instrument, you could try to learn a language, um, take up a different kind of exercise. So, of course, as people get older, for some reason they want to play pickleball. That is a great exercise because you're coordinating movement of your large muscle groups in a way that you typically don't. So drive a different way to work. You know, anything that is a little bit of a change, sleep on the other side of the bed, you know. Um, if you have a partner that you sleep with, then maybe that could be a little adventure that you switch sides of the bed for a little bit. Anything that is a little bit out of your comfort zone, you want to be a little bit uncomfortable too. Because what that shows you is that you can do it. And it doesn't have to be perfect. Um, it doesn't have to be something where you sail through it, it's okay to be a little nervous because that also helps with your limbic system, which is your emotional system, because you're amygdala, which is that smoke detector that's always looking for stuff to worry about. If you go into these novel situations and you have success there, then you're also convincing your brain that you can do new things and it's okay. I usually do the mini crossword puzzle, the New York Times. Um, and it only, you know, that is one where I'm not good at the big crossword puzzles. I don't, I it frustrates me not to finish them. But the mini is really more about working fast. And I don't always get it done. And I don't always get it done in the the best time, but you can have it fill in the answers for you if you get, you know, too far in and you can't finish it. But trying to challenge yourself with games, you could get those word-a-day calendars so that every day you are learning a new word, or there might be a simple brain teaser, and it can be fun and it can also keep you off your phone. If doing an activity on your phone is gonna get you going down a rabbit hole where you're on your phone too long, well, that kind of defeats the purpose. So you could do something like that, you know, have a maybe it's an email that you get each day that will give you a little fun fact. Or I I do love the page a day calendars because you can just quickly tear it off, consume the information, and go on with your day, and it keeps your brain engaged. And the last thing, which you've heard me talk about this a lot, especially in past episodes, get enough rest. And I think that we still have this idea that I will rest later, I don't have time to do that now. But even if you just try to prioritize a bedtime, because the more you get into a routine, the more your brain loves the routine. There's a reason that it we go to bed in the dark, because our melatonin naturally surges when the sun goes down. And taking melaton is totally not the same thing. So you want to try to get the melatonin in your brain to naturally do its thing. And that means try to be outside as the sun is setting, try to wind down as it starts to get dark, put your phone on, do not disturb. Do things where it's telling your brain we're gonna be going to bed soon, turning the lights lower in the house. And in the morning, try to see the sunrise. If that's too early for you, at least go out and get a good shot of sunlight in the morning because going when the light enters your eyes, it tells your brain, okay, we want to start to produce more cortisol, which is what wakes us up. Now, too much cortisol, that's a whole other topic. That's not related to what we're talking about here, but trying to get the right amount of rest and getting yourself on a schedule is really important. So anything you can think about to try to have novel activities, different things, read a different kind of book, try to make new connections, do different activities, something you haven't done before. And that's going to help your brain bush up. That's gonna help your neural connections be much more plentiful. And, you know, as we get older, that can really help us maintain a cog a higher cognitive ability. Okay, real quick, I have a new coffee shop to report on in my new town, my town of Lancaster. I went to the Lancaster pie and coffee shop, Lancaster Pie and Coffee. First of all, I got cherry pie. My mom was a great pie maker, so my litmus test is always sour cherry pie. It was delicious. The coffee was good and strong, very good, highly recommend. Next week, we're going to be traveling to Cincinnati, and so I will be able to report from Cincinnati, and I can already tell you that I have a favorite breakfast place where the coffee is yummo, and that is Sleepy Bee. They have several locations in Cincinnati. So, anyway, that's my report for the week. That's my thought, neuroplasticity. So thanks for listening, and until next time, go out into the world and be the amazing, resilient, vibrant violet that you are.