Rewiring Revolution:Neuroplasticity's Impact on Wellbeing | Kristen Meisenheimer | TEDxSanLuisObispo

if you are depressed you are living in the past if you are anxious you were living in the future if you're at peace you are living in the present three sentences by the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu that are incredibly simple yet so powerful three sentences that suggest when we let our mind wander from the present moment we suffer sometimes that suffering can keep us up at night or make it so we don't want to get out of bed in the morning and sometimes that suffering can be so severe that it ultimately leads to mental health issues or relationship problems so how do we be more in the moment there's a hot topic in the neuroscience world called neuroplasticity maybe some of you've heard the term before even read about it Neuros plasticity suggests that our brains can change in response to our thoughts lifestyle and environment to demonstrate let me try a quick experiment with a show of hands how many of you made a new year's resolution this year how many of you kept your resolution this year resolutions represent new beginnings a chance to break bad habits or get healthier in some way here is the reality if you stuck to your resolution you are able to successfully rewire your brain in other words you utilize the plasticity in your brain to rewire the old route that normally fed that negative habit or thinking pattern to a new route that led to something healthier for those of you who are unable to stick to your resolution don't give up you're rewiring can still be changed it may be that old neural pathway is just a little more deeply rooted and requires a little more effort to lift my name is dr. Kristen Mies and heimer some of you may recognize me from teaching the organic chemistry series here at Cal Poly one of my most rewarding accomplishments here at Cal Poly was developing a course in my sincere passion neural chemistry and after 18 years I decided to follow that passion even further by taking a year-long break from teaching to pursue research at Vanderbilt University's Center for Neuroscience drug discovery my goal here today is to have you leave this auditorium being more mindful of your day-to-day thoughts and realize the enormous impact they have on your overall well-being due to the plasticity of your brain but before I delve into that let's get a little more familiar with the terminology used when discussing this topic to reiterate neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to rewire connections in response to our thoughts lifestyle and environment this rewiring happens on three levels chemical structural and functional on a chemical level neuroplasticity involves the changes in the concentrations of small molecules in our brain called neurotransmitters such as serotonin the neurotransmitter commonly associated with well-being these small molecules basically serve as a to-do list sent from one nerve cell called a neuron to the next when the receiving neuron gets the list it is then told what to do neuroplasticity on a structural level involves the growth of new neurons or making new connections between neurons kind of like building a new overpass that connects one highway to now a completely different highway and lastly if we continue to take that new overpass we would affect our brain on a functional level this is because that region of the brain is now more accessible and thus more easily activated from this repeated use since we're on the subject of driving let's think about the route you drive to school or work every day you probably go on autopilot because it feels so familiar and comfortable but if you were to change the route you drive not only would you be changing that route you would also be altering connections in your brain as you experience different sites and traffic and stops and at first those changes happen on a chemical neurotransmitter level but if you continue to take that route you would begin to weaken the old route connections and strengthen the new route connections until that became the new autopilot to get on a personal level we all have that one somebody maybe it's a co-worker an acquaintance or a family member who drives us a little crazy what if I told you that that exact person is your best neuroplasticity teacher you would probably reply to me how is that possible it is because in actuality it is your response to the interaction that you have complete control of not that person now keep in mind I am in no way referring to a person who is physically or verbally abusive towards you or treats you with disrespect I'm talking about that person who just quickly drains your patience you know what that feeling you get your heart and breathing rate quick and you started to tense up and suddenly recite in your head really why do you remind a body react that way it's because you have successfully trained your mind to take that neural pathway even though it leaves you completely stressed out and many studies indicate that chronic stress can lead to anxiety and depression therefore I would like to illustrate the effects of stress on their brains neural plasticity but to do this I have to get a little technical stay with me here there are three regions in the brain that are associated with anxiety and depression there's the hippocampus the amygdala and prefrontal cortex research has proven that chronic stress can cause dynamic structural changes to neurons in these three regions of the brain via neural plasticity to explain these changes and the negative impact they carry I need to quickly review the anatomy of a neuron a neuron is a highly specialized cell that receives processes and transmits electrical and chemical signals to neighboring neurons the neuron is composed of three basic components the dendrites the part that receives the incoming signal from the previous neuron the cell body the part that processes that signal and the axon the part that finally transmits that signal to the next neuron small petrosian's called dendritic spines up above can exist on the surface of the dendrites and they make connections with the axon terminals of neighboring neurons through a tiny gap called the synapse and what is fascinating about these dendritic spines is that they can appear and disappear within minutes or hours based on the strength of that incoming signal if that bend writes itself can also grow and shrink it is these structural changes to the dendrites and dendritic spines that modify the connectivity and ultimately the communication between neurons now I would like to relate how chronic stress and neuroplasticity affect the morphology of these dendrites animals studies found that neurons in the prefrontal cortex amygdala and hippocampus are highly plastic and show repeated exposure to stress and remember that these are the three regions in the brain associated with anxiety and depression the prefrontal cortex serves as your coordinator and decision-maker of the brain and the hippocampus is made we associated with memory both have pretty important function in the hippocampus in the prefrontal cortex dendrites of certain neurons shrink and dendritic spines retract upon exposure to repeated stress therefore stress causes a decrease in connectivity and a weakening in the communication of neurons in these two regions of the brain the amygdala an area in the brain associated with fear and anxiety has the exact opposite response chronic stroke chronic stress results in an increase in dendritic length and spine growth in certain neurons so in this case we are enhancing the connectivity and communication between neurons in the region of our brain associated with fear and anxiety the take-home message here is that these stress induced structural changes to neurons in these three important regions of the brain can lead to functional changes that negatively impact our mental health so with this in mind could we use this plasticity to positively impact our mental health the answer is yes we can let's look at an extreme example first many of you may have heard of the research involving psilocybin the psychoactive compound found in mushrooms to treat anxiety and depression now being on a college campus and seeing some of you in the audience you grew up in the 60s or 70s you may be familiar with psilocybin no of course not these non-traditional psychological studies have been done at UCLA Johns Hopkins and New York universities the research involves volunteers who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer and are suffering from cancer related anxiety and depression the volunteers who are taken on a psychedelic journey in the presence of two clinically trained monitors this guided trip serves as a means to alleviate the cancer-related anxiety of depression while taking advantage of the increase increased plasticity of the brain while under the influence of the psychedelic drug this slide by vacker inna Petri and co-workers demonstrates a map of the brain's interconnectivity while under the influence of a a placebo and B psilocybin you can see that thousands of new connections form while under the influence of psilocybin the brain is more plastic and thus more easily rewired the results report that 80% of cancer patients who have undergone this non-traditional type of therapy have shown clinically significant decreases in their depression and anxiety and these benefits even continued six months after the initial psilocybin session now before I move on I want to emphasize that I am in no way encouraging people to try this at home these psychedelic studies are tightly monitored and carefully regulated by trained clinicians okay so that would be the neuroplasticity crash course in rewiring but when it comes to our everyday lives how can we attempt to rewire our brains to have a more positive well-being here are three short words made famous by ROM das that might accomplish this be here now two Harvard psychologists Killingsworth and Gilbert tracked over 2,000 adults using an iPhone app asking three questions what are you doing are you thinking about something else other than what you're doing and how are you feeling the results of this research app found that humans spend 47 percent of their time not paying attention to what they're doing they also found that people were less happy when their minds wandered now we're all guilty of this right I know at this very moment some of you have your phone in your hand or are going through withdrawal effects because you have it stored away in your purse or pocket I have no saint when it comes to my phone addiction either but how about if we made a conscious effort to be present to put our phones away when we're hanging out with our friends and family or just even walking down the street because research has shown that being present is a necessary component to your own happiness someone with great insight into the state of being present is Pema Chodron Pema Chodron is an American Tibetan Buddhist who has wonderful teachings on what the Buddhists call Champa and we might refer to as attachment it does not matter what religion you practice or believe in children's teaching onsh EMPA are applicable to everyone an example of Champa is that situation I described earlier regarding the person who causes you chronic stress and anxiety chema defines that habitual moment that we mentally close down and become aggravated or anxious as the hook your normal response is to react but the key here is recognising the hook and realizing that you have a decision to bite or not bite to not take that same neural pathway you have taken time and time again that is led to only suffering so how do we learn how to swim away from the hook children suggest that meditation is an essential component to identifying Champa and to reel and to be able to relax in this situation and not react meditation can also help train our minds to be more in the present moment some of you will instantly reject the idea of meditation you'll say I can't meditate because I'm too busy or I've tried it before and I think too much I'm just terrible at it you can meditate and to show you I'm going to lead you on a very short mindfulness meditation mindfulness meditation is where the meditator pays close attention to the present moment without judgment when the mind wanders and it will a lot gently nudge it back to the present by returning to your breath all right you ready let's start by sitting upright in your chair both feet on the floor rest your hands and your lap relax and close your eyes if that feels comfortable let's start by taking three short breaths through your nose or I should say let's take three long breaths when your mind wanders label that thought as thinking come back to the present by returning to your breath let's take one more deep breath and then open our eyes I hope that very short practice demonstrated the ease of mindfulness meditation the more you practice the more you'll notice just how much your mind drifts away from the present moment with daily practice you'll become more aware of your thought patterns and the powerful impact they have on your mental health a great time to do meditation practice is anytime you feel anxious stressed or worried or sad which in this fast-paced interconnected world can happen way more than we would like and it's no wonder if you turn on the news you would think we live in a world completely lacking of compassion because all of the focus is on hate instilling fear crazy politics and violence I don't know about you but when I step out into this world I don't experience that I experience mainly generosity love and kindness so let's start a rewiring revolution of our brain by being more in the present moment for ourselves and others presence is a gift you can give freely let's think more positively about ourselves and others having just learned the powerful impact your thoughts have on your own well-being due to the plasticity of your brain and let's let compassion towards ourselves and others create ripples of kindness around us pay it forward forgive help someone in need smile at a stranger and be grateful for every day and soon those small ripples generated will swell into massive waves of love and respect for ourselves and others and those small ripples generated and waves due to the plasticity of your brain will help me you more than you could ever imagine it has been a blessing to be here now thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 112,417

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Science, Body language, Health, Neuroscience

Id: akoL5RAee9w

Length: 20min 11sec (1211 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 10 2019