Limping Toward Brain Fray
I am not old enough for Medicare but I am old enough that my children are having children.
I am not old enough to recall The Great Depression but I am old enough to cringe at my mother's hardship.
It wasn't until recently that I became aware that the brain is capable of creating new neural pathways.
The result is balanced neural pathways, balanced reactions to outside stimuli and higher emotional thresholds.
This catapults mankind into the not-as-mysterious-as-it-once-was framework of our logical brain/illogical emotions is exciting at the least.
The results are not an end in themselves but the beginning of a desperate quest for individual and collective peace, harmony and renewed creativity in a species lacking in both.
Wouldn't 'ya know it? This move toward individual and collective emotional wellness, in a world crippled by its odd need to limp through life, is naturally infused with its own unique element of surprise.
For one, let's consider why athletes' reflexes slow around the age of 40.
It all has to do with those fascinating neural pathways in the brain.
How fast an athlete moves depends on how fast the athlete's brain cells fire off commands to their muscles.
Fast firing all depends on the integrity of the insulation around the brain's wiring.
As the athlete ages, recent research at UCLA suggests that insulation in the brain's motor control area begins to lose integrity.
In other words, the brain's wiring begins to fray, simultaneously slowing its firing operation and the body's physical response to commands.
There is a substance called myelin, a fat, that coats nerve fibers.
When myelin in the brain is healthy it is a thick insulation around nerve fibers.
Healthy myelin, for instance, during adolescence, prompts speedy electrical conduction of brain signals that command muscles.
Perhaps this explains why youngsters are prone to "act before they think".
Perhaps their brains' perfect myelin health prompts them to act before their thought unfolds! Anyway, around 40 years of age, research is finding that myelin around nerve fibers is compromised, allowing the nerve fibers to fray, delaying the electric signal commanding the body to move which results in slower reaction time.
Research has graciously yielded a few eye-opening clues to maintaining healthy myelin and repairing compromised myelin.
- Keep active! Unused neural pathways, weak in myelin,will not send out a "help signal".
Physical and mental activity may encourage myelin repair.
So if you are 40 or older you need to be concentrating on "repair".
Myelin may be damaged by stress hormones.
Studies are being conducted on whether the consumption of omega-3-fatty acids promotes healthy myelin.
Perhaps taking steps to maintain myelin health in our brain is as wise and as necessary to our brain as eating protein is to our muscles.
Both a balanced brain and myelin health may be worth more consideration.
It may alter our reactions to outside stimuli I wasn't alive during The Great Depression but according to my mother who survived it, the only thing "Great" about it was the great amount of misery it inflicted upon a nation.
We must avoid another at all cost.
We need new ideas on how to avoid meltdown, achieve emotional wellness and promote peace on earth all while" thinking green".
There is a lot on our plates and It is obvious that we could use some new tools to reach our goals.
No doubt we are poised on the rim of many amazing technological advancements when it comes to the human brain.
Individually, we play life-changing and potentially world-changing roles in this universe.
I would love to experience our future on this planet with enlightened objectives made possible by improved emotional health and mental clarity.
For centuries, mankind has witnessed the results of individual, human energy.
These people were often called "blessed".
Today, we say they are "famous".
Can you imagine the results of unifying our collective energy around the globe? If each of us paid attention to our brain health, pursued its potential then united in our health and strength, our planet would be revolutionized and our universe, mesmerized!
I am not old enough to recall The Great Depression but I am old enough to cringe at my mother's hardship.
It wasn't until recently that I became aware that the brain is capable of creating new neural pathways.
The result is balanced neural pathways, balanced reactions to outside stimuli and higher emotional thresholds.
This catapults mankind into the not-as-mysterious-as-it-once-was framework of our logical brain/illogical emotions is exciting at the least.
The results are not an end in themselves but the beginning of a desperate quest for individual and collective peace, harmony and renewed creativity in a species lacking in both.
Wouldn't 'ya know it? This move toward individual and collective emotional wellness, in a world crippled by its odd need to limp through life, is naturally infused with its own unique element of surprise.
For one, let's consider why athletes' reflexes slow around the age of 40.
It all has to do with those fascinating neural pathways in the brain.
How fast an athlete moves depends on how fast the athlete's brain cells fire off commands to their muscles.
Fast firing all depends on the integrity of the insulation around the brain's wiring.
As the athlete ages, recent research at UCLA suggests that insulation in the brain's motor control area begins to lose integrity.
In other words, the brain's wiring begins to fray, simultaneously slowing its firing operation and the body's physical response to commands.
There is a substance called myelin, a fat, that coats nerve fibers.
When myelin in the brain is healthy it is a thick insulation around nerve fibers.
Healthy myelin, for instance, during adolescence, prompts speedy electrical conduction of brain signals that command muscles.
Perhaps this explains why youngsters are prone to "act before they think".
Perhaps their brains' perfect myelin health prompts them to act before their thought unfolds! Anyway, around 40 years of age, research is finding that myelin around nerve fibers is compromised, allowing the nerve fibers to fray, delaying the electric signal commanding the body to move which results in slower reaction time.
Research has graciously yielded a few eye-opening clues to maintaining healthy myelin and repairing compromised myelin.
- Keep active! Unused neural pathways, weak in myelin,will not send out a "help signal".
Physical and mental activity may encourage myelin repair.
So if you are 40 or older you need to be concentrating on "repair".
Myelin may be damaged by stress hormones.
Studies are being conducted on whether the consumption of omega-3-fatty acids promotes healthy myelin.
Perhaps taking steps to maintain myelin health in our brain is as wise and as necessary to our brain as eating protein is to our muscles.
Both a balanced brain and myelin health may be worth more consideration.
It may alter our reactions to outside stimuli I wasn't alive during The Great Depression but according to my mother who survived it, the only thing "Great" about it was the great amount of misery it inflicted upon a nation.
We must avoid another at all cost.
We need new ideas on how to avoid meltdown, achieve emotional wellness and promote peace on earth all while" thinking green".
There is a lot on our plates and It is obvious that we could use some new tools to reach our goals.
No doubt we are poised on the rim of many amazing technological advancements when it comes to the human brain.
Individually, we play life-changing and potentially world-changing roles in this universe.
I would love to experience our future on this planet with enlightened objectives made possible by improved emotional health and mental clarity.
For centuries, mankind has witnessed the results of individual, human energy.
These people were often called "blessed".
Today, we say they are "famous".
Can you imagine the results of unifying our collective energy around the globe? If each of us paid attention to our brain health, pursued its potential then united in our health and strength, our planet would be revolutionized and our universe, mesmerized!
