This article was co-authored by Michael Lewis, MD, MPH, MBA, FACPM, FACN. Michael D. Lewis, MD, MPH, MBA, FACPM, FACN, is an expert on nutritional interventions for brain health, particularly the prevention and rehabilitation of brain injury. In 2012 upon retiring as a Colonel after 31 years in the U.S. Army, he founded the nonprofit Brain Health Education and Research Institute. He is in private practice in Potomac, Maryland, and is the author of "When Brains Collide: What every athlete and parent should know about the prevention and treatment of concussions and head injuries." He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and Tulane University School of Medicine. He completed post-graduate training at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Dr. Lewis is board certified and a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine and American College of Nutrition.
There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
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Recent research shows that there are many ways that you can actually increase the size of your brain. For example, a new study on language acquisition indicates that learning a new language can actually help the brain to physically increase in size, which can lead to better overall brain function.
If you want to grow your brain, follow these steps:
Steps
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1Learn a new language. It has always been known that learning a new language will grow your perspective, but learning a language really can help your brain to grow.[1]
- Scientists in a brain study at the Swedish Armed Forces Interpreter Academy studies the brains of several dozen students. These students are required in this academy to learn a language (including Arabic and Russian) very quickly - in just 13 months! Researchers compared their brains to brains of medical students who must learn a great deal of information quickly, but without the concentration on language.
- The scientists found that the brains of those learning languages showed large amounts of growth in the cerebral cortex and in the hippocampus. The brains of the medical students did not show such growth.
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2Exercise.[2] It has been proven: The more you run, the more your brain cells will grow. In 1999, researchers at the Salk Institute proved that mice that were forced to run on a hamster wheel gained new cells in their hippocampus.[3] Interestingly, mice with the bigger brains were then able to better remember the path through a maze.Advertisement
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3Dance. Dancing has been shown to be excellent for growing the brain, because it combines several stimuli at once. You are mixing exercise, coordination, music, balance, rhythm and also social contact.[4] In fact, a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 indicated that people who dance have the lowest dementia risk of all activities studied.[5]
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5Eat well. The quality of the food you eat affects the quality of your thought processes. You should make sure you eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and fish, especially salmon, which is high in omega-3 and is really good for the health of your brain.[8]
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6Be with trees. In zoos around the world, it has been found that cages that have more greenery, such as trees and bushes, makes the animals (such as monkeys) happier and more peaceful.
- Also, neurologists have observed that their brains show increased neuronal growth when they are in such enriched environments.
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7Have sex. A study exists that shows that having sex can promote the growth of brain cells. The study notes that having sex one time will actually cause a surge in stress hormones, which is not good for the brain. Only with a lot of sex do those stress hormones fade, and the brain growth begins![9]
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8Think. Last but never least, intense thought and learning is believed to stimulate the growth of new brain cells. As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways to grow your brain is to learn a new language. Several studies indicate that increased cognitive activities, from language learning to doing puzzles to reading, can lead to increased neurogenesis.
References
- ↑ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121008082953.htm
- ↑ https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110
- ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041311300377X
- ↑ https://socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/smarter.htm
- ↑ https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022252
- ↑ https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/understanding-Sleep
- ↑ https://n.neurology.org/content/83/11/967
- ↑ https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/brain-foods-for-children
- ↑ https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/can-you-grow-new-brain-cells
- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121008082953.htm - research source
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10195220 - research source
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