Build your Neuroplasticity

Tips from a Brain surgeon

Sometimes a book catches my attention and I keep talking about it… It’s definitely the case with Life Lessons from A Brain Surgeon by Dr Jandial Rahul. But before you rush to buy it, as a friend reminded me ‘it’s not for a faint hearted’. Indeed Dr Rahul often describes the brain operations he conducted in details, but it’s sometimes just too visual!

Throughout the book however there are NEURO GYM boxes with easy tips to follow. I really liked the one called BUILD YOUR NEUROPLASTICITY and the three tips the author gives.

Use your nondominant hand

According to Dr Rahul, this ‘will force the movement areas of your central cerebral cortex to recruit idle neurons to the task’. I’m now brushing my teeth holding my toothbrush with my left - ie nondominant- hand and I’m very thankful it is an electrical one.

I’ve also started to practise writing with my left hand. As you see from the image below, there is a lot of room for progress… I’m feeling a bit like I’m going back to primary school!

Acquire a new language

Even if you don’t end up mastering the language, learning a foreign language is a great boost to our neuroplasticity - as well as the cognitive reserve we’ll have access to when we age.

What about learning Sanskrit for yoga? Five years ago, Peter and I created an app to learn the names of yoga poses in Sanskrit. It was great fun. It includes flashcards with information about the benefits of each pose, games to memorise the names of the poses and test to check your knowledge. There is a free as well as a premium version. It’s only available for iphone so far but maybe one day if we found an investor, we’ll develop it for smartphones too ;-) Click on the image below or go to https://yogalingo.net/# to find out more and watch a short video where Peter explains a bit more.

Don’t press “route” on your phone’s map

This one might be the most challenging, and even dangerous, for me! In the past I manage to get lost quite easily and I’m convince that MS had a negative impact on my spatial intelligence.

But I’m willing to give it a try. Quoting Dr Rahul again ‘The main area for memory in the brain, the hippocampus, is also your brain’s GPS’, and there are ‘unique neurons for navigating your way through a city’. So let’s use them!

Of course, exercising is also a great way to improve neuroplasticity, but I find it comforting to know that there are other ways too! I hope you feel the same.

Have fun trying out these!

See you on the mat