Mental fitness - the hippocampus workout
The Brain's File Manager
You might ask, “What is the hippocampus?” Deep inside each hemisphere of our brain is a structure that controls our emotions and memory. The hippocampus is part of this structure. It is our memory indexer. You might think of the hippocampus as the document manager of your mind. It maintains your brain’s filing system, filing away your important memories and retrieving them when called on to do so. It is also your brains navigation system, helping you find your way around. And it’s your brain’s learning center.
Researchers have found that sustained stress can damage the hippocampus. During a stressful situation, your hippocampus tells your hypothalamus to secrete cortisol, a hormone which over time destroys hippocampus cells. When cortisol rises to a certain level, the hippocampus will tell the hypothalamus to quit producing cortisol. Thus a healthy hippocampus will keep the cortisol level in your body in check. During the normal aging process, the hippocampus may shrink 20-25%. When this happens, the hippocampus fails to function properly and fails to regulate the amount of stress produced cortisol. Elevated cortisol prevents the hippocampus from laying down a new memory or even accessing stored memories. Cortisol also destroys hippocampus cells, making the hippocampus even less effective in regulating the cortisol levels.
Since none of us can avoid growing older, if left unchecked the hippocampus would shrink over time. Aging is stressful. Financial concerns may burden you. People you know are dying more and more frequently. Physical problems or health worries might add to your stress. You may worry about having to move to a nursing home. As these stresses push against you, your hippocampus begins to shrink more rapidly. Your inability to remember or access stored memories may further cause stress in your life, causing your hippocampus to degenerate further.
The good news is that the hippocampus has a remarkable ability to regenerate itself. In adults of all ages, new hippocampus cells can be made daily. But these cells are only made when we exercise the learning and memory function of our brain. If you don’t exercise your hippocampus, it will not regenerate itself. If you don’t use your hippocampus you will definitely lose it. In order to stay mentally fit, we need to regularly give our hippocampus a good mental work out.
If you quit learning new things, fall into a mindless routine, stick with the things you know how to do, avoid challenging your mind, and quit venturing out into new territory, over time your hippocampus will shrink. If we regularly exercise our hippocampus, we can cause it to replace the cells it is losing or even cause it to grow.
How do we give our hippocampus a good mental work out? Listed below are a few ideas to consider.
1. Learn something new every day
2. Regularly meet new people
3. Do memory puzzles, crossword puzzles, sudoku puzzles
4. Quit using your calculator
5. Learn a new language, like French and reward yourself by taking a trip to France.
6. Memorize a poem, or a quote, or verses from the Bible
7. Take a different route home every day
8. Fill your life with rich, rewarding experiences
9. Keep up with the latest technologies
10. Don’t retire
11. Become an expert in some field
As you begin your hippocampus workout program, please note that in order for the hippocampus to regenerate itself, you must maintain a healthy lifestyle and get plenty of sleep.
I am going to leave you with this final thought. Imagine yourself at age 90. If you should live that long, what do you want to be like? What do you want to be able to do? What do you want your life to be like? What steps are you taking today to reach that goal? If we aim at nothing, we will most certainly hit it.