'How I rewired my brain in six weeks' - BBC News

There is growing evidence that simple, everyday changes to our lives can alter our brains and change how they work.
 
So how do we keep our brains healthy?
 
BBC journalist Melissa Hogenboom explores the latest scientific research and has her own brain scanned and analysed, with intriguing results.

#Science #Meditation #BBCNews

[maisoonmona]

Summary: Boost your neuroplasticity by reducing stress through meditation.

[sugarfree]

I've been meditating every day for a decade. It works if you stick at it daily. The first six weeks were phenomenal in terms of increases in executive function, mood regulation and the departure of long term depression and anxiety. I began with chanting a Buddhist mantra and still do that every day. My life is transformed.

[Aussie-Zac-Vibes]

Neuroplasticity is awesome.
I was able to rewire my brain to get around the dysfunction causing my Dystonia.
The movement disorder specialists, said Dystonia was incurable and could only be managed with Botox and anti-convulsive medications.
I wasn't prepared to spend the second half of my life spasticated by Dystonia.
I was introduced to neuroplasticity by a specialist chiropractor, who had studied neurology.
It took around 8 months to rewire my brain. I've now been Dystonia free for 11 years.

[tacs]

I can absolutely attest to this. I started ADHD medicine to help me fix my life. I was able to get brief moments of normalcy, but still had ongoing depression, health scares, unhealthy habits, terrible sleep and anxiety. I started diaphragmatic breathing, meditation, regular exercise and more sun exposure (with SPF of course).

The difference is night and day. I feel like my passion for life is returning and I am regaining peace, emotional balance and more physical strength. It is still early days for me, but I am sure if the good habits stick I can re train and heal my brain.

[JasonKAls]

I stumbled upon this vid at 4 in the morning because I couldn't sleep due to physical pain from head to toe and the mental toll. It has all made it difficult to work and be social. The comment section is extremely encouraging. Hoping to have my own success story 🤞🏾

[paulhostler]

Credit should be given to the mystics and yogis who have taught and practiced these techniques for thousands of years before MRI scanners.

[ianmccready]

" Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

[oktavision]

I'd buy this meditation thing anytime, but it's also crucial to spot and identify the intensely competitive and inhumane system we are living into, that's causing the majority of stress and not our brain.

[Ryansedona]

Meditation - 20 minutes every morning has absolutely changed my life for the better. In my case I first needed to deal withy my mental Health, medically. I have a pretty serious family history of depression and anxiety, so i needed to find ( The Right) doctor and the right medication. When I did that I was able to add mediation - and other “ self care” practices and the combination has enabled me to stay mentally healthy and operate at a high level - both in my professional and personal life.

[curlysue]

I have C -PTSD and I’m currently in a trauma recovery group from NHS which I been waiting for for THREE years but that’s another story. We learnt the brush off technique, where you push off the opposite side of your body, so right hand brushes the left side. I’m surprised that they did dent mention the Vagus Nerve and breath work is only one part of it. Good luck to anyone struggling with their mental health. ❤️✌🏼🙏🏼

[Thewolfshehowls]

Meditation made me feel worse at first but, I began to realise that it was bringing unresolved long term trauma to the surface that i was unconscious to. I now welcome it because I am able to then get the root cause and meditation allows me to then release the trapped trauma through crying and tremoring sometimes when I release.

[JillWhitcomb]

I read a study some years ago regarding the work of Einstein and human brains. He discovered that doing something challenging---such as learning a musical instrument, learning a foreign language, learning a new skill--actually changed the grooves and folding patterns in the human brain. No matter what age we are, we can improve by learning something new.

[katerynakochergina]

Thanks for starting this series ! Looking forward to the next episode

[eSKAone-]

Exactly. I'm 40 years old and live in the center of beautiful Heidelberg Germany. I inhabit a flat with 2 students, to save money. I can walk to work (ICU nurse), but I have an old used bike for less then 200 bucks. I don't need to travel. Heidelberg is paradise. No car, no kids. I only work part time so I have enough money for my hobbies: Bouldering, Running, Gaming on Sony PlayStation and Nintendo Switch (if our house burns down, I can't lose those games, I own them in the cloud). Life is beautiful nowadays, why would I waste it at work. I only buy cloths when I really need them, mostly cheap.

You can eat healthy for 5 bucks a day (coffee included). It's easy: stick to things that have only 1 ingredient, but no isolates like sugars and oils (you can throw them together obviously for a meal)

I consider whole grain pasta to be healthy, but you should have them split up in to maximum 2 meals a day. Other than that I eat oats, nuts and vegetables. Only drink water, coffee, and tea without additives. If you're vegan have your vit.B12 and a good source of omega-3 fatty acids (chia seeds, walnuts), maybe vit.D if you're a nightshift worker or not out in the sun much, and you're good. Once in a while if you have an easier day try to eat nothing for that day. I'm 40 years old, athletic, everyone thinks I'm much younger. Take good care of your bodies folks 💟🌌☮️

[trilcegarcia]

Understanding about neuroplasticity cured me of chronic pain. I suffered for 4 years from vulvodynia, a pain that no gynecologist could explain to me until I reached a doctor who diagnosed central sensitization. Understanding, but really UNDERSTANDING that the brain has complex processes but also has this amazing ability to change all the time saved my life. I was able to reset my brain!

[NhanVa]

I remember having some minor surgery years ago and at that point I had never done any kind of drug at all. I didn't even drink small amounts of coffee or alcohol. They hit me with an intravenous dose of shrooms and I felt so good, so positive, and so thoughtful that I felt like I could've talked Hitler out of a wagging war.

[NatHarwood]

I wish Thorsten had meditations online (in his voice)! I realise academic life is busy but I find his 'meditation' voice incredibly calming

[AoifeFia]

Mindfulness is just the beginning. I spent tens of thousands of hours on silent retreat and taught mindfulness classes and retreats for ten years. It helped heal serious childhood trauma and gave me a sense of having my head above water, but maintaining the practice was exhausting and did not help me understand how the world works or my purpose within it. It was cold and lonely.
It took nearly dying from multiple chronic illnesses for me to surrender to God and stop trying to do everything off my own will. I became a baby learning how to walk. I had to learn mercy, humility, and how to prioritise nourishing my body, soul and spirit above all else.
Last year I began praying and reading the bible every day, and listening to a wide range of Christian voices. I have been scrutinising what has happened on many levels, and the best way I can describe it is that all those years of meditation provided enough silence and space to clear enough crusty layers for me to access the ultimate nature of reality, i.e.the Creator of everything, and that felt good because he wants us to feel good! I was surrendered to his will, but only partially and with a tiny speck of understanding how the world works, which is why it all eventually fell apart.
I have very happily surrendered my entire life to Jesus now and it is all coming together beautifully. My focus is one-pointedly on God. I trust him completely because I have taken the time to know who and what he is. I know he is the only way out of this hell, and that he isn't saving me because I'm worthy or good, but because that's what he does when we are willing. I am his child, so he helps me. I earned nothing, I just said "hello".
I love this verse... "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5
My advice to anyone reading this who really wants to be free from suffering is to begin by saying "hello" to the God who created the heavens and the earth. This is the God above all worldly gods, no yin and yang light and dark equality, no goddesses or angels, no spirit guides or mantras, no breath, no bus stop, no eight-week course. The source of all life, the love and light of God, is above everything created. Begin your journey to being a branch on that vine and you will find the joy and purpose you were designed for.

[anikavandermeer]

Great story Melissa, thanks for taking us through this subject.

[singha]

I’m not the meditation type- I found my thoughts wandering when meditating. So for the last 40 years, I’ve been chanting instead. I’ve overcome serious health problems with a Buddhist chant- Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!