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GROW YOUR LIFE
Neuroplasticity
“The discovery that our thoughts and actions can change the structure and function of our brains, even into old age, is perhaps the most
important breakthrough in Neuroscience in over four centuries”
Dr Norman Doidge
The Brain That Changes Itself
The Brain’s Way of Healing
Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is the ability of our brain to change and re-wire itself by forming new neural
connections throughout life as a result of changes in our behaviour, actions, environment, thinking and emotions.
Recent neuroscience research now demonstrates that the brain has an amazing ability to change and heal itself in response to
physical, environmental, mental and emotional experience. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to
compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or changes in their environment.
Brain reorganisation occurs via mechanisms such as “axonal sprouting” in which undamaged axons grow nerve endings to
reconnect neurons whose links were injured or severed. Undamaged axons also sprout nerve endings and connect with other
undamaged nerve cells, forming new neural pathways to accomplish a needed function.
The brain is not fixed and unchangeable, as was once thought, but can create new neural pathways to adapt to its needs. This
has lead to an explosion of scientific understanding and belief in the power of brain training to improve physical, cognitive and
emotional function and performance. Hence, to protect yourself from the phenomenon of “use it or lose it”, we must embrace
the opportunity to learn and train our brains to improve in areas of learning and function that are currently challenging.
Dr Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself, put neuroplasticity in the spotlight in 2007. Since then we have
explored the powerful therapeutic potential of neuroplasticity and demonstrated that the brain has its own unique way of
changing and healing. In his latest book, The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries From the Frontiers of
Neuroplasticity, he provides details of individuals who have benefited from neuroplasticity and healed their brains without
medication or surgery.
Many of the stories of healing may sound miraculous, however they are examples from the frontiers of neuroplasticity research.
This is not a belief-based phenomenon, nor is it due to the placebo effect. They are examples of retraining the circuitry of the
brain.
Please contact the Grow Your Life Practice to discuss your interest in the possibilities of harnessing Neuroplasticity in your
recovery.
Dr Michelle Byrnes: info@growyourlife.com.au