6 golden rules to keep your brain making new neurons

Did you know that, at any age, your brain has the power to constantly produce new neurons? Provided you respect a few principles.

The production of new neurons never stops. Researchers have observed that in one region of brain involved in the formation of memories and the management of emotions - the hippocampus - the old neurons were replaced by others, freshly produced from stem cells. And each of us would have this potential, regardless of our age. Reassuring. Except that, according to Prof. Pierre-Marie Lledo, in the second edition of the S3 Odéon symposium, experiments in mice have shown that this ability can decrease or even disappear (under stress) depending on the environment. On the contrary, in a suitable environment, neurogenesis in rodents was multiplied by three in a few weeks. The director of the department of neurosciences at the Institut Pasteur gives us six principles to respect to keep a young brain until the end of his days. 

1. Run away from routine

The brain thrives on change. Indeed, the stimulation caused by the change causes the stem cells to produce new neurons. It is necessary, according to Pierre-Marie Lledo, to flee the routine, "respect the libido scindi, that is to say the thirst for understanding and learning".

Pierre-Marie Lledo "The brain is destroyed by routine" #S3Odeon

— Institut Pasteur (@institutpasteur) 3 September 2016

2. Fighting infobesity

The brain is malleable and the information directly prompts the circuits to regenerate. On the other hand, the question to be asked is: what information? The digital ecosystem in which we live leads to an avalanche of information certainly... Too much according to the doctor. "Information that just lets us know is absolutely deleterious, and does not prompt the brain to produce new neurons. On the contrary, the latter, bombarded with information, is then condemned to anxiety."In concrete terms, it is essential to sort this information: choose the useful, the one that makes us understand, and get rid of the futile, the one that just lets us know.

3. Ban anxiolytics and sleeping pills

The objective of anxiolytics and sleeping pills is to prevent the brain, which seeks to understand, from functioning. Their consumption makes it possible to put the brain in “automatic march”. Their chronic use is therefore an obstacle to the production of new neurons.

4. Move!

"We must fight against a sedentary lifestyle because science tells us that, in the event of physical activity, the muscles produce chemical substances (called trophic factors) which, through the blood, will act on the brain and particularly on the cell niche. strains“, explains Professor Lledo. There is therefore a direct correlation between muscular activity and the production of new neurons. 

5. Cultivate otherness

Some parts of our brain, which we cannot control, are only engaged when we are not exposed to others. "This is collectively known as the social brain, adds the doctor. The more you will cultivate your otherness, the more you will heal your brain because it will be inclined to produce more new neurons."

6. Take care of the microbiota

Very recently, neurosciences, associated with microbiology, have shown thatthere is an intestinal flora that constantly communicates with our brain. Our diet has an important role : the consumption of fibers, a varied diet, encourage the proliferation of certain bacterial species contributing precisely to the proliferation of neurons. Conversely, a little varied food, rich in sugars, fats, promotes the proliferation of bacterial species that will no longer allow cells to produce new neurons, regardless of age.

A valuable #microbiota (varied diet) promotes new neurons. PM Lledo #S3Odeon @Sciences_Avenir

—Elena Sender (@ElenaSender) 3 September 2016

The video of Pierre-Marie Lledo's intervention during the S3 Odéon conference:

And Professor Lledo concludes with a maxim from Goethe: "Treat people as if they are what they should be and you will help them become what they can be." To meditate...

Source (s): Sciencesetavenir.fr via The Important

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