Three Everyday Habits That Are Damaging Your Brain
They’re rewiring your mind and entrenching negative behaviors.
Our brains are one of our most flexible features.
Thanks to neuroplasticity, our neural network can continue to change and adapt for most of our lives. Neural pathways can make new connections, and systematic changes can occur.
These changes impact the way we are, including our emotions, feelings, and behaviors.
Neuroplasticity is influenced by our behavior and circumstances. Persistent stress, for example, can drastically alter our brain's structure. Compared to most animals, psychologist Richard Davidson claims our vertebrate brains are especially sensitive to the outside world. In his words:
“The brain is constantly being shaped, wittingly and unwittingly, by environmental forces that impinge upon organisms.”
The changes in our structure can even influence our abilities. Elsewhere, Kuhn et al (2014,) discovered regularly playing Super Mario causes structural plasticity and an increase of grey matter in the brain. These people are much better at the game than those who rarely play it.
