Dr Bollmann, Skin Care Specialist, Anti-Aging Medicine

Neuroplasticity is a fairly new concept in medicine. We previously thought that after a brief change during childhood, the brain was a static organ. Neuroplasticity has replaced the formerly-held position that the brain is a physiologically static organ, and explores how - and in which ways - the brain changes throughout life.

Neuroplasticity occurs on a variety of levels, ranging from cellular changes due to learning, to large-scale changes involved in cortical remapping in response to injury. The role of neuroplasticity is widely recognized in healthy development, learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage. During most of the 20th century, the consensus among neuroscientists was that brain structure is relatively immutable after a critical period during early childhood. This belief has been challenged by findings revealing that many aspects of the brain remain plastic even into adulthood.

Neuroscientific research indicates that experience can actually change both the brain's physical structure (anatomy) and functional organization (physiology). Neuroscientists are currently engaged in a reconciliation of critical period studies demonstrating the immutability of the brain after development with the more recent research showing how the brain can, and does, change in response to hitherto unsuspected stimuli.

Relative to this, new studies in Australia show that just a single session of aerobic exercise is enough to promote brain plasticity that could lead to improved memory and coordination of motor skills.  

Other studies show findings suggesting  that different exercise programs targeting physical fitness and/or gross motor skills may lead to equivalent improvement in cognition in healthy older adults.”

The message - to maintain optimal cognitive health, get moving.