The Bridges Between Hemispheres

The brain is divided in half by the corpus callosum, a very thick bundle of nerve fibers whose primary function is the transfer of information between the right and left hemispheres, like bridges crossing a river.  These neurological pathways (the bridges) connect the two halves of the brain making it one organ.  Most of what we do on the left side of our body is processed in the right side of our brain, and most of what we do on the right side of our body is processed in the left side of our brain.

Certain tasks can be like Monday morning traffic in Portland (the city of Portland, for those unfamiliar with its layout, is divided East and West by the Willamette River).  In attempting to do something using both sides of our body, one side of the brain sends a multitude of signals across the corpus collosum (Willamette river) attempting to communicate with the other side of the brain putting together the pieces of the puzzle on how to do the task at hand. However, their is one major problem: for a variety of reasons, their are not enough neurological pathways and connections (bridges) working efficiently to accommodate the amount of processing (traffic) to perform the task efficiently.  Some signals get across fine, but the majority get stuck in "traffic jams," making a task more difficult and more time consuming.  Stress levels inevitably rise, creating an accident or derailment in our processing, making the task even more difficult – or perhaps causing mistakes or even preventing us from completing the task at all.

Brain cells (neurons) have over a billion trillion connections. These connections constitute our hearing, feeling and eye sight processing, fine and gross motor skills, reflexes, memories, and automaticity in performing tasks. Now the good news: unlike the city of Portland, (which will probably not build any more bridges), we can actually grow more neurological pathways, increasing neuro connections (bridges) to help our right and left hemispheres communicate better, for a more efficient brain. Subsequently our eyes, ears and body in general will perform better. Studies show the more we develop the brain bi-laterality, the more effective our overall brain performance.

Continue to follow our blogs or check out our website to learn more about how to train your brain. -www.SynergyTrainingCenter.com

Darren’s Brain Revolution

I was in pre-med in the late 80's, and we were being taught that after a young age you stopped producing new brain cells (Nerve cells) and once brain cells died off they could never be replaced. In addition, the brain was hard wired, meaning the cells you were given were not adaptable or renewable.  This was being taught in universities worldwide.  It made no logical since to me! Here we have these incredible bodies that regenerate new cells, that repair themselves everyday in all parts of our body, except for the brain? The more I questioned and argued, the more I got myself in trouble with the professors. I really think we believed we could not grow new brain cells simply because we did not know how to, so therefore, it can’t be done! That’s a common mistake in human nature. It's a good thing the Wright Brother's and many other great people didn’t think this way.

It wasn’t until 1998 that Dr. Fred Gage from the Salk Institute, changed the way the medical world thought about the brain. Dr. Gage scientifically proved that we can grow adult nerve cells in different regions of our brain including the Hippocampus, which is the structure that involves learning and memory. Our brain has the ability to change and adapt! This is called Neuro-Plasticity. Their never was any scientific proof that we could not grow new brain cells. When Dr. Gage was asked about this he said, “I think their was a dogma that had developed over time that grew out of some assumptions that have not been experimentally tested.”

Since Dr Gages' discovery in 1998, science about the brain has been changing at a rapid pace. Great and amazing science is coming out of the research labs from around the world on how we can repair or improve the brain's abilities.  Unfortunately, brain awareness in education and brain treatment has not kept up.  Their are still schools teaching the “old” science, hospitals and clinics not using the new, correct therapies to repair the brain and maintain proper brain health. This affects so many areas of our lives;  strokes, TBIs (Traumatic brain injuries), ADHD, dyslexia, Asperger's syndrome, Autism,  Alzheimer’s, and Dementia, and many many more.  Patient's, and much of the public do not know this, and everyone of us has a family or friend that are most likely in one of these categories.

It is time for better brain awareness, we need a brain revolution and it needs to start now.    www.synergytrainingcenter.com