You can reprogramme your brain with these hacks. Picture iSTock It’s a New Year’s resolution unlike any other. Instead of promising yourself to quit smoking or go to gym more often, a simpler commitment is to rewire your brain.
Because you can. The brain is a muscle that adapts and shifts as we go through life. It learns, it forgets, rebuilds itself and forms new habits and behaviours along the way.
It’s called neuroplasticity, and research from Harvard Medical School suggested that the brain continuously remodels based on what we practise and repeat. It’s good news, cause it means we are not stuck with the wiring we have. Psychologist and Medical doctor Dr Jonathan Redelinghuys said that neuroplasticity allows for change at any age.
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“The brain is always listening.Whatever you practise regularly becomes who you are neurologically, not just behaviourally,” he said. “A few changes here and there, and the brain rewires itself in the background. New habits create new pathways and new thinking.
Start small to effect sticky changes in your life.” Swap out your dominant hand for your non-dominant hand. You can effect a simple change like brushing your teeth or eating with the opposite hand that you’re used to. This activity forces the brain to pay attention and rethink how it moves.
Research by Verywell Health suggested that switching hands activates underused motor pathways and encourages new neural growth. Redelinghuys said it is a small exercise with surprising benefits. “Your brain dislikes uncertainty, so when you change things up it starts building new pathways to make the task easier next time, “ he said.
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