There are many ways to develop the healthy brain. The brain wizard addresses the following:
To develop a highly functional brain, it is important to exercise your brain in ways that stimulate the Left and Right side of the brain to work together. Find more under Whole Brain Integration
The brain can process information that is not coming from our 5 senses. This is called extra-sensory perception. This ability is latent in every human being and can be developed at will. For more information click on Extra Sensory Perception
Continued stress has proven to be an obstruction for the brain to function properly, find more under Stress and the Brain
Music can have a stimulating effect on the brain in terms of learning speed, memory improvement and creative expansion; find more under Music and the Brain
The brain works is a highly sensitive organ and works and picks up frequencies that can have a stimulating effect on its performance, for more go to Frequencies Upon the Brain
Information we do not consciously hear, but pick up with our subconscious can be a very powerful tool to develop the brain and your abilities and state of mind. To learn more, please go to Subliminals and the Brain
The brain as part of the body has certain needs to perform at its peak. Certain nutrients can stimulate the performance of the brain. To learn more please click on Brain Nutrients
How the brain develops
The fetus
As a fetus we start growing our brain from the division of stem cells. Stem cells can transform themselves into any kind of cell in the body, like blood, hart, skin, bone or brain cell. Most brain cells that are created when we are in the womb will stay with us throughout our lifespan, unlike any other cell in the body.
When the fetus is 4 weeks brain cells are already forming at an astonishing rate, half a million neurons every minute! The neurons migrate through the brain to their designated position by grabbing hold of supporting cells called glia. For years scientists have wondered how the migrating neurons find their 'right' position. How does a neuron know where to go, and with whom to make connections? Look at this brave and smart neuron finding its way to its right location. A divine design!
The migration of a neuron to its right position in the brain
Watch this video to see a neuron migration in action:
Strong connections are kept, weak connections will disappear
From the fourth month forward the neurons start making connections to other neurons at a rate of two million connections per second. The neurons wire themselves according to the genetic blueprint, inherited from father and mother, and their ancestors.
Around the sixth, seventh or eight month of pregnancy the so called ‘pruning’ starts. This means that the brain starts pruning away certain connection, while strengthening others. The neurons are competing for the best connections and the first one that establishes the connection will make it while the other that were assigned to do them same, but came to late, will disappear. Look at the amazing assemblage of neurons connected in this video:
The connection between neurons established
The brain at birth
When a baby is born its brain weights less then 1 pound, which is less then a third of the weight of a normal adult brain. If you would look at a part of the brain at the size of a grain of rice it will hold approx 10.000 neurons. Of all the senses vision is the latest to develop in the baby.
About 80% of the brain development takes place after birth. In the period after birth the pruning is not only done based on the genetic code, but also based on the feedback from the environment. This is also where the learning takes off big time. Scientific research has found that when a baby gets instant feedback directly related to an attempt to do something new, like make a sound, it will learn quicker than when no feedback is given.
After the child is born almost 70% of what the baby consumes is used for the development of the brain. No wonder that newborns are mostly sleeping in these beginning stages, all the energy is consumed by the development of the brain and body.
The brain at age 2 and 3
At the age of 2 the developing brain approaches its adult size, weight and number of nerve cells. By this age the circuits of the frontal lobe begin to develop and will keep developing under the genetic code until our mid-twenties.
At the age of 3 the brain has developed double the amount of connections that are present in a normal adult. And the pruning continues.
The brain at adolescence
Another growth spurt, based on the genetic code, happens at puberty, when an explosion of new neurons occurs, while the brain is still pruning away inferior neurons and connections.
During adolescence the emotional centers in the brain, especially the amygdala, are activated and developed.
The frontal lobe is the last part of the brain to fully develop around age 25 and has the highest plasticity throughout life, meaning that it can easily change connection and make new ones.
The brain after 25 years
Early science thought that the brain was done developing at age 25, contemporary science however has proven that the brain's ability to develop based on the environmental input, stays with us our whole life.
Moreover recent studies have revealed that we are not only making new connections throughout our whole life, but we can also make new 'baby' neurons at any time in our life, called neuro-genesis. Off course, the brain is only inclined to grow new connections or even neurons when it is learning new things, not when it is repeating that which it already is wired for.
So, are we a blank slate at birth, or is our brain already set up with our behavior from birth?
Aristotle came up with the notion that we are a blank slate or tabula rasa, however through research and the observation of newborns it is now clear that we are all pre-wired with certain genetic tendencies. When we leave the womb, and even before we are also influenced by our environment and our exposure to learning. So, in fact both Nature and Nurture play a defining role in the development of the brain.
