Self Stimulation: Could Help in Aging

In light of the recent posting of the differences in Conservative and Liberal brains, I thought it might be helpful to all of us here at ATS to learn how best to keep, and even improve, our mental capabilities. (A little humor and there will be some who "mis-read" the title.)

Dealing with stressful situations as well as just plan living day to day will take their toll on us all. The link below may help some find ways to better cope with these and other problems we find in life.

Having had to deal with PTSD long before I knew it had such a fancy name, I wish I had found this information sooner.

I would ask those interested to go to: www.opednews.com...

Copy and paste the article to a safe place so you can refer back to it as one reading may not be enough to reinforce it's more beneficial points.

Probably should have include this in the posting. but I didn't.

There are two basic rules for neuroplasticity. The first is "use it or lose it." This means that the more you stimulate a pathway, the stronger that pathway becomes and the less the pathway is stimulated, the weaker it becomes. The second rule is "neurons that fire together, wire together." This means that as you stimulate a neural pathway repeatedly it will pull in other neurons around it to make the pathway more robust, larger. The equation seems to be that simple. The implications of this are far-reaching. If you would like to try to change a pathway (i.e., a behavior or habit) you must actively try "NOT" to stimulate it. In fact, you might want to try building a competing pathway!

Hope reading this helps you decide to read the linked page.

reply to post by hdutton


Hi hdutton.

This "flexibility" of our neurones is also well explained in the
3 DVD kit that the first line of my signature will get you too.

Good post.

Blue skies.

reply to post by C-JEAN


Thanks, just hoping to help someone.

All the best to you and yours.