Developing a Healthy Brain

Mental health refers to your state of being. Are you happy? When

do you find yourself frustrated? Do you feel stressed out? What

makes you feel anxious? These questions are important in deter-

mining how well your brain functions. So make sure that you pay

attention to your mental health – doing so can make the difference

between living a fulfilled life and a frustrated one.

Don’t take your passions and hobbies for granted. Discover how

these can make your brain more creative. And a more creative

brain is a smarter brain. Whether you’re a music lover or a bud-

ding writer, you can choose from a range of activities to help your

brain.

You can choose to be optimistic to make a difference to your

mental health. You can easily think that a change in circumstances

will change everything for you and make your life better. But this

is seldom the case. The cautionary tale of the lottery winner in

Chapter 9 demonstrates that – despite winning millions – he ended

up unhappy and wishing he’d never even won in the first place! So

how do you make yourself smile? Chapter 9 gives you a lot of ideas

that you can easily try out.

Getting swept away in a myriad of things that demand your atten-

tion on a daily basis is easy. Yet in this ever-demanding environ-

ment, finding time to quiet your brain and create a space for

contemplation is increasingly important. Calm time brings tremen-

dous benefits for your brain. You don’t have to be a nun or a monk

and spend hours each time to experience the benefits of contem-

plation. Scientific research has found that even ten minutes a day

makes a big difference in improving how your brain works. Read

Chapter 10 to find out more and pick up pointers on what you can

do in your daily life to make time for quiet.

One great way to train your brain is to keep it socially active.

From picking up the phone, to meeting for coffee, to discussing the

latest movie together – growing research illustrates the benefits of

friendships for the brain

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 Where you are matters A diving instructor was puzzled because his divers kept forgetting objects that they’d found underwater, even when he asked the divers about the objects shortly after they were back on dry land. To find out why this was the case, some psycholo- gists conducted an experiment with divers. The psychologists gave one group of underwater divers a list of words to learn underwater and gave another group a list to learn on land. They then tested the divers’ memories of the word list both on land and underwater. The group that learned the list underwater remembered the list much better in the water but struggled to remember it on land. In contrast, the group who learned the list on land had better memories on land but forgot the list when they were underwater. This story is a great example of how remembering where you were when you learned the information can boost your memory.
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 A lesson from the past: Lobotomising the prefrontal cortex Your knowledge of a lobotomy may be based on Jack Nicolson’s excellent portrayal of a rebellious patient at a mental hospital in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. According to the other patients in the hospital, a lobotomy effectively reduced someone to the same mental state as a shop window mannequin – expressionless and unemotional. The lobotomy procedure consists of cutting the brain connections that go in and out of the prefrontal cortex (see ‘Keeping the brain alert and active’ for informa- tion on the prefrontal cortex). Doctors considered a lobotomy the final step for modifying extreme behaviour when other treatments, such as shock therapy or electrical shock treatment, failed to change a patient’s behaviour. Doctors thought that a lobotomy calmed the patient, reduced aggressive behaviour, and improved the patient’s quality of life. However, scientists now know that this procedure is no longer nec...
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