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From Mark Ford, founder, Palm Beach Research Group: In her inspiring TED Talk, “You Can Grow New Brain Cells. Here’s How,” neural stem cell researcher Sandrine Thuret discusses her fascinating research.
For years, we’ve all learned that you can’t grow new brain cells.
That claim is 100% false, she explains.
In fact, our brains produce 700 new neurons per day. That means by the time we are 50, we will have exchanged all the neurons in our brains with a completely new set. In other words, the brain I have today is not the brain I had as a child.
These neurons affect everything from our mood to our cognitive ability.
And it turns out our brains don’t just reproduce these neurons at a flat, consistent rate. Instead, their rate of production (“neurogenesis”) is closely tied to our life activities. Learning, for example, increases neurogenesis. So, too, does a healthy diet. And sex.
Stress, sleep deprivation, and alcohol all decrease neurogenesis.
All of this is to say your mind doesn’t control your life. Instead, your life controls your mind.
Here’s Mark having a good time catching up with Palm Beach Infinity
members at last week’s annual conference.