thank you unfortunately I don’t do
stand-up comedy anymore don’t worry I’m
still funny so in a research lab in
Wisconsin a woman sits in the waiting
room filling out paperwork as one of the
scientists attaches electrodes to her
ankle
they stick her inside an MRI machine to
make a movie of her brain activity as
they administer a series of electric
shocks don’t worry she volunteered for
this they they give her a small screen
that alerts her from time to time that
she’s about to get shocked
and as she sits there in a state of
apprehension and anxiety a predictable
set of brain regions lights up one’s
contributing to worrying and detecting
danger they repeat the experiment
scanning her again but this time they
bring her husband in to hold her hand
she still gets the same warnings and the
same shocks but her brain response has
changed and the activity in the worrying
and danger circuits has calmed down in
Japan a young man pedals on a stationary
bike as scientists use infrared light
sensors to monitor subtle blood flow
changes in his brain
by the way scientists love using
stationary bikes because it’s so much
easier to record from someone’s brain
when you don’t have to chase after them
but they find that just 15 minutes of
exercise is sufficient to increase
activity and prefrontal circuits
responsible for emotional control and
elevate levels of the neurotransmitter
serotonin and finally in a hospital in
Pittsburgh doctors noticed that patients
recovering from spinal surgery don’t
seem to do as well on one side of the
hospital compared to the other and it
appears to have something to do with the
fact that the rooms on that side of the
hallway star straight at another
building while the rooms on the other
side are bright and sunny with scenic
views of downtown Pittsburgh the you can
laugh it’s okay
sorry Pittsburgh the the doctors find
that patients move to the sunny rooms
suddenly have a higher tolerance for
pain and need less medication the
sunlight helping the brain to produce
its own form of morphine these stories
hint at our new understanding of the
neuroscience of resilience and
illustrate how the brain is malleable
and can be reshaped my idea worth
spreading is this that by making small
changes in your actions interactions
thoughts and surroundings you can
actually change the activity and
chemistry of key brain circuits that
contribute to mood motivation and
resilience the brain exists in a body
and wants to move it it exists in a
community and wants to connect to it it
exists in the world and wants to be
engaged by it the topic of resilience
has been really important to me both as
a neuroscientist studying depression and
on a personal level resilience is
finding the strength to go on even when
the world threatens to overwhelm you
whether the barriers they face are
external or internal it’s it’s resisting
the impulse to give up a spark of
motivation that unfortunately in
depression gets stripped away
I’ve studied numerous forms of
modulating the brain activity to restore
that spark and it’s tempting in our age
of rapidly advancing technology to think
that the only solutions lie in high-tech
interventions developed in a lab
medications like selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors or devices like
transcranial magnetic stimulation it’s
easy to see how those modulate brain
activity I mean they even sound really
sciency but things like holding
someone’s hands getting some Sun and yet
recent research has uncovered the fact
that these types of positive life
changes lead to positive brain changes
in its electrical activity
collé composition even its ability to
form new neurons targeting the same
systems as these high-tech interventions
and these positive brain changes make
further positive life changes more
accessible and importantly this is
happening whether you’re aware of it or
not so you might as well become aware of
all the ways that you are influencing
your brain I remember back in college
during my senior year there was a time
when everything began to feel really
overwhelming every little decision
worried me I felt a lot of anxiety about
the future not knowing what I was going
to do with my life making matters worse
I got a tooth infection so bad that it
would wake me up in the middle of the
night and I had to get a root canal and
then my girlfriend dumped me and even
though I knew there were so many
opportunities around me the road ahead
just seemed so difficult and with many
years of neuroscience now behind me I’ve
come to understand how all these various
factors were pushing my brain into a
downward spiral sapping my resilience
uncertainty and aimless action physical
pain loss of a close relationship all
have myriad negative effects on the
neural circuits of emotion and attention
and motivation in particular loss of a
close relationship meant loss of a
steady source of the neurotransmitter
oxytocin which helps calm the brain
stress response fortunately there were
many ways I was inadvertently preventing
my brain from sinking down deeper
primarily I was playing on a competitive
Ultimate Frisbee team not a joke
and and I wasn’t aware of it at the time
but all of the the high-fives and hugs
and handshakes and hanging out we’re
replenishing my oxytocin system all the
the running and jumping strengthened my
dopamine circuits of motivation and just
getting outside helps synchronize my
circadian rhythms to my sleep cycle I
didn’t have an intentionality about it
but I just stumbled luckily into all
these various ways that were that we’re
benefitting me and now I advocate for
them there is no one big solution to
strengthening resilience but there are
dozens of small solutions all around you
beyond the ones I’ve already mentioned
there’s gratitude and sleep hygiene
mindfulness and deep breathing and many
more each doing their part so when the
road ahead feels just too difficult and
you don’t know how you can go on it’s
okay you don’t need to solve all of your
problems all at once you just need to
take one small step to strengthen your
brain and it’ll make the next step
easier and the next whether that’s
relying on someone close to help calm
your brains emotional circuitry or
moving your body to get a boost of
serotonin the opportunity is there to
create a new path forward thank you
you
stand-up comedy anymore don’t worry I’m
still funny so in a research lab in
Wisconsin a woman sits in the waiting
room filling out paperwork as one of the
scientists attaches electrodes to her
ankle
they stick her inside an MRI machine to
make a movie of her brain activity as
they administer a series of electric
shocks don’t worry she volunteered for
this they they give her a small screen
that alerts her from time to time that
she’s about to get shocked
and as she sits there in a state of
apprehension and anxiety a predictable
set of brain regions lights up one’s
contributing to worrying and detecting
danger they repeat the experiment
scanning her again but this time they
bring her husband in to hold her hand
she still gets the same warnings and the
same shocks but her brain response has
changed and the activity in the worrying
and danger circuits has calmed down in
Japan a young man pedals on a stationary
bike as scientists use infrared light
sensors to monitor subtle blood flow
changes in his brain
by the way scientists love using
stationary bikes because it’s so much
easier to record from someone’s brain
when you don’t have to chase after them
but they find that just 15 minutes of
exercise is sufficient to increase
activity and prefrontal circuits
responsible for emotional control and
elevate levels of the neurotransmitter
serotonin and finally in a hospital in
Pittsburgh doctors noticed that patients
recovering from spinal surgery don’t
seem to do as well on one side of the
hospital compared to the other and it
appears to have something to do with the
fact that the rooms on that side of the
hallway star straight at another
building while the rooms on the other
side are bright and sunny with scenic
views of downtown Pittsburgh the you can
laugh it’s okay
sorry Pittsburgh the the doctors find
that patients move to the sunny rooms
suddenly have a higher tolerance for
pain and need less medication the
sunlight helping the brain to produce
its own form of morphine these stories
hint at our new understanding of the
neuroscience of resilience and
illustrate how the brain is malleable
and can be reshaped my idea worth
spreading is this that by making small
changes in your actions interactions
thoughts and surroundings you can
actually change the activity and
chemistry of key brain circuits that
contribute to mood motivation and
resilience the brain exists in a body
and wants to move it it exists in a
community and wants to connect to it it
exists in the world and wants to be
engaged by it the topic of resilience
has been really important to me both as
a neuroscientist studying depression and
on a personal level resilience is
finding the strength to go on even when
the world threatens to overwhelm you
whether the barriers they face are
external or internal it’s it’s resisting
the impulse to give up a spark of
motivation that unfortunately in
depression gets stripped away
I’ve studied numerous forms of
modulating the brain activity to restore
that spark and it’s tempting in our age
of rapidly advancing technology to think
that the only solutions lie in high-tech
interventions developed in a lab
medications like selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors or devices like
transcranial magnetic stimulation it’s
easy to see how those modulate brain
activity I mean they even sound really
sciency but things like holding
someone’s hands getting some Sun and yet
recent research has uncovered the fact
that these types of positive life
changes lead to positive brain changes
in its electrical activity
collé composition even its ability to
form new neurons targeting the same
systems as these high-tech interventions
and these positive brain changes make
further positive life changes more
accessible and importantly this is
happening whether you’re aware of it or
not so you might as well become aware of
all the ways that you are influencing
your brain I remember back in college
during my senior year there was a time
when everything began to feel really
overwhelming every little decision
worried me I felt a lot of anxiety about
the future not knowing what I was going
to do with my life making matters worse
I got a tooth infection so bad that it
would wake me up in the middle of the
night and I had to get a root canal and
then my girlfriend dumped me and even
though I knew there were so many
opportunities around me the road ahead
just seemed so difficult and with many
years of neuroscience now behind me I’ve
come to understand how all these various
factors were pushing my brain into a
downward spiral sapping my resilience
uncertainty and aimless action physical
pain loss of a close relationship all
have myriad negative effects on the
neural circuits of emotion and attention
and motivation in particular loss of a
close relationship meant loss of a
steady source of the neurotransmitter
oxytocin which helps calm the brain
stress response fortunately there were
many ways I was inadvertently preventing
my brain from sinking down deeper
primarily I was playing on a competitive
Ultimate Frisbee team not a joke
and and I wasn’t aware of it at the time
but all of the the high-fives and hugs
and handshakes and hanging out we’re
replenishing my oxytocin system all the
the running and jumping strengthened my
dopamine circuits of motivation and just
getting outside helps synchronize my
circadian rhythms to my sleep cycle I
didn’t have an intentionality about it
but I just stumbled luckily into all
these various ways that were that we’re
benefitting me and now I advocate for
them there is no one big solution to
strengthening resilience but there are
dozens of small solutions all around you
beyond the ones I’ve already mentioned
there’s gratitude and sleep hygiene
mindfulness and deep breathing and many
more each doing their part so when the
road ahead feels just too difficult and
you don’t know how you can go on it’s
okay you don’t need to solve all of your
problems all at once you just need to
take one small step to strengthen your
brain and it’ll make the next step
easier and the next whether that’s
relying on someone close to help calm
your brains emotional circuitry or
moving your body to get a boost of
serotonin the opportunity is there to
create a new path forward thank you
you
Please follow and like us: