Unlocking the Power of Neuroplasticity: How to Improve Your Focus and Change Your Brain

🧠 Neuroplasticity is the brain and nervous system's ability to change itself and adapt to new experiences.

🌱 Developmental plasticity occurs from birth to about age 25, where connections in the nervous system are refined and strengthened.

🔗 After age 25, specific processes are required to change the connections in the brain and engage neuroplasticity.

🧠 After puberty, the human brain adds very few, if any, new neurons.

⚡️ Neurocircuits can create new connections and add new functions by strengthening and removing synapses.

🔄 While we can't add new neurons throughout our lifespan, we can change our nervous system through chemical and environmental circumstances.

Specific chemicals are released in the brain when we want to make a change, signaling the rest of our nervous system to pay attention to it.

The brain changes through the strengthening or weakening of connections between neurons, based on the release of certain neurochemicals.

Attention plays a crucial role in brain change, as it activates neurochemicals that highlight the neural circuits that can be modified.

Epinephrin (adrenaline) and acetylcholine are key neurochemicals for neuroplasticity.

Epinephrin is released during high states of alertness, while acetylcholine amplifies attention and focus.

To change the brain and promote neuroplasticity, epinephrin, acetylcholine, and the release of acetylcholine from nucleus basalis are necessary.

🔑 Increased alertness and focus can potentially offset Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, although it is still just a theory without scientific support.

💡 There are supplements and practices that can increase acetylcholine in the brain to enhance focus, but caution should be exercised.

👀 Visual focus plays a key role in mental focus, and practicing focusing the visual system can improve cognitive focus.

👀 Maintaining visual focus and minimizing blinking can help improve mental focus.

🔊 Closing the eyes can enhance auditory attention and focus.

📱 Excessive phone use can hinder focus and attention to important tasks.

⏰ Maintaining focus for about 90 minutes is ideal for effective learning.

😴 Neuroplasticity occurs during sleep, reinforcing learning and memory.

💤 Lack of deep sleep can hinder the consolidation of learned information.

🧠 Engaging in Non Sleep Deep Rest or taking brief naps after learning can significantly enhance the rate of learning.

⏰ Being alert during the peak alertness periods of the day allows for optimal learning and neuroplasticity.

📚 Attention is a learnable skill that is essential for creating reflexive and lasting changes in the brain.

🔑 The video discusses the importance of focus in changing the brain.

🧠 Supplements from Thorne are recommended for their high quality and precision.

💤 Magnesium glycinate and magnesium threonate are suggested as interchangeable sleep aids.