Reference no: EM133753502
Discussion: 1. How do exercises, a diet, and enouth sleep effect your brain?
2. How does meditation effect your brain?
3. A. Many people listen to music whenever they can, their electronic gadget hooked on. What do you think this might do to the brain? Do you think that the words to the music have
an impact on the brain?
B. Think about Power of Music on our Brain. Below, watch the video about music and brain.
Share your thoughts with your peers. Write a paragraph of 150-200 words. Respond to one of your peers to recieve a full grade.
1. Just as exercise, a healthy diet, and enough sleep can ward off illness and fatigue in the body, these activities can promote the growth of new neutrons in the brain. The brain has plasticity, and working the brain like we work muscles creates flexibility, allowing for greater ease in dealing with difficult texts, ideas, people.
It is not a secret that some favorite American foods are not healthy for bodies. They are full of fats and starches and carbohydrates and sugar. And many of them are grown in soil so dead that it needs heavy doses of fertilizers to make it grow vegetables and fruit. It only makes sense, knowing what we know about the brain, that this kind of diet does not make for the sharpest brain with loads of neurons connecting strongly in order to remember and learn. One major area of research in exercise and diet has to do with finding the causes and cure for Alzheimer's disease, where waxy chumps start mucking up brain. And contrary to many people's idea that big meals are the best, research says that less is better.
2. Strong attachments to material goods seem to enhance areas of the brain that are responsible for anger and depression. By contrast, the practice of meditation has been shown to add to the thickness of the cortex, a region associated with attention and sensory processing that tends naturally to thin with age. A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin lead by Richard Davidson used MRA and PE scanners to map the brain activity in a group of Buddhist meditators, who tend to reject over-consumption of material goods.
To the scientists' surprise, they found more activity in the left prefrontal cortex of these Buddhists than had ever seen before in other brains; this is an area associated with happiness, and the scientists found that this area was active all the time, even when the Buddhist were not meditating. This brain activity in turn was also associated with lessening of the amygdala, which stores unconscious fear memories, including sudden uncontrolled fear. The fear of never having enough urges people to continue spending in a futile effort to avoid pain. Putting more emphasis on personal relationships makes for healthier brains.