Blue Zone Your Memory No. 27: Change is Good!

Change can be good for the brain. While the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus work together to manage memory, the hippocampus is critical in forming and retrieving memories for creating new memory maps, and the cerebral cortex is specifically responsible for abstract reasoning, and storing and retrieving of memories. When our daily life involves a lot of routine, our brain becomes less active and doesn't have to work as hard to make these daily associations. Try changing simple processes, for example; if you are in a hardware store to pick up regular supplies take time to examine a new tool or unfamiliar object and the brain will benefit from this simple exercise. What are the routines that dominate your day, do you sit in the same place every day to work or eat, and do you do the same exercise, or watch the same TV shows every day? Try a small change in routine to stimulate the cerebral cortex and hippocampus to strengthen the brain and its neuroplasticity. Change is good.