New experiences are good for your brain
Since I work with Parkinson’s patients, I read and learn a lot about the brain. Not all of it has to do with fighting or curing or managing disease. Sometimes, I also learn about proactive ways to improve brain plasticity.
Shocking your system is one of those ways. In other words, new experiences challenge you to see, hear, smell, think, feel, taste, sense differently. They put your system on full alert.
Since 2015, I have attempted to create one new or shocking experience every day, every week or at least monthly. Here are a few such ideas:
Check out a new museum
Take a walk in a new park or on a new trail
Walk in the snow
Take a cold shower
Walk into new places
Try a new restaurant
Eat a beignet (made locally)
Eat only fruits and veggies for 3 days
Sit in a different chair
Watch a meteor shower
Walk barefoot in the grass in the rain
Some of these may sound silly to you, but try a few or a few similar things. Some of those synapses in your brain that have been taking a nap will begin to fire again. New experiences are good for your brain.
Worth Repeating
Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you have to start young.
-Fred Astaire
