What should I know before I am 20?
Everyone who knows this wished they knew it earlier.
You won’t have to.
Your brain is at a rare time in your life.
A time you won’t ever get again.
A time where what you do right now will give you an unfair advantage over everyone else.
A time when the brain is deciding what it wants to be.
Before the age of 25, you can dramatically alter the development of your brain for the rest of your life.
Researchers are uncovering more about our most complex organ every day. But here is what you need to know.
When you’re born, you have twice the number of neurons as you do now.
Why?
Think of a stone carver. They don’t begin with what they need, but an excess. As they carve the stone, this means anything that isn’t much use to the statue, they can easily remove.
It’s much easier to carve off excess than try to cobble some more stone together.
As your brain continues developing, these neurons slowly die off. Not from old age either.
They’re murdered.
And we don’t need Sherlock for this mystery.
It’s you.
Your immune system tags and eliminates your own brain cells.
Why are you literally killing your own brain?
For a good reason. It’s much better to only have the neurons hanging around that you need. As the saying goes - less is more. Autism and schizophrenia have even been linked to inadequate “pruning” of your neurons and their connections.
If necessity is the mother of invention, your brain
Guess what dictates which neurons die?
Use.
We cut away neuronal pathways which receive little use. This leaves only the most traversed pathways remaining.
Take the following activities:
• Watching excessive TV
• Spending hours on social media
• Playing video games
• Overindulging in food
The more often you undertake these activities, the stronger your brain's wiring associated with them becomes. The easier it is to keep doing them, and harder it becomes to stop.
What about these?
• Reading.
• Learning.
• Exercising and eating healthy.
The less time we spend on these activities, the weaker their neural circuitry becomes. Your brain literally prunes away the connections encouraging these activities; and with this, they become even harder to do.
is the mother of necessity. Usefulness is the
When does all this mostly happen?
Until the age of 25.
This means you have the power to lay down healthy and productive connections that will remain with you for the rest of your life.
You also have the power to resist the unhealthy temptations in your life now, and forever weaken their grip on you.
Now’s your chance. Take it.
What if you’re older?
No problem.
The brain has a remarkable ability to adapt and change.
Neuroplasticity occurs all throughout your life.
If you missed this advice before turning 25, don’t give it a second thought. All it means is a little more challenge in overcoming your vices and establishing healthy habits. The extra challenge will make the victory all the sweeter.
Never fall victim into thinking that it’s too late to change.
You haven't missed the train; there is always another one coming. It’s when you walk away, thinking it’s gone, that you miss it.
primary force acting on your noggin. That walnut between your ears isn’t a computer; it’s a usefulness machine. Its primary aim is to store use.
Why?
Use keeps you alive.
But your brain hates something with passion equal to its love of use.
Waste.
Anything that isn’t useful gets the chop, and this includes half of your neuronal connections.
Synaptic “pruning” is what we call the culling of our neurons and dendritic connections, dendrites are the web of tentacles that connect neighbouring neurons together.
