Get Out of Your Comfort Zone — and Keep Your Brain Sharp for Life

It turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. And, it’s good for your brain.

Remember those piano lessons you took as a kid? Memorizing verb conjugations in Spanish? Volunteering at a food pantry?

Believe it or not, revisiting some of those long-lost interests or finding similar ones later in life can actually rewire your brain to become healthier and prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s.

You might be thinking that your time has passed for exploring budding interests or picking up a different skill. Trying something new may feel a little too far out of your wheelhouse, or perhaps it would interfere with your weekly routine.

And that is exactly why it’s important. Stepping out of your comfort zone with unfamiliar activities is what triggers the rewiring of your brain, which is a concept also known as neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize and form new connections and pathways between its cells in response to learning or experiences.

According to Dr. Sita Kedia, neurologist and Chief Medical Officer at PALM Health, “Neurons, the cells of the brain, are connected to each other through synapses, which serve as communication points for transmitting signals and information. The extensive network of synaptic connections plays a crucial role in the brain’s proper functioning and overall cognitive abilities.”

The communication that occurs at the synapses allows you to think, feel, remember, and reason.

As you age, the synapses in your brain can become inhibited by the natural formation of plaque. When this plaque accumulates, information passes more slowly and neurons die, which eventually leads to memory impairment and disease in old age.

Thus, creating as many new pathways between neurons as possible — increasing neuroplasticity — helps ensure that the brain stays sharp and fights the plaque buildup.

Improving your own neuroplasticity is the key to enhancing cognitive function and memory, learning more effectively, and ultimately preventing degeneration of your brain.

The truth is, when you follow a routine with the same repetitive habits, your brain eventually gets comfortable and stops stretching, working, and “growing.” “Certain neural pathways can actually weaken and then stop working after a while if you don’t challenge your brain, leading to declines in cognitive function,” says Dr. Kedia.

So, how can you work on improving your neuroplasticity?

1. Learn a New Skill

Developing a new skill is one of the best ways to improve your neuroplasticity and increase brain health. Practice a new or second language, play an instrument, or learn to knit or paint.

All of these have a similar effect on your brain: cognitive functions like visual comprehension, short-term and long-term memory, and attention to detail, engage all areas of your brain.

This stimulates neurons to create more pathways with each other, which increases your brain’s plasticity and allows information and neural impulses to travel faster throughout your brain.

2. Chat with a Friend

Research shows that social engagement with friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances activates areas of the brain that are important for recognition and decision-making.

Social engagement is also correlated with increasing the gray matter in your brain, which is critical for its function and for increasing longevity.

Social isolation, in contrast, can play a major role in increasing the risk of future cognitive impairment and even dementia. If you don’t get out much or engage with other people, certain parts of your brain are more likely to become stagnant rather than grow.

Remedying this can be as simple as calling a relative for a quick catch-up during lunch, striking up a conversation with people at the gym, or going out with friends on the weekends.

3. Get Involved in the Community

Getting involved in service for other people and volunteering for important causes is another way to increase the cognitive activity, and thus, plasticity, in your brain.

As a bonus, community service is correlated with the release of hormones such as oxytocin, progesterone, dopamine, and serotonin, which not only help you feel good, but also help regulate stress and inflammation.

Involvement in the community as a volunteer also works against loneliness and isolation, which — as mentioned earlier — are significant risk factors for cognitive decline. Volunteering can improve self-esteem and self-efficacy, give a sense of meaning or purpose, and boost overall mental health.

4. Solve a Puzzle

Another way to improve your neuroplasticity and brain health is to step away from passive entertainment via your TV, iPad, or cell phone and try something that activates your brain more, such as a crossword, brain teaser, puzzle, or thinking game.

These activities stimulate both hemispheres of the brain and involve cognitive skills like imagination and memory, which can benefit your brain health in the long run.

There are even apps that provide countless “brain training” games on your phone that target neuroplasticity by working the short-term memory, attention span, executive function, and processing ability.

PALM Health also offers a neuroplasticity-focused class for members. The class features activities and exercises that use rhythm and coordination skills to stimulate both sides of the brain, which helps form those new connections between cells and promote creativity and adaptation.

5. Get Out and Explore

Routines put your brain on autopilot. You can be halfway through the day and realize you hardly remember what you’ve done up to that point — so a change of scenery is a helpful way to reawaken certain parts of the brain and get those neurons firing again.

Traveling to another state or country involves a lot more thinking than everyday tasks do. Not only does it require orienting yourself in an unfamiliar environment, but you also may need to navigate language barriers and cultural differences.

Creating a situation where you have no choice but to find resourceful solutions sparks neural activity that ultimately can increase neuroplasticity, creativity, and openness to experience.

You can also challenge yourself the same way locally. Simple changes such as taking a walk in a different neighborhood, switching up the route you take home from work every day, or even just turning off the GPS exercise your brain’s decision-making skills that will come in handy if you ever find yourself dealing with an unexpected situation in the future.

“Your brain is one of your most important assets, so it is critical to keep it healthy, growing, and resilient,” says Dr. Kedia. If you normally like to stay in, push yourself to attend a social gathering. If you often find yourself using free time to watch TV or scroll endlessly through social media, try to swap it out for a crossword or a brain game app. Explore new hobbies, like taking an art class or a music lesson. Your brain will thank you!