The Resilient Brain: Building Strength in the Prefrontal Cortex
Resiliency, the ability to recover quickly from difficulties, is a crucial trait to build as it enables people to manage stress, overcome challenges, and maintain mental well-being. In "The Emotional Life of Your Brain," Richard Davidson discusses building more resilience by stimulating the prefrontal cortex, namely on the left side (Schore, 2015). The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is responsible for various higher-order cognitive functions, including conscious decision-making, planning, problem-solving, mood regulation, and personality expression. Essentially, it’s what makes you, you.
Here are some strategies to increase activity in the left prefrontal cortex:
Psychotherapy: Therapy can help increase PFC activity by promoting cognitive restructuring, problem-solving, reduced anxiety, and brain-to-brain emotional regulation.
Exercise: Both high and low intensity aerobic exercise can activate the PFC and improve cognitive functioning after exercise. Yoga, which combines stretching and breathing exercises, is a low intensity form of mind-body exercise that can also improve PFC activation.
Games: Word games, memory games, puzzles, crosswords, anagrams, Sudoku, and chess can help stimulate the left brain.
Learning: Learning something new, like an instrument, can be more effective than word games at enhancing the PFC.
Math: Solving math problems of increasing difficulty can help activate the brain.
Gratitude: Activities that increase positive emotions, like expressing gratitude, can activate the PFC.
Mindfulness meditation: Regular mindfulness practice can enhance PFC activity, improving attention and cognitive flexibility.
Physical contact: Giving and receiving hugs can soothe the brain with calming inhibitory peptides.
Silly sentences: Creating silly sentences and acronyms can help activate the PFC.
Jokes, riddles, and puns: Incorporating jokes, riddles, and puns can help learn to think flexibly by shifting between different meanings and associations of words.
Get enough sleep: Adequate sleep is essential for PFC function and plasticity.
Reduce stress: Chronic stress can negatively impact PFC function; engage in stress-reducing activities that manage cortisol levels and activate the autonomic nervous system.
Learn a new language: Acquiring a new language can stimulate the left PFC, improving cognitive flexibility and executive functions.
Read and engage in mentally stimulating activities: Regularly reading and participating in activities that challenge your brain can help build cognitive reserve and increase PFC activity.
Remember, it's essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle and consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new training programs.
References
Schore, A. N. (2015) The Emotional Life of Your Brain, by Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley. New York, NY: Hudson Street Press, 2012, 279 pp., ISBN: 978-1-59463-089-7. $22.95. Psychoanalytic Psychology 32:539-547