Comment by pkghost | Hacker News Reader

Comment by pkghost | Hacker News Reader

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From what little I understand, you're absolutely right. Brain plasticity is simply your brain's potential to make lasting changes in its own physical structure.

The study cited by tokenadult says: "Fluoxetine treatment increased synaptic plasticity.. acted through local brain-derived neurotrophic factor." Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a protein that facilitates plasticity, and there are a number of natural methods for boosting production of BDNF:

eat less; eat even less; fast once in a while; exercise regularly; eat turmeric; eat fish (or take a DHA supplement); do stuff with your brain.

I wish I had studies top of mind to cite, but most of this is summarized in a book called Power Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Englightenment (written by a neuroanatomist and a shaman). I read it after going on a 10-day Vipassana retreat and thinking that meditation is noninvasive neurosurgery. Effects differ depending on the style of meditation, but they all strengthen a fundamental pattern of brain activity, be it attentional control, physical awareness, emotional nonreactivity, compassion, etc, and there's plenty of studies documenting the neuroanatomical changes that result.

If you're interested in brain plasticity, look up Michael Merzenich, the UCSF research who coined the term neuroplasticity, on YouTube or TED.

eat less; eat even less; fast once in a while; exercise regularly

I've recognized the effects this has on my own brain, and you're absolutely right (for me, at least). And it makes me wonder about the origins of this particular chemical pattern, and how it came to be.

Perhaps it's some kind of evolutionary mechanism: back in the hunter/gatherer days, when food was scarce, those who had the particular genome to trigger the production of just the right set of chemicals for brain plasticity on an empty stomach were better able to form the neural pathways required for hunting and gathering food, thus able to survive.

It does seem to make sense that increasing the ability to learn new behaviors would be beneficial if one was experiencing a food shortage.

This is a very good hypothesis. The underlying mechanisms may be older. The main culprits I have read are due to a reduction of insulin levels and an upregulation of stress/heat shock proteins.

The book has some discussion that supports this idea, including the suggestion that we survived a famine that Neanderthals / Cro-Magnon / others couldn't.

I agree with the general sentiment that more natural approaches are healthier and generally more rewarding, but some people really benefit from medication. Yoga, meditation, diet and exercise are really good at improving a person's mental health in the 4-10 interval. But people who are down around 0-2 can't "meditate their way out of" depression or anxiety, and they often struggle even to get out of bed, much less exercise on a daily basis. For these people, medications can really help. To say that SSRIs are bullshit just because exercise and a decent diet can clear up mild depression is folly.

I agree, and didn't mean to imply otherwise.

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