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Individual assigment 2 : Neuro ted talk
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Analysis of a ted talk for assignment 2. The ted talk is about how physical activities can help reduce depressions.
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Assignment week 2Description of brain mechanism
Over the last century our prosperity has increased massively, which has changed the way in
which we organize our daily lives. If we work hard enough, we earn enough money to pay
people to do tasks for us we do not want to do ourselves. We no longer must grow, harvest,
and prepare our own crops and we do not have to make our own clothes anymore. But if our
prosperity has grown so much and live has only gotten ‘easier’, how can we explain that
depressions rates have been increasing for years?
According to Doctor Kelly Lamberts TED-talk on neuroplasticity, this might be explained by
the switch from working hard and with our hands, to sitting behind screens all day1. More
specifically, the switch from accomplishing physical tasks, to no longer performing little tasks
with visible outcomes. Looking at the brain, it seems that one of its most prominent functions
is movement; the cerebellum contains 80% of the brains neurons and is responsible for our
motor coordination.
Doctor Lambert continues to talk about a concept she refers to as ‘behaviorceuticles’:
changing your neurochemistry strategically by engaging in smart physical behaviors. An
example of this would be knitting. A hundred years ago doctors would prescribe knitting to
anxious women, because they noticed it helped calm them. This could be explained by the
knitting increasing the production of serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. Tested in mice,
Doctor Lambert noticed that using these behaviorceuticles caused better neuroplasticity and
more complex connections. Since most
anti-depressants also cause better
neuroplasticity, this would indicate that
using physical effort-based reward
activities could indeed help in preventing
and remedying depression.
Figuur 1: De evolutie van de mens; van aap naar mens
achter de computer.2
What have you learned about the brain
Since I have little to no previous knowledge about the brain, most of the information in this
TED-talk was new to me. Firstly, I did not know that such an important part of our brains
function is related to movement. Secondly, I was intrigued by the explanation of
behaviorceuticles. How performing simple physical tasks can help our mental health
tremendously. For some reason, I expected the mental state to be completely depended on
parts of the brain that are actually responsible for the way we think. So the fact that physical
tasks can change the brain chemistry for the better when it comes to the mental state
intrigues me.
Most inspired part
The topic of the video has caused me to realize how the new technologies have negatively
impacted our brains in more ways than I realized. It also made me see how we can actually
have impact on the health of our own brain. For some reason, I assumed the brain is what it
is and there is little we can do to have impact on it. After seeing this TED-talk I presume there
is a lot more little changes we can make to our daily life to have major impact on out brain
and I want to learn more about that.
1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOJL3gjc8ak
2
https://www.hetleidskwartiertje.nl/revolutie/
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