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Biochemistry Week 11: The Chemistry of Life

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The Hippocampus and Depression

 Trusting and loving the hardworking-but-gets-no-credit brain can only end well. The Chinese call it the Shen and it's seen as one of the '3 treasures' of the human system, the other two being Jing and Qi. The 3 can be roughly summed up as body, mind, and spirit - all need tending, and I love the fact that scientists did research on what can be summed up as instructions on how to work out your brain in a loving way. 

 The hippocampus assists in memory, learning, and giving proper context - I'm imagining a discreet personal assistant at a party, reminding us that we met Mrs. Holt at the dog fights last month, and makes a note to send her your layer cake recipe. Like everything else in the body, the hippocampus may be affected as we age, losing neuroplasticity and having a harder time recalling past events. In addition to memory loss, depression can be seen as loss of hippocampus function: a 2015 article from Medical News Daily reports that recurrent depressive episodes (65% of all depression participants) are linked to a smaller hippocampus. 

 These articles suggest a straightforward way to prevent and discourage this unnecessary loss of function by promoting new growth via mindfulness. The idea that our hippocampus is only deteriorating through disuse is encouraging - all we would need is a proper brain exercise to prevent diseases like dementia and depression. Studies show a common link among people who retain cognitive and memory functions longer than the general population - they are using their memory functions more frequently, like taxi drivers. This becomes more an idea of training our brain with consistent practice, and through the practice, learning to trust our brain's abilities. It really is like training a muscle. I wouldn't trust my body to help a friend move if I'd lived a sedentary lifestyle for years! How do you flex your brain? Since the brain doesn't have any actual muscles, the training is a daily meditation and vulnerability practice. 

 I'm lucky enough to see the benefits of daily meditation in myself - I don't know if it's made me any smarter, but I've heard it's made me much less grumpy. 


Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 29, 2018 at 5:09 PM

    I agree with your comment on practice! If I did not practice my brain with certain abilities, I don't think I would be able to trust myself as well.

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