Wire Wrap For The Brain
Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the brain and spinal cord, and affects more than two million people worldwide. Half a million of those folks live in North America and Europe. You may know someone. You may be someone affected. If you are a woman, your chances of contracting MS are twice as good as a man.
We are not sure what causes MS, but we know what it is. And what it does. Immune cells collect in the upper spinal cord and brain, causing inflammation and the myelin sheath surrounding the nerves to degenerate. Big problem. It feels like limb weakness, fatigue, numbness and tingling, depression, vision issues, slurred speech, and memory difficulties. But not all the time. The symptoms come and go, which makes it frustrating. They never appear when you go to the doctor complaining about them.
What to do? Build up that myelin sheath to help protect your nerves.
Myelin is a protective wrap around the nerves. Think of electrical tape around wires. We know, from neuroscience, how to build the myelin sheath. It’s deep, deliberate practice. That would be practice wherein you actually pay attention to what you are doing, not mindlessly running on a NordicTrack, or swimming endless laps in an effort to improve skill, all the while with your brain in neutral. The more deep, conscious practice, the more myelin is formed and the bigger the wrap around the nerves. This is protection from disease, drugs, stress, poor life habits, and those pesky immune cells. Try learning a new skill. That too forms myelin. Deep, deliberate practice is practicing with the expectation that you will get better, staying in the moment of practice and not wandering away mentally, analyzing any errors, visualizing the skill, and repeating the process. Fail forward. Deep practice takes concentration and repetition. Practice, err, analyze, slow down, practice some more. Wrap your nerves with myelin and protect your brain from autoimmune diseases. I could be wrong about this, but what if I’m not?
That’s Aging Intelligently.