Neuroplasticity Explained: How Your Brain Heals After Stroke

Have you never thought about how you have learned new skills, from driving a car to mastering Excel? 

It's your brain’s ability, known as Neuroplasticity.

What is Neuroplasticity?

Neuroplasticity is your brain’s remarkable ability to change and adapt by forming new neural connections. Meaning if you want to learn new skills and recover from any condition like a stroke, your brain can rewire itself based on your experiences. 

Other Names for Neuroplasticity

It is also known as:

• Brain plasticity
• Neural plasticity
• Cerebral plasticity
• Cortical plasticity

Read Also: How Neurorehabilitation Helps in Stroke Recovery

How Neuroplasticity Helps Recovery From Stroke

Brain plasticity offers the following benefits to recover from stroke injuries:

1. Restore Motor Skills

Repetitive practice of movements stimulates new brain connections to restore strength and coordination.

A therapist in a reliable rehabilitation center like Walk Again can suggest the following therapies and strategies that promote neuroplasticity.

• Occupational therapy exercises like tearing paper, solving puzzles, etc.
• Aerobic exercise
• Musical instruments or doing brain games
• Meditation
• Adequate sleep

Read Also: Traumatic Brain Injury: Modern Neuro Rehab Approaches for Healing

2. Lessen Dependence

With the right therapy under professional guidance, the neural plasticity can help you relearn tasks such as walking and self-care after a stroke.

3. Improve Mood & Mental Fitness

Neuroplastic changes help lower depression and help build confidence by reconnecting brain networks responsible for mood regulation.

4. Maximizes Recovery

Studies show that intensive rehab within a few months after a stroke can produce significant improvements. It helps regain lost functions, such as movement or speech.

Types of Neuroplasticity

There are mainly 2 types:

1. Structural Plasticity

Experiences that form the pathways to strengthen learned information.

2. Functional Plasticity

The formation of pathways around the damaged brain region to work around an injury or weakness due to stroke or other neurological conditions.

What Are the 10 Principles of Neuroplasticity

The principles are as follows:

• Use it or lose it
• Use it and improve it
• Focus on the exact skill you want to learn
• Repetition
• Go all-in
• Don’t delay in trying to rebuild pathways.
• Salience matters
• Anybody at any age can benefit from neuroplasticity, but older people can take a longer time to gain benefits
• Practice other related skills
• Interference

How to Improve Neuroplasticity

Here are some ways to improve neural plasticity:

• Learn new skills; for example, take up a new language
• Play games like chess or sudoku (mentally challenging activities)
• Take a new route to work
• Exercise regularly
• Get enough quality sleep
• Eat a brain-healthy diet

What Destroys Neuroplasticity?

The following are some causes that can impair your cerebral plasticity

1. Long-Term Stress 

Chronic stress releases stress hormones like cortisol and lowers happy hormones such as dopamine and serotonin. This can impair brain connections and reduce the formation of new neural pathways.

2. Aging

Aging brings lots of changes in the body, and decreased neuroplasticity is no different. This makes your brain less adaptable over time. 

3. Inadequate Nutrition 

A poor diet generally means high sugar and unhealthy fat deposition in your body, which impairs brain function and plasticity.

4. Drug Use & Neuroinflammation

Chronic exposure to specific substances like Alcohol or Opioids, certain drugs, and neuroinflammation can damage the brain’s ability to rewire.

5. Absence of Mental Stimulation & Social Interaction

Yes, social interaction helps shape your neuroplasticity. Lack of mental stimulation and social interaction means your brain’s growth and adaptation are limited.

How Does Neuroinflammation Damage the Brain?

It can damage your brain health by

• Increasing inflammatory molecules like cytokines, chemokines
• Creating a persistent toxic environment
• Disrupting the blood-brain barrier
• Increasing oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction

Conclusion

Your brain has an incredible ability to adapt and adjust to new situations and even recover from difficult health challenges like a stroke. All you need is to provide it with the right stimulation methods under professional care, like at the Walk Again Rehabilitation center. With practice and effort, the brain rewires itself continuously to grow, heal, and improve throughout life.