Here's How You Can Grow New Brain Cells

5 Ways to Harness the Power of Neurogenesis

Author

Austin Perlmutter
May 31, 2024

Hello,

Welcome back to the Better Brain Update newsletter from Austin Perlmutter, MD. Thanks for being part of an amazing community of 120,000+ people interested in brain and mental health science to help get unstuck!

Today’s topic: How to Grow New Brain Cells

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For most of recent history, doctors, scientists, and the lay public have operated under the assumption that our brain cells are relatively “fixed” when we’re adults. The idea is simple: we get a certain number of neurons when we’re younger, and when we lose them, they’re gone forever. But in just the last few decades, a stunning breakthrough in neuroscience has proven all that false. Not only can we grow new brain cells into adulthood, but we can enhance this process. This is the spectacular science of neurogenesis, and it’s something you need to know about.

The discovery of human neurogenesis

In the 1960s, a scientist named Joseph Altman demonstrated some of the first evidence of neurogenesis in an adult brain in his lab experiments on rats. This research was later furthered using songbirds in the 1980s, and then in adult macaque monkeys. It wasn’t until the neuroscientist Peter Eriksson and his colleagues 1998 paper, Neurogenesis in the adult human hippocampus that the concept was considered legitimate in humans. In this groundbreaking study, Eriksson and his team looked at radiolabeled tissue from adults who had died and found evidence for neurogenesis in their brains. In the years since, impaired neurogenesis has been proposed as an underlying mechanism in brain issues like depression and dementia, while enhancing neurogenesis is seen as a potential solution to these problems.

Where neurogenesis occurs in the brain

In adults, it’s believed that neurogenesis occurs primarily in two regions of the brain, the hippocampus (a memory and learning center) and the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricles (involved with sense of smell). Other potential regions of neurogenesis include the striatum, amygdala, neocortex, substantia nigra and ventricles, as well as the peripheral nervous system.

5 ways to promote neurogenesis in your brain

Strategy 1: Mitigate stress

Research conducted primarily in animals shows that psychological stress can be damaging for neurogenesis. Both acute stress and chronic stress seem to impair the proliferation of new neurons in the hippocampus. This process appears to be the result of steroid hormones like cortisol which can enter brain cells and reprogram them. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all stress is bad for the brain. It does however give us more reasons to focus on ways to mitigate unhealthy stress.

Strategy 2: Decrease inflammation

Similar to stress, preclinical data has found that too much inflammation in the body may damage healthy neurogenesis. A host of health conditions ranging from heart disease to diabetes to obesity, autoimmunity and some cancers are associated with elevated levels of inflammation, which may mean a higher risk of issues for our brains’ ability to engage in neurogenesis. The mechanism proposed to underlie this finding has to do with inflammation’s activation of the brain’s immune cells (called microglia).

Strategy 3: Create an enriched environment

When the brain get more stimulation (up to a point), good things seem to happen. This is the idea of “environmental enrichment” that has been studied in animals for the last few decades. In these experiments, it has been found that when animals like mice get access to a larger cage with more toys and interactions with other animals, there’s compelling evidence for increased neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Researchers have suggested that this animal data is relevant for humans. So how do we create an “enriched environment” for our brains? Here are some suggestions:

  1. Build music, audiobooks, books, puzzles and board games into your day (maybe even a karaoke machine!)

  2. Bring art into your home and office

  3. Go for walks in places with varied scenery

  4. Get some art supplies and try your hand (drawing, doodling, sculpting with clay)

  5. Consider building a garden bed, or just growing a windowsill herb garden

  6. Visit new places around town (farmer’s markets, art exhibits, nature walks)

Free Education

I’m often asked what I actually eat to promote brain health. For me, this all starts with grocery shopping. And while it’s great to shop local and at farmer’s markets whenever possible, it’s also helpful to purchase healthful products in bulk. That’s why I made this video to explain what I typically buy at Costco to support my brain health. While you’re watching I would so appreciate if you would subscribe to my channel!

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 Till next time!

-Austin Perlmutter, MD 

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