Neurogenesis.

The general assumption for year upon year, has been that people are born with the usual one hundred billion neurons in their brain and that is an end to it. Another accepted notion is that as individuals age and progress each day there is a natural loss for everybody of thousands of neurons. Hold on though, stop the press, breaking news is about to prevail because in relatively recent years it has been discovered there is actually a constant rejuvenation of neurons. This is groundbreaking because neurons are our firecrackers, think of them as the transmitters of impulses and the tiny but terrific tickers that keep our brains fired up and active!

The neuron, or the basic working unit of the brain, is a specialized cell designed to transmit information to other nerve, gland cells or muscles. They are cells within the nervous system and have a cell body, an axon and dendrites. They are, literally a hugely important part of our biological system.

The process of neuron rejuvenation, neurogenesis, takes place in the hippocampus and sub-ventricular zone. In other mammals the new neurons from the sub-ventricular zone would be destined to enhance the capability of smell but in humans it is believed the new neurons help in aiding mobility and learning functions.

The quantity of approximately one thousand four hundred new neurons each day sounds huge, however it is tiny in comparison with the initial hundred billion that we are accompanied with at our stage of birth. It is worth considering what and how these new neurons will do in the body and the impact that they have on people’s overall health. As old neurons have a flexibility to take on actions that may be lost due to damage or ill health, this capacity entails a lot of concentrated hard work. Rejuvenation is a constant activity of the body such as the ability of the liver and internal bone structure to regrow and strengthen themselves.

It could be that new neurons have an inbuilt flexibility that allows support in vital places of the original brain structure. Of course the idea of actively stimulating the production of new brain cells is one that has a wide appeal. It should be no surprise that lifestyle has a great impact on this fascinating part of life and in accordance with this theory is the principle that the more improved and enhanced the health, the better the production of neurogenesis will occur in the body.