The Mind-Body Connection in Learning

Neuroscientists, educators, nutritionists, psychiatrists, geneticists, and yogis are examining the mind-body link to figure out how we learn.

In This Article: Brain-based Research

* Our ability to generate new brain cells accounts for the brain's plasticity--its ability to continue to learn and update its database.

* Our minds and bodies work together to help us pay attention, solve problems, and remember solutions. Our physiological states support our mental efforts. Movement and exercise can enhance optimal learning states.

* Emotional peace and connectivity help ensure a continued state of mental acuity, not to mention mental longevity.

Our bodies don't exist to carry our heads around," says Dr. Candace Pert, author of Molecules of Emotion and research professor in the department of biophysics and physiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C. "Any thinking has the whole body participating."

Pert explains that each neuron in the human brain has hundreds of thousands of receptors. "Receptors are proteins, and these receptors literally vibrate and constantly change shape." She continues: "As more peptides were discovered in the brain, more were also found in other systems of the body. Therefore, the body-soul connection is actually physical. These receptors wax and wane depending on how much bombardment they get. They're in a constant state of loud chatter."

Pert adds that we make new, functional brain cells daily from birth to death. In fact, it's our ability to generate new brain cells that accounts for the brain's plasticity--its ability to continue to learn and update its database. Scientists generally agree that each human being has approximately 100 billion neurons, each of which has from 1,000 to 100,000 connections, all of which are constantly changing. Those numbers add up to more than the estimated number of stars in the universe. Electro-chemically, the human brain is the most complex mass of organic tissue known.

Information to and from neurons is transferred electrically via chemical neurotransmitters. The communications point is called the synapse, where information is transferred from one cell to another. Dendrites serve as the input mechanism, receiving information from one cell and transmitting the message to the cell body. The axon, which extends from the nucleus, conducts messages away from the cell body.

Dr. John Ratey, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of A User's Guide to the Brain, notes that neurons that fire together wire together. That's the basis of how we learn. When a cell makes enough proteins due to stimulus, it increases connections. Two natural brain chemicals, nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurorropic factor (BDNF), facilitate the growth of neuronal connections between brain cells. Ratey calls those substances "Miracle Gro for the brain." They're released when the brain's cells are active, such as when we think or puzzle over something. Our brains are the ultimate adaptation organs. In new situations, the brain is hungry to learn to manage incoming information. The cortex is where all of the new learning takes place, in an area called the association matrix. The brain's large prefrontal cortex enables humans to adapt to changing environments. When we adapt, we make more growth factor, which continues to be produced as we learn new things.

"If you affect one area, many others are also affected," says Ratey. There's a continuous biofeedback loop in which our thoughts are influenced by our bodies and vice versa.

Another focus for research in the past 10 years has been the connection between the heart and brain. At San Diego-based HeartMath, president and COO Bruce Cryer and his teammates have gathered an impressive array of research about heart-brain connections. "The heart literally influences brain function in profound ways that have implications on decision making, mental clarity, communication skills, and overall effectiveness and productivity," says Cryer.

The first pathway he describes is a neurological communication. The heart has its own intrinsic nervous system whose role is so sophisticated that cardiologists call it the heart's "little brain." The second pathway is a biochemical communication. "We can now classify the heart as a hormonal gland. Many of the so-called brain chemicals are produced in places other than the brain," says Cryer. "Neurochemicals such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, and oxytocin are also produced in the heart--as is arrial peptide, a heart-produced hormone that has a balancing effect within the body."

Cryer defines the third pathway as the biophysical connection. The pulse is a powerful wave going throughout the body, and a continuous series of waves carries information from the heart all over the body, especially to the brain. Finally, there's an electromagnetic communication. Says Cryer, "The heart produces the strongest electrical signal in the body--60 percent stronger than the electrical output of the brain. If you think of the body as an electrical grid, the heart is the main power station and the brain is a substation."