How blind people’s brains rewire to improve other senses

YPeople with blindness may have lost their sight, but other senses compensate for the loss. Now research is showing how that happens. They demonstrate that losing one’s sight before the age of three makes room alter and enhance other senses long term.

Until now the notion that people without make up for their deficit with other senses has been a theory, writes Tim Newman in MNT.

Denis Diderot, an 18th century philosophist, was awed about a blind mathematician who could tell fake coins from real just by touch.

Brain imaging is helping show just how the brain makes up for a lack of visual stimulus.

They show the visual regions of the brain are smaller in blind people, compared with those with sight, but non-visual areas are larger in volume, according to a 2009 study at University of California-Los Angeles’ Laboratory of Neuroimaging.

One recent study involved 28 participants: 12 were either blind from birth or had become blind before the age of 3, and 16 participants had normal sight.

The scans of individuals with early blindness showed clear differences from the control scans of normally sighted participants, so changes in structural and functional connectivity could be measured.

Enhanced connections between specific parts of the brain ou can snuggle your way to a better mood, according to a review by Melinda Ratini, published as a slideshow on WebMD. When you cuddle, cozy up, or snag a good hug, your brain releases something called oxytocin.

Known as the “love” and “cuddle” hormone, it can lower stress and make you feel closer to someone. No one around to hug? You can get a big mood boost by petting your dog or cat, too. were seen in the blind people that were not present in the control group, and the differences were surprising.

“Our results demonstrate that the structural and functional neuroplastic brain changes occurring as a result of early ocular blindness may be more widespread than initially thought,” said Corinna Bauer, lead author and a teacher of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

“We observed When you laugh, chemicals called endorphins flow through your brain. They not only lift your spirits, but they also help your body ward off illness and ease pain. So go ahead: Giggle your way to better health.

Heard of runner’s high? People are happier and have more energy after pounding the pavement. You don’t need to log miles to get in better spirits, though. Any kind of regular exercise will help. When you run, swim, bike, or walk quickly, your brain releases endorphins, one of your body’s own happy drugs.

It gives you a rush like a good workout or a long hug because it releases dopamine, your body’s “reward” hormone. That’s because the love you feel from social media affects the reward centres of your brain. Likes, shares, and retweets make us feel good -- and make us want to keep sharing. significant changes not only in the occipital cortex (where vision is processed), but also areas implicated in memory, language processing, and sensory motor functions.”

The changes are due to neuroplasticity, an ability of the brain to react and change in line with the environment it is interacting with. Basically, in the absence of sight, the brain rewires itself.

Lotfi Merabet, director of the Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity at the Schepens That helps explain why we spend too much time on our phones.

Bananas can’t boost your mood, but they have one of those uplifting hormones called serotonin. Serotonin can be given as a medication, but when it is in food, it can’t get into your brain and won’t affect your mood. You might feel better about yourself for choosing a healthy snack, though!

It leads to less tension and stress. Why? During a massage, your body makes more serotonin and dopamine and less of the stress hormone cortisol. That combo may help with depression, lessen your pain, and help you sleep.

Sweet truth: chocolate not only tastes good, but it also can give your mood a boost. This may be because dark chocolate ups your endorphin levels. Limit yourself to two small squares of Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear, explains: “Even in the case of being profoundly blind, the brain rewires itself in a manner to use the information at its disposal so that it can interact with the environment in a more effective manner. If the brain can rewire itself - perhaps through training and enhancing the use of other modalities like hearing, and touch and language tasks such as Braille reading - there is tremendous potential for the brain to adapt.” dark chocolate a day, though. Extra weight could be a buzzkill.

Here’s why cocaine and most illegal drugs are hard to quit. Your brain is wired to remember things that feel good. When you eat or have sex, your body releases dopamine in the areas that control pleasure, movement, and emotions. Some drugs release up to 10 times the amount of dopamine that eating and sex do.