How does the brain develop and adapt?
Brain development is a life long event. In the womb, brain cells (neurons) form at 500,000 per minute and before birth they reach an amazing formation rate of 2 million connections per second. Structures within the brain mature mostly over the first twenty-five years. After this use of regions of the brain strengthens brain structures (increasing connectivity, or plasticity). Disuse weakens these structures (decreasing connectivity or atrophying). It really is a case of ‘use it, or lose it’. The beauty of the brain is that it can keep adapting to situations and reshaping iself. But after a certain point the unhealthy areas will no longer be able to adapt so successfully and symptoms or poor functioning start to show. This is when treatment to improve connections between nerve cells is needed.
