#22: Neuroplasticity - Change your brain, change your life! - with Dr. Alicia Flach

This week’s episode dives deep into neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to change and reorganize itself and the way it functions!

My dear friend and colleague, Dr. Alicia Flach, a professor in neurological rehabilitation at the University of South Carolina, has spent her career helping patients with stroke and spinal cord injuries find a way to get back some of the abilities that were lost. In so doing, she has spent countless years learning about the capabilities of the human brain.

This field of neuro rehab is where a lot of the study in neuroplasticity started, and our conversation in this episode gives you background on how you yourself can use neuroplasticity to create changes in your own brain!

We often think that large leaps in brain capability tend to happen during childhood, or in people who’ve had neurological injuries, but the truth is, the brain is an amazing tool capable of growth during any stage in life.

All kinds of stimuli contribute to the expansion of new neural pathways in the brain, but some of the more interesting parts of our conversation explored the positive (and negative) power of feedback, as well as the fact that since your brain is changed by your experiences, and your thoughts are part of your experiences... the more you think positively or negatively, the stronger your neural pathways become. Meaning we can switch which pathways are growing through positive self-talk.

It’s actual science!

This episode explains all of this further, and much more; go ahead and tune in!