Is the Brain a Muscle? | What It Means to Train Your Brain

Jump to: What is the Brain Made Of? | Can We Exercise Our Brain? | Why Is Exercising Our Brain Important? | The Effect of Stress on the Brain

“Train your brain” is a phrase you’ll find repeated often, especially on our own website, and we firmly believe treating your brain like a muscle is a foundational aspect of our mental fitness. 

But is the brain actually a muscle? 

Well, anatomically speaking, no, the brain is actually an organ.

However, this blog will explore several facets of the brain that make it unique from other organs in the body, as well as discuss why it’s so important to exercise your brain and preserve your mental fitness at large. 

What Is the Brain Made Of? 

According to PubMed, human brains are nearly 60% fat. These fatty acids are what dictate the integrity and the ability of the human brain to perform its complex functions. 

The brain is also composed of water, minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, and proteins. It also contains neurons which are the messengers of the nervous system and glial cells that support the neurons, making sure that they function properly.

The electrical activity found within the brain is called brainwaves, which are classified into different bands or frequencies. The white matter in the brain, made up of nerve fibers coated in myelin, facilitates communication between different parts of the brain.

Beyond the confines of the skull, the brain is seamlessly connected to the spinal cord—a crucial extension of the nervous system. Together, they form a dynamic duo, transmitting signals throughout the entire body. The brain controls most of our body’s functions and, just like any other organ in our body, it needs to be taken care of.

Does the Brain Have Muscle Tissue?

While it is true that the brain is not muscle and is mostly made out of fats, the arteries and arterioles that bring blood to the brain contain smooth muscle cells and elastic tissues.

So, while the brain itself lacks muscle tissue, the arteries delivering blood to this vital organ contain smooth muscle cells which play a pivotal role in regulating blood pressure and ensuring optimal blood flow, supporting the health of both gray and white matter.

Can We Exercise Our Brain?

While the brain isn’t a muscle, this doesn’t mean that we can’t exercise it! 

Just like any other organ in our body, the brain needs to be taken care of so that it can function properly. There are many ways to exercise our brain which can lead to a sharper and healthier mind. 

Whenever you perform physical exercise, your heart rate also increases, which means an increase in blood flow to your brain. This translates to an increased exposure to oxygen and nutrients, as well as the beneficial proteins that promote the growth and health of your brain’s neurons. 

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have even found that routine aerobic exercise contributes to growth in the hippocampus region of the brain, which is responsible for memory and learning.

Additionally, engaging in activities that challenge the frontal lobe, such as strategic games and problem-solving exercises, can contribute to a sharper and healthier mind. These exercises stimulate the cognitive functions housed in this essential brain region.

Similar to traditional physical fitness, when improving your mental fitness, it’s also important to have a balanced diet to achieve optimum brain health. By diet, we don’t just mean what you put in your mouth to eat, but your digital diet as well!

What you consume with your eyes in the news or on your social media feed also impacts your mind, the hormones you release, and your stress levels as a whole. 

Here are some of the ways you can exercise your brain, aside from the benefits of physical exercise:

Play Games

Crossword puzzles, solitaire, chess, and other similar games can help improve your memory, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking. 

Studies have shown that puzzles can also help delay the onset of dementia. Other games that focus on math, logic, word, and pattern recognition can also help keep your mind sharp.

Read Books

Think of reading like food for your brain! Whenever you read, you’re exercising areas of your brain that work to identify language and interpret its meaning. Books can also help improve your empathy and social skills, improve your knowledge and understanding of the world, and give you boosts of inspiration and creative energy. 

Learn New Skills

It’s never too late to learn something new! Fostering a sense of joy towards the act of learning will not only enrich your life, it’ll also enrich your brain. In fact, studies have shown learning new skills helps improve your memory and cognitive skills. It also helps keep your mind active and alert.

So, whether you’re learning to play a musical instrument, a new sport, or a new language, you’re also helping keep your brain healthy and sharp.

Daily Meditation

Stress has been labeled as the crisis of the 21st century, which means however busy our day may be, it’s vitally important to dedicate time to relax and unwind. 

Meditation has been shown to help improve focus, concentration, and memory. It can also help reduce stress and anxiety. Additionally, advances in technology such as virtual reality have improved upon the effectiveness of meditation by fully immersing the user in relaxing experiences, resulting in positive effects on the user’s mental health. 

Work With Numbers

Replace your calculator with your brain as often as you can! Math requires both abstract and concrete thinking, which makes its practice an excellent brain workout. Regularly practicing math also develops neural pathways that strengthen the brain, strengthens logical thinking, and increase your confidence in solving complex problems. 

Have a Good Conversation

Talking to someone doesn’t just mean exchanging pleasantries. A good conversation requires both parties to be engaged and interested in what the other has to say. This will not only improve your listening and social skills, but it’ll also give your memory a nice work out. 

Naturally, when talking about the neuroscience of conversations, the context of those conversations matter a great deal. Happy conversations will often flood your brain with dopamine, endorphins, and other “feel-good” biochemicals, while negative conversations tend to elicit the opposite. 

Why Is Exercising Our Brain Important?

Mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise. A sedentary lifestyle not only predisposes us to physical health problems but also mental health problems. One study has even suggested that our cognitive functions start to slow down as early as age 30!

As we age, cognitive skills such as memory, multitasking, and abstract thinking can decline. Ensuring the health of the brain’s white matter becomes increasingly crucial in maintaining optimal cognitive function.

When you don’t challenge your brain enough, your memory, speed in processing new information, your ability to multitask and focus, as well as your ability to think abstractly are all cognitive skills that start to decline.

The Effect of Stress on the Brain

Do you know that our brains shrink when we are constantly exposed to chronic stress? Areas, where functions such as emotions, metabolism, and memory are regulated, get smaller. The risk of developing neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and dementia also goes up when we’re stressed. 

Chronic stress can affect various areas of the brain, including the frontal lobe, which regulates emotions and decision-making. Understanding how stress influences these specific regions underscores the importance of stress management for overall mental fitness.

Final Thoughts

Our brain is what makes us who we are. It’s vitally important to take care of our brain and keep it healthy. 

Finding effective ways to work out your brain and lower your stress levels has never been more important. Healthy brain habits include eating the right food, minding your digital media diet, getting enough sleep, staying active, and challenging our brains with mental exercises. 

Additionally, innovative new approaches to healthy habits like meditation have increased the benefits they elicit in your brain. At Healium, we’ve combined immersive meditation experiences with virtual reality and neurofeedback or biofeedback to offer users a way to simultaneously immerse themselves in peaceful experiences and see their brainwave data in realtime.

This unique combination grants users the ability to not only improve their meditation practice but see their own brainwaves themselves!

Find out more about how Healium works by reading our comprehensive post here, or simply watch the video below!

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About the Author

Sarah Hill, a former interactive TV news journalist at NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates in Missouri, gained recognition for pioneering interactive news broadcasting using Google Hangouts. She is now the CEO of Healium, the world’s first biometrically powered VR channel, helping those with stress, anxiety, insomnia, and other struggles through biofeedback storytelling. With patents, clinical validation, and over seven million views, she has reshaped the landscape of immersive media.