Can You Increase Neuroplasticity As You Age?
In this episode of the Better Brain Fitness podcast, Josh answers a question from listener Maria about how we can increase our brain’s capacity for plasticity throughout our lives, and why we’d want to.
You can either listen to the episode or read the edited transcript below.
Introduction
We have a very nice question today from Maria in Spain, who asks, "What exactly is neuroplasticity, and how can it be increased as you get older?" So, Josh, take it away.
What Is Neuroplasticity?
As many people probably know, there are, I think, two different directions or possible interpretations of this question about how one might increase neuroplasticity.
The first interpretation is: How do you stimulate plasticity or plastic remodeling in general? How do you trigger brain change? Simply stimulating plasticity is one way to increase it. The second interpretation is: How do you increase our capacity for neuroplasticity, or what we might call our brain's plastic potential? I’m going to focus mainly on the second interpretation. It’s something that I think is really interesting but not as commonly discussed. Also, I’ve covered how to stimulate plasticity at length elsewhere—I wrote a book about it and have a separate podcast called Brainjo Bites, which is all about learning and stimulating plasticity. So today, let’s focus on how we might increase the brain's potential for plasticity.
As background, our first question is: What is plasticity? The general definition is structural remodeling or changes in the brain in response to experience—any lasting changes to brain structure triggered by experience. It’s important to point out that for years, it was thought that brains could only remodel themselves in this way in early life. Once you were an adult, the belief was that the brain couldn’t remodel itself anymore, meaning that our ability to acquire new complex skills and knowledge in adulthood was very limited.
We now know this is entirely false. We retain this ability to change the brain throughout our lives. Partly, we may have mistaken the fact that adults rarely learn new complex skills as meaning that they couldn't. Even though the fixed adult brain idea has been scientifically overturned, there’s still a lingering belief that our capacity for it is more limited in adulthood compared to early life.
While it may be true that our capacity for plasticity diminishes to a degree as we get older, this reduction is largely driven by lifestyle—which I’ll talk more about in a minute. I think the belief that it diminishes as we age may have partly motivated Maria’s question about how to increase it.
Why Does Neuroplasticity Matter?
Our brain retains this ability to remodel itself throughout our lives, and it makes sense that it would. One of the brain's main jobs is to create an internal model of the world and of ourselves, which it does by analyzing sensory information and executing skilled movements to help us accomplish our goals. The brain is always checking to see if our models of the world are still accurate and if our movement repertoire is still adequate. If either of those is deemed inadequate, the brain changes to remedy that. Evolution would favor this capacity always being possible, as it allows us to adapt to different environmental demands.
In the 1950s, researchers did prism studies, using goggles that inverted the world. Initially, people wearing the goggles walked around seeing an inverted image—top was bottom, bottom was top. But within a few days, the brain learned to flip the image back around, allowing people to function normally again. After removing the glasses, the world was inverted once more, but the brain quickly readapted. This is clear evidence that the brain is always assessing and adapting to its environment—at any age.
Expanding Our Capacity for Neuroplasticity
The next question is: Why would we want to increase our capacity for neuroplasticity? I can think of a couple of reasons:
It allows us to expand what we’re capable of, get better at things we love, and realize our potential.
It’s our biggest lever for improving brain health and fitness.
In early life, our brains are in pristine condition, but by midlife, they start to decline both structurally and functionally. Early life is also a time of massive plastic remodeling—constant changes happening throughout the brain as we learn complex skills and build internal models of the world. Stimulating plasticity is the strongest possible signal of cognitive demand and helps maintain brain health.
Two Levers for Increasing Plasticity
Based on research, there are two big levers we can pull to increase our brain’s capacity for plasticity:
Continue to Learn Complex Knowledge and Skills
Learning new skills not only stimulates plasticity but also increases our capacity for plasticity—in other words, plasticity itself is plastic. There’s cellular machinery needed to remodel brain tissue, and if we’re not using that machinery, the brain downregulates it. By using that machinery regularly, we keep it upregulated. The more you learn, the better you get at learning. This is why adults often think they can’t learn like children: if they stop learning, they become less successful at it, which reinforces the belief that they’ve lost the ability to learn.Support the Cellular Mechanisms of Learning and Neuroplasticity
This includes lifestyle components that support the body's ability to repair, recover, and grow. For instance:Sleep: Almost all structural changes to enhance skills occur during sleep. Sleep quality and quantity are critical for learning.
Diet: The nutrient quality of our diet is crucial, especially those nutrients directly involved in synaptic remodeling.
Physical Activity: Physical activity also influences plasticity. One study published in 2009 showed that physically active participants had a 54% increase in the size of motor-evoked potentials, while no increase was seen in the sedentary group.
These factors aren’t just for overall health—they’re essential for anyone trying to learn anything. Tending to these aspects really makes a difference in learning outcomes.
How to Build Resilience and Support Brain Growth
Plasticity is a form of growth, and just like building muscle, it requires resources. The adaptations stimulated by neuroplasticity increase our resilience, but in the short term, plasticity is a kind of stressor that requires extra energy and resources. The brain will only devote resources to growth if it feels that basic survival needs are well supported.
For example, if you work out at the gym but don’t eat enough, your body won’t build muscle because it won’t pull protein away from vital organs. The same is true for the brain: the better our overall health, the more willing it is to devote resources to growth. When physical or cognitive activities are properly supported, growth happens, but if the body is deprived of resources, those efforts can undermine health instead of improve it.
The importance of lifestyle support for stimulating growth is often underappreciated. When we’re trying to stimulate growth via physical or cognitive exercise, it’s critical that our lifestyle provides adequate support. This includes proper nutrition, sleep, and an awareness of how caloric and protein needs change based on activity levels. The same considerations apply to nutrients like omega-3s and B vitamins when it comes to cognitive activity.
A Study on Physical Activity and Neuroplasticity
One compelling study that shows the impact of physical activity on neuroplasticity was published in 2009 in the Journal of Physiology. In this study, researchers took 28 young adults (18 to 38 years of age). Fourteen were classified as highly physically active, defined as engaging in at least 150 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity on at least five days a week. The other 14 participants were classified as sedentary, engaging in less than 20 minutes per day of physical activity, no more than three days per week.
At baseline, the groups were similar on basic cognitive tests. Researchers then experimentally induced plasticity in the motor cortex by pairing electrical stimulation of a nerve in the wrist (that controls a thumb muscle) with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the brain's motor cortex controlling the same muscle. This pairing, done for 30 minutes, was known to strengthen the brain-muscle connection. Afterward, they compared responses.
In the physically active group, there was a 54% increase in the size of motor-evoked potentials—the brain’s response to stimulating the muscle. The sedentary group showed no increase. This finding illustrates that physical activity increases the brain’s capacity for plasticity.
The Role of Motivation in Neuroplasticity
The difference between children and adults regarding neuroplasticity often comes down to motivation. As adults, our brains need a reason to adapt; we must care enough for the brain to see a need for change. Studies with animals, like the prism studies done with barn owls by Erik Knudsen, showed that while juvenile owls adapted quickly, adult owls only adapted if they were forced to hunt for food while wearing prism glasses. Motivation is key—adults need a reason to adapt, whereas children are naturally motivated by the world around them.
It’s essential that learning without caring doesn’t work. If you want to stimulate brain change, it needs to be meaningful. Learning becomes effective when directed towards something we care about, such as getting better at a skill that brings us joy or helps us achieve our goals.
Conclusion & Final Thoughts
To summarize, if we want to increase our brain's capacity for plasticity, we need to use it by continuing to learn, and we need to support it through key lifestyle factors like sleep, nutrition, and exercise. Neuroplasticity and brain health are essentially synonymous, and directing plasticity towards meaningful activities is key.
Thank you again, Maria, for that excellent question! If you have other questions for us on this topic or anything else, click here to send it to us!!