OUR BRAIN IS CONSTANTLY ACTIVE
Neuroplasticity: How Can We Train It?
Part 2: A simple training drill to increase sports performance
In Part 1 of this series, we reviewed the concept of Neuroplasticity and how it can be used to learn and improve our sports abilities.
Here we present scientific evidence that simply learning how to juggle can have a very positive impact on your sports performance.
Juggling Research
In a 2004 research article published in the journal Nature (see reference below), researchers looked at the brain MRI images of subjects who learned to juggle and compared them to a group who did not learn to juggle.
They did 3 scans. The first at the beginning. Another was when the subjects learned how to juggle, and then 3 months later.
Each group was matched as closely as possible. Matching reduces any bias resulting from one group being potentially better than the other.
What they found was amazing — on the first scan, the brains of both groups were very similar with no significant difference between the two groups.
After the first group learned to juggle the scans were repeated and the scientists found that the brains of the juggling group had changed. They noted that a specific part of the brain (the grey matter in the visual areas of the brain) became thicker and larger in the juggling group as compared to the non-juggling group.
After three months these changes remained but had started to shrink in amount.
So what have we learned?
Our brains can, and do, adapt to change based on what we do (this is called Neuroplasticity)
Learning to juggle can increase the thickness of our brains in areas related to vision. Including the areas for processing of visually based motion information
We know that the ability to ideally track moving targets is critical to make a correct motor action with our hands or feet and is key to sports performance.
Learning to juggle may be a way to improve the processing of the motion we see with our eyes. This may lead to better sports performance
One final thought …
Juggling is much harder than it looks, I’ve tried it a few times and still haven’t mastered it! Hopefully, by sticking with it I will be able to juggle sometime …
Mastering a difficult task will have a more positive effect on training your brain than learning easy tasks. Basically, it boils down to you get back what you put in!
Would you like to learn more about how your eyes can help you play better in your sport? Sign up for my upcoming 5-day FREE Email course by clicking here (safe link to my website).
Reference 1: Draganski, B., Gaser, C., Busch, V. et al. Changes in grey matter induced by training. Nature 427, 311–312 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/427311a
