Week 2: Connecting two sides of the brain

Connecting two sides of the brain

The two hemispheres in your brain are connected by a thick bundle of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum that ensures both sides of the brain can communicate and send signals to each other. A combination of sensory, motor and cognitive information is constantly being transferred between hemispheres via this neural highway.

The corpus callosum is critical in body functions that require both hemispheres to work together to perform a task.

Because the left brain controls the movement of the right side of the body and vice versa, it is easy to understand the importance of the corpus callosum in effectively transmitting communication between the two hemispheres. Unfortunately childhood trauma can have several negative effects on how the brain develops. Some of these are decreased size of the corpus callosum and less volume in the prefrontal cortex, which affects behaviour, emotional balance, and perception.

Luckily, neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is a process that involves adaptive structural and functional changes to the brain. A good definition is “the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections.

Brain-building exercises or purposeful movement that crosses the bodies mid-line activates the right and left sides of the brain. Using specific types of movement that connects the body with the brain, and the left and right hemispheres can improve the coherence of our prefontal cortex and can start to lay the foundation for greater mental resilience.