Memory and thoughts are tightly linked. When you think about solving a problem, you first have to remember what the problem is you are solving. Without memory, you can feel and be emotional, but you can’t really think. Without memory, you have lost touch with reality. If you know anyone with advanced Alzheimer’s disease, emotions are raw and can shift in an instant, but thought is largely absent. Learning is a thinking process which builds memory, problem solving requires that you remember each step of your solution, and information processing requires first knowing what information you are trying to comprehend and act upon.
When we look at brainwaves, which are emitted with all brain activities, thought generates the highest frequencies. Higher level thought results in gamma waves, which are between 25 and 140 Hertz (Hz). Like all brainwaves, these gamma waves affect other cells in your brain and throughout your body. Learning is the process of taking existing memory, thinking about and processing current input, then forming a new memory which is the result of your “learning.” Learning is the interplay of memory and critical thinking.
We know that the principle of “use it or lose it” seems to apply to exercise, particularly in terms of building and maintaining strength. That principle seems to hold for other activities besides physical ones. People who go back for a second college degree later in life, or who stay mentally challenged beyond their typical retirement age, or even home school their children can tell you that using the brain helps sharpen the brain. That’s because the whole body — all your cells — respond to environmental pressure. If your muscles or your brain are being pressed to do more, they attempt to build up so they can do more. Simply using your brain more heavily will stimulate more brain matter development. This is shown in research. But research has uncovered much more: how to stave off mental deterioration, improve learning, and even throw Alzheimer’s into reverse — regardless of age!
You’ve got a lot of nerve if you do this…
First, it is vital to understand that new neurons are constantly being produced. Yes, you are constantly losing some brain cells as an adult. But you are also producing new ones. This may be news to you, because it was thought for a long time that neurogenesis, the process of forming new neurons, didn’t exist. It has been demonstrated to exist and is now considered established fact in research circles. Not only that, but the rate of neurogenesis, as well as the process of incorporating those new neurons into your existing brain network, has been defined. Published in Behavioural Brain Research is a review study which combines results from various studies to portray a full picture of neurogenesis, neuron cell survival, and incorporation. Here, researchers from the Department of Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ cited results from animal and human studies showing that adult hippocampus brain regions consist of about 3% new neurons at any given time. (1) Daily, new neurons are born, but only a portion of those cells survive for more than a few weeks. Basically, those cells either are needed and become incorporated into the hippocampus neural connections, or they are orphans that simply die off. The percentage of these young neurons that survive and are incorporated varies by age and environment, but those are usually secondary factors. The main reason that cells survive and get connected is learning: “…many, if not most, of the new neurons can be rescued from death by learning.”
The study found that fewer new neurons are produced in response to stress, drug abuse, and sleep deprivation, while more are produced in response to exercise. You obviously want to increase the number that you produce. But what happens next is crucial, because you don’t want those new neurons to die as orphans in a few weeks. Unneeded, they have no purpose and just fade away.
This is a big different from simply gaining muscle strength by exercise. The “use it or lose it” principle applies to a short time frame in which those neurons either are grabbed and put to use, or left alone to die. Learning should be done like exercise: regularly, and at least some of the time with intensity. This study also showed that when the difficulty of learning is increased, the percentage of neuron cell survival increased significantly. Some studies showed no benefit from learning simple tasks that take little effort. So the process isn’t as simple as muscle building because of the limited lifespan of the new neurons.
This is good news! You can influence your adult brain development and actually become smarter, improve your memory, and even improve coordination (physical coordination is largely a brain function) if you work at it. But there are factors that can tear down your brain much faster than you can build it up. This is the killer factor that can stop you cold: chronic inflammation. Unfortunately, brain neurons are very sensitive to inflammation, and this sensitivity means that they can die easily from inflammatory factors.
You can get a plaque for not learning
Alzheimers disease develops largely from a process in the brain called amyloid plaquing. Here, certain proteins in the brain clump together, interfering with normal brain function. Inflammation causes increased production of the amyloid, kills healthy neurons, and inhibits microglial cells from removing the amyloid plaques. The amyloid proteins are defective proteins. Could autophagy, the process of recycling old proteins when overall protein supplies are low, help remove these? If you thought that, you get high marks for good reasoning — autophagy does remove old defective proteins. But inflammation can build them way too fast. And most of us have been experiencing various levels of chronic stress and poor diet for much of our lives, so damage has already been done. Autophagy, serious ongoing learning, exercise, and improving our diets may not be enough to fix all that damage we suffered over time. So where can we turn?
A study published in Nature gives a surprising answer. Researchers from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT studied why a particular gamma wave frequency, 40 Hz, shows great promise in reversing this inflammation-caused damage. They conducted animal studies which showed that the 40 Hz wave stimulation promoted the influx of cerebrospinal fluid and the outflow of interstitial fluid in the outer (cortex) portion of the brain. (2) This happened through the glymphatic system, which is a recently discovered waste clearance system that uses special vascular channels formed by astroglial cells in the brain. This waste clearance system runs in parallel to the brain’s blood vessels and can remove amyloid, among other waste products. The 40 Hz waves increased the diameter of these glymphatic channels, and the study showed that these channels had increased the levels of amyloid being removed to the cervical lymph nodes, which is the drainage site for interstitial fluid.
This study gives hope for clearing the cause of Alzheimer’s, and also mental deterioration before it becomes Alzheimer’s. We find that the brain has a clearance mechanism for the amyloid plaquing that occurs in all brains over time, but particularly with inflammation. Far superior to getting 40 Hz therapy, can you simply generate more of these gamma waves yourself?
Now your brain hertz…
This is where these studies converge. Higher thought produces gamma waves, and learning is focused thought. Intense learning and problem solving puts your brain into a very high level of thought, invoking memory, concentration, and challenging neurons in your hippocampus which handle short-term memories and transfers them to long-term storage — this is the very definition of learning. As noted, the challenge rescues newborn neurons and incorporates them into the brain, adding to its network. But the intensity also emits strong gamma waves, which we see help remove amyloid, the major impediment to memory and thought. Both are saying, “use it or lose it.” Both are saying that certain kinds of thought, those that produce gamma waves especially around 40 Hz, promote survival of new neurons and clearing away of the old defective protein.
Should you go out and sign up for some college courses? Maybe, but if your desire is to learn intensely so that you have more brainpower, you are as likely to follow through with that as you are a major exercise program because you just decided to be a body builder. You won’t have the drive, the “fire in the belly” to stick with such a plan. However, there is a natural way, and you can see this happen with “driven” people, those who feel they have a real purpose in life that they are willing to expend significant energy to pursue. If you feel called to a greater purpose than yourself, you will be expending thought and energy towards that purpose. Conversely, if you are just wandering through life aimlessly, looking to just be comfortable for the years that you are on this planet, you will find it very hard to develop much drive.
Ponder your life. Consider the calling that your Designer may have for you. Look at how you can join a valuable cause that goes beyond you. You are guaranteed to be generating plenty of gamma waves, thinking how to further your goals, working mentally and perhaps physically towards that purpose. Your life is either an existence, or an investment in others. When invested in others, you get paid dividends. These dividends let you invest even more: ironically, turning your attention outside strengthens you on the inside. Purpose is a gift to others, but also to yourself — seek and pursue yours.
Dr. Nemec’s Review
Let us summarize this powerful research:
The hippocampus is a major memory center in your brain and the study showed hippocampus brain regions consist of about 3% new neurons at any given time. Daily, new neurons are born, but only a portion of those cells survive for more than a few weeks. The percentage of these young neurons that survive and thrive is controlled by your PURPOSE.
Less new neurons are produced in response to stress, drugs, and sleep deprivation, while more are produced in response to exercise.
A very big factor determining if they live and grow new neural pathways is the “use it or lose it” principle — this study showed that when the difficulty of a task is increased, the percentage of neuron cell survival increased significantly.
What is the most difficult task? What is most impossible purpose? One that does not come from the mind, but from the heart, from the spirit. So if you want to grow the most powerful neural pathways, you must be on purpose of what’s been placed in your heart, not what you want in your mind.
From highest to lowest
The highest brainwave activity is produced by Gamma brainwaves, and the lowest brainwave activity is produced by Delta waves. As these studies showed, being in the Gamma brainwave state has tremendous brain rewards:
1. Removing amyloid plaquing. These proteins in the brain can clump together, interfering with normal brain function. Inflammation causes increased production of the amyloid, kills healthy neurons, and inhibits microglial cells from removing the amyloid plaques.
2. Gamma waves promote the influx of cerebrospinal fluid and the outflow of interstitial fluid in the brain. This happens through the glymphatic system, which is a waste clearance system. This is similar to the lymphatic system in the rest of the body.
3. Those who know they have a real purpose in life that they are willing to expend significant energy to pursue will gain the greatest rewards. If you feel called to a greater purpose than yourself, you will be expending thought and energy towards that purpose.
So you can be in Gamma brainwave activity when you’re intensely focused on a purpose. There are two purposes in this life:
1.The self driven purpose that wants to achieve something for self; ie, wanting to be the best in your occupational field — like the best teacher, doctor, lawyer, musician, artist, or the most successful financially. These are all self-directed purposes, which will shift you into gamma brainwave activity at a much higher level than a standard person living a normal, average life.
2. The heart/spirit driven purpose placed in your heart from your Father in heaven. This purpose will have the highest gamma brainwave activity because it’s selfless: it only has one desire, and that is to do what the Father has spoken into your heart and bring it to completion. The reason this wIll activate more gamma activity than anything else and be in gamma brainwave activity longer than any other activity is because the empowerment does not come from self. It does not come from positive thinking and it does not come solely because you work hard for it.
This will activate the highest level and most long-term gamma brainwave activity because you are about Father‘s business, not your business.
Not only will this empower you to fulfill the purpose that has been placed in your heart, in your spirit, but it will also remove any toxic amyloid buildup in your brain and greatly increase the circulation of vital fluids in your brain, bringing oxygen and nutrients in and removing carbon dioxide and waste products. So by having a heart/spirit directed purpose, you are automatically maintained at a much higher level of cognitive health and functioning. This is built into the system automatically.
Seek what your God your Father has placed in your heart, and everything you need for the purpose will be revealed in the journey, moment by moment.
Here are the ways we can help you in your health journey:
- Outpatient Comprehensive Teaching and Treatment Program-has the most benefit of teaching, treatment, live classes and personalized coaching. This program has the most contact with Dr. Nemec with 3- 6 month programs that can be turned into a regular checking and support program for life. This is our core program that has helped so many restore their health and maintain that restoration for years.
- Inpatient Comprehensive Teaching and Treatment Program-is our four-week intensive inpatient program for those that are not in driving distance, usually over 4 hour drive. This is the program that is an intensive jumpstart with treatment, teaching, live classes and coaching designed for all our international patients along with those in the US that do not live in Illinois. This program is very effective especially when combined with our new membership program support.
- Stay at Home Program-is offered to continental US patients who cannot come to Revolution New Medicine but still want a more personal, customized plan to restore their health. This program also includes our Learn Membership Program.
- Membership Program is our newest program offered for those that want to work on their health at a high level and want access to the teaching at Revolution New Medicine along with the Forums: both Dr. Nemec’s posts and other members posting. And also, to have the chance to get personalized questions answered on the conference calls which are all archived in case you miss the call. The Membership Program has 3 levels to choose from: Learn, Overcome and Master. The difference is at the Overcome and Master levels you received one on one calls with Dr. Nemec personalizing your program for your areas of focus.
(1) Shors, T J et al. “Use it or lose it: how neurogenesis keeps the brain fit for learning.” Behavioural brain research vol. 227,2 (2012): 450-8. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2011.04.023, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3191246/
(2) Mitchell H. Murdock, Cheng-Yi Yang, Na Sun, Ping-Chieh Pao, Cristina Blanco-Duque, Martin C. Kahn, TaeHyun Kim, Nicolas S. Lavoie, Matheus B. Victor, Md Rezaul Islam, Fabiola Galiana, Noelle Leary, Sidney Wang, Adele Bubnys, Emily Ma, Leyla A. Akay, Madison Sneve, Yong Qian, Cuixin Lai, Michelle M. McCarthy, Nancy Kopell, Manolis Kellis, Kiryl D. Piatkevich, Edward S. Boyden, Li-Huei Tsai. Multisensory gamma stimulation promotes glymphatic clearance of amyloid. Nature, 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07132-6
