How God Changes Your Brain - Andrew Newberg, M. D_ [73]
Sleep also did not make it to our list, but not because it is unimportant to cognitive functioning. It is. In fact, sleep is so important to the brain that we cannot survive without it. Like other body parts, it needs time to rejuvenate and strengthen the connections between nerve cells. This process, called “consolidation,” enables nerve cells to strengthen their connections. If the brain does not rest, those circuits will be damaged. And if you chronically sleep less than five hours a night, cognition significantly declines.1 The problem is, a “good” night's sleep is dependent upon many variables, especially the amount of stress you've experienced while awake. In fact, even a single exposure to a stressful situation can disturb your normal pattern of sleep.2 Any form of stress exhausts our neural capacity to function optimally, and nearly everything we do is stressful, to one degree or another. Take driving, for example. With every hour we spend on the road, our alertness decreases, and the resulting fatigue impairs cognitive functioning.3 So the problem is stress-induced fatigue, and the cure is adequate rest.
Sleep deprivation will disrupt normal neural functioning,4 but it's hard to assess to what degree, and in what ways, given all the variables involved in an individual's constitution and lifestyle. For example, nearly every form of cognitive and physical disturbance will disrupt your sleep.5 Sleeping pills won't help either because many of them disrupt REM sleep and dreaming, which are essential components for maintaining a healthy brain. Deprive a rat, which normally lives two or three years, of REM sleep, and the poor thing will survive for about five weeks.6 Sleep disturbance is the problem, but an increased quantity is not necessarily a cure.
Neuroscientific evidence has governed our choice in selecting the eight best ways to maintain a healthy brain, but it wouldn't surprise me if we left out a few strategies that are equally effective in terms of promoting neurological health. Still, I think several items on our list will surprise you. None are based on any religious orientation, but you can easily integrate them into any spiritual tradition you favor. In fact, we believe that in addition to helping your brain, they can all be used to strengthen your ethical behavior. They will also transform your inner reality, and when that happens, your perception of the world will change. Your spirituality will change, and so will your notions of God.
THE EIGHTH BEST WAY TO EXERCISE YOUR BRAIN
Smile. Even if you don't feel like it, the mere act of smiling repetitively helps to interrupt mood disorders and strengthen the brain's neural ability to maintain a positive outlook on life.7 And even if you fake a smile, other people will respond to you with greater generosity and kindness. To my knowledge, the only religion to incorporate smiling into a spiritual practice is Buddhism. For example, Thich Nhat Hanh suggests that we do “smiling meditation” whenever we have a spare moment during the day. Smile when you're going up in the elevator or when standing in line at the supermarket, and you will notice that the people around you calm down. You'll feel better, you'll exude empathy, and people will respond with kindness. As Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, “If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace.”8 Smiles, by the way, are neurologically contagious in every culture, and women are more susceptible than men.9
Smiling stimulates brain circuits that enhance social