Thanks to modern breakthroughs in the field of neurology, neuroscientists have been able to collect case studies and discover different ways through which seemingly irreversible mental and physical conditions can apparently be cured and improved through the application of neuroplasticity.
Through some new science-based programs created by neuroscientists in collaboration with specialized clinicians and recovered victims of brain-related trauma, great advances have been made in this field. Their efforts have been instrumental in brain injury discovery and recovery, illness recovery, and improvement in cognitive abilities.
This article thus provides ten credible neuroplasticity books from which anyone can acquire the necessary skills for better brain healing and mental, physical, and emotional stabilization and upgrading.
At re-origin, we help you implement many of the insights learned in these neuroplasticity books to rewire your brain and reclaim your health. Learn more about the re-origin program here.
What is Self-Directed Neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to gradually enact positive changes in the neural networks by replacing old and unproductive neural pathways with new positive pathways. Self-directed neuroplasticity is the process of rewiring your brain from a dysfunctional state into a healthy and productive one, thus integrating the positive change with both body and mind.
Top Reasons to Retrain Your Brain
The main goal of brain retraining is to harness brain power by instilling a balance between the mental, emotional, and physical faculties. The results of such a program enable the individual to attain the flow state, which is a combination of greatly reduced stress and anxiety, enhancement of current cognitive abilities, and greater potential in learning new things in life while controlling bad habits.
Retraining also enables the brain to adapt to external changes related to past experiences. This leads to an improvement in an individual’s cognitive abilities through continuous neurogenesis. The exercises also help to rebuild malfunctioning brain sectors that may have been damaged in the past.
Retraining your mind is also vital in recovering from traumatic brain injuries and brain-related illnesses such as fibro and long-term depression. Successful brain retraining is accomplished through the practice of neuroplasticity retraining exercises.
Top 10 Neuroplasticity Books
1. The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
In this new look at the human brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., delivers an introduction to both the scientists advocating and developing neuroscience and the people whose lives have been transformed by this new science. This best-selling book delves into stroke patients’ journey of re-learning to speak to the unprecedented case of a woman born with only half of her brain who worked with neuroscientists to rewire her incomplete brain to work as a whole. The Brain That Changes Itself will forever change the way we see our brains and the potential they hold for living a better life.
2. The Brain’s Way of Healing
Being one of the best neuroplasticity books, this new book analyzes the healing process in four stages: neuro-stimulation, brain modulation, rest, and learning new skills. The brain’s complexity makes for a unique way of healing itself.
3. Livewired, by David Eaglemen
The author of this book, Dr. David Eagleman, considers varied approaches and methods through which the brain readily adapts to its environment while still making sense of the world around it. Through the cerebral cortex, which is the computational center of the brain, external stimuli such as light, pressure, and vibration are interpreted into meaningful information, which you normally apply in day-to-day life.
His great book describes how the processes of synthesis, dreaming, and the application of Neurotech Devices can manipulate the perception of our senses.
4. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
This Amazon best-selling book describes a breakthrough program to conquer anxiety, depression, obsessiveness, anger, and impulsiveness. The author, Dr. Daniel Amen, focuses on overcoming these conditions by utilizing methods akin to brain plasticity, and discovering how they interrelate with specific faculties in the brain.
Deficiencies in different brain sections cause the named effects; thus, medical, and natural measures aimed at correcting these deficiencies are broadly discussed in this book. This includes various ways of self-improvement through better exercise, better rest, and tips on mood improvement.
5. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma – by Bessel A. van der Kolk
Unfortunately, everyone experiences trauma at some point in their life. For example, many veterans and their families face the difficult task of dealing with combat-related trauma. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is a world-renowned expert on trauma who has devoted his career to helping survivors heal from their traumas. In his book, The Body Keeps the Score, Dr. Peter uses recent scientific advancements to illustrate how trauma physically changes both the body and brain, which decreases sufferers’ abilities for joy, involvement, self-control, and trust.
Dr. van der Kolk studies Brain-Body treatments – such as neurofeedback and meditation, sports, drama, and yoga in order to offer patients new paths of recovery by activating the brain’s natural ability to heal itself. According to Dr. van der Kolk’s own research as well as other specialists, The Body Keeps The Score explains the immensely negative or positive effect our relationships have on us – offering sufferers a ray of hope.
6. Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation
Dr. Daniel M. Siegel describes mind-sight as a brain skill that enhances the creation of positive change in life. The book describes how our well-being depends on the balance between the left and right brain. How being consciously aware of the responses of the mind and body enables one to avoid negative thoughts and reactions by reprogramming the brain toward healthier connections between both left and right brain hemispheres.
Being one of the best researchers in the frontiers of brain science, the author focuses on how the inner world of the mind can be harnessed and controlled to change the wiring and architecture of the brain.
7. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
In this book, flow is described as the power that enables one to draw maximum brainpower from any experience in life. It enables people to realize total enjoyment, creativity, and involvement in life.
The author, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, shows how to take control of a positive state of mind through the sequential ordering of information absorbed by our consciousness to unlock our full potential, improve the quality of our lives and discover true happiness.
8. Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
Martin E.P. Seligman, the book’s author, teaches how to cultivate new approaches in life through well-reasoned and flexible optimism, which will help anyone overcome pessimistic thinking and the depression that follows negative thoughts. He describes how to boost your immune system and improve your thoughts through healthy thinking to acquire maximum personal achievement. Check out Learned Optimism to learn more.
The book also teaches brain retraining, or how to change your internal mental dialogues toward better thinking, and thus how to instill optimistic patterns of thought in people at the early stages of life.
9. Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges
This book, authored by Amy Cuddy, describes presence as the focus of self and own feeling instead of being mindful of the impression we create on others. It describes some basic methods that an individual can take to achieve personal liberation against pressure, anxiety, and fear. The resources in this bestseller book equip the reader with the methods and skills to approach the greatest challenges with confidence while giving our best output in life.
10. Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
In this book, Dr. Joe Dispenza gives the reader a step-by-step guide and information required to effect positive changes in any area of life. Applying a variety of stories of personal triumph, the author equips the reader with the necessary strategies toward gradually creating the ideal self that any individual could desire. The book describes the process of parting with your current mindset and creating an entirely different mind.
6 More BONUS Books Involving Neuroplasticity
11. Rewire Your Anxious Brain by Catherine Pittman and Elizabeth Karle
Authors Catherine Pittman and Elizabeth Karle dive into how different parts of the brain, such as the amygdala and cortex, are crucial players in the game of stress and anxiety. This great book offers readers specific examples of how to best handle fear and anxiety by taking advantage of our brain’s ability to adapt to new stimuli. Readers gain a better grasp on how stress, anxiety, and fear are created by the brain. This book is available to purchase through various retailers such as Amazon and is available in Kindle format.
12. Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson
Hardwiring Happiness describes a simple technique that utilizes the secret power in everyday situations to form new neural brain structures meant to increase mindfulness, calmness, and overall better mental health. In this best-selling new book, Dr. Hanson lays out four simple steps that build stability into your brain to foster a sense of resilience and well-being.
13. Buddha’s Brain by Rick Hanson
Rick Hanson does a remarkable job of marrying the concepts of neuroplasticity and thousands of years of mindfulness approaches to aid in fostering mental peace, overall well-being, better self-confidence, and psychological growth. The book contains guided meditations and neuroplasticity exercises meant to activate your brain and foster immense personal growth during everyday life. This book offers an exceptional convergence of psychology, neurology, and mindfulness practice and is packed with practical techniques and skills that can be used every day.
14. The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
Shawn Achor flips the old conventional wisdom of Happiness on its head. Most people believe if you work hard enough, make enough money, or fit into those old jeans from college happiness will follow. However, Anchor, who was a Harvard University professor teaching about the frontiers of brain science, turns the happiness perspective on its head; success doesn’t cause happiness; happiness causes success. Drawing from his own research, new discoveries about the human brain, and case studies, this book explains how happiness stimulates engagement in our brains leading to more success in our lives. In his book, Anchor explains how we can rewire our brains to be calmer, more positive, and, therefore, more successful. This book is available to purchase through various retailers such as Amazon and is available in Kindle format
15. Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain by Sharon Begley
Author Sharon Begley delves into how the ancient knowledge of Buddhism, paired with new insights into the human brain, has revealed that we have the ability to alter our brains for the better. This new brain science is called neuroplasticity (the capability of the brain to alter itself as a response to experience), demonstrates that the brain has the power to completely change its structure down to the neurons, and it is the brain’s way of handling situations it deems helpful or harmful to us. Sharon Begley reveals how this new science and old Buddhist knowledge can come together to help the brain heal after trauma and illnesses such as depression and OCD through the practice of mindfulness.
16. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
In The Power of Habit, award-winning enterprise journalist Charles Duhigg takes readers to the compelling center of scientific findings that demonstrate why our habits occur and how even the most deep-seated habits can be altered through the use of neuroplasticity. This book provides extensive knowledge into engaging narratives that take readers from Procter & Gamble boardrooms to the NFL sidelines to the forefront of civil rights movements. Duhigg offers an entirely new understanding of the human brain and its ever-present potential. The Power of Habit includes an exciting idea: The key to more regular exercising, weight loss, increased productivity, and gaining success is comprehending how our habits operate. This book explains that by harnessing neuroplasticity, you can improve your businesses, community, and overall health.
Self-directed Brain Retraining with re-origin
At re-origin, we help you implement many of the insights learned in these neuroplasticity books to rewire your brain and reclaim your health. Learn more about the re-origin program here.
Brain-training FAQs
What is brain-training?
Brain training is the process of re-wiring your brain to create new neural pathways. Brain re-wiring or brain retraining is most often done in order to get rid of negative behaviors or thoughts that have an adverse impact on your life. This can be done through activities like meditation, mindfulness, creative hobbies, and exposure therapy. Neuroplasticity books can provide insights and guidance on how to effectively rewire your brain and are a great way to get you started toward better health.
How can I rewire my brain fast?
Just as everyone’s brain is uniquely different, so is the amount of time it can take to rewire your brain. Most experts estimate it takes between 3 months to over a year to retrain your brain to form positive habits. However, just as with any large goal, time and commitment to the process are crucial, meaning truly positive change can take some time. Speed is good, but quality is better. So try adding some brain-rewiring activities into your day-to-day life. Some effective methods for rewiring your brain include meditation, exercise, creative hobbies such as art or music, mindfulness, and exposure therapy.
How can I train my brain to read more?
There are a number of brain-training exercises you can do to help improve your reading speed and comprehension. At home, you can begin exercises on your own that can improve your reading. For instance, try reading a favorite book in smaller sections at one time with limited distractions around you, such as phones and televisions. Another method is to bring a book with you throughout the day and read it during any downtime, in which you might usually look at your phone to browse social media or play a game. To train focus and concentration, while reading try and take notes, such as highlighting a quote that resonates with you or annotating important passages, which are excellent ways to inhibit passively skimming through the material and not paying attention to what you are reading. Try some basic speed-reading exercises, as well.
What is neuroplasticity training?
Neuroplasticity training is any type of activity that helps to rewire your brain, which is a large focus in the area of neuroscience. There are programs, books, and reading material that teaches how to implement brain training. Most of the programs focus on the idea that when the brain is supplied with the appropriate encouragement, new neural pathways can be created, which revives healthy brain function in a previously dysfunctional brain and nervous system. The encouragements or “stimuli” provided by retraining programs incorporate physical exercises, such as visualizations and body movements, meditations, journaling, group coaching, and brain-training exercises. These activities allow the brain to scrap damaging, dysfunctional neural pathways and construct new healthy neural connections, which pose a lot of benefits.
What are the benefits of neuroplasticity training?
There are numerous ways that retraining the human brain can support us in everyday life functioning, such as getting rid of bad habits as well as more serious brain functions such as post-stroke complications, brain injury, chronic pain, cognitive decline, chronic illness, anxiety, and depression. Improving one’s brain plasticity helps foster better learning, increase overall cognitive function, and may help alleviate symptoms brought on by chronic illnesses
Takeaway
The article has discussed the meaning of neuroplasticity and its application in retraining the brain to harmonize one’s mind and body. It describes the processes involved and the benefits of brain retraining through practicing new advances in the frontiers of neuroplasticity.
By joining re-origin®, the reader can get a complete step-by-step guide to integrate all the valuable concepts acquired from the sources discussed within the article to achieve the desired level of brain retraining. The article also highlighted some of the best neuroplasticity books from Amazon, which can help the reader who wishes to retrain their brain to acquire the necessary knowledge for a successful brain transformation.If you’re struggling with a chronic condition such as Lyme, CFS, or MCS, take this opportunity, and explore the programs at re-origin to start your journey to physical and mental wellness today.