That Neuroscience Guy - Neuroscience Bites-Legos and other Hobbies

Episode Date: January 14, 2023

It's becoming increasingly popular to build Lego sets well into adulthood. In today's Neuroscience Bite, we discuss how simple engaging tasks like this are actually great for your brain. 

Hi, my name is Olof Kregolsen, and I'm a neuroscientist at the University of Victoria. And in my spare time, I'm that neuroscience guy. Welcome to another Neuroscience Bite. I know we've been talking a lot about different brain regions, and we'll get back to that next week. But today, another thing that's kind of related to the holidays which well some people were surprised when they saw some of my christmas gifts so on today's bite the neuroscience of lego yep you heard that right lego so adult lego has become a trendy thing if you go on the lego.com website, you'll see that there are sets

that are specifically built for 18 plus. So, you know, we're not talking kids Lego. They Lego themselves think you have to be over 18 to do this. Now you can imagine people like me are just trying to get back into their childhood, but that's not really it. So there's a background of research that shows this. And I'm going to tell you right now, it's not just Lego. We're talking about things that are

engaging. So you could imagine knitting or crochet. You could imagine, you know, woodworking or, you know, building something by hand. You could imagine, you know, working on a car engine. You know, I'll focus on Lego because that's my thing, but why are these things beneficial to the brain? Well, there's two principal reasons for this. One, building adult Lego or knitting or working on a car engine forces the prefrontal cortex to engage. You can't do these things on autopilot. And remember, engaging the prefrontal cortex is good for brain health. This is a theme throughout this podcast series. It's becoming a big part of my research program, but engaging the prefrontal cortex is good for brain health.

You know, this is why as we get older, if you switch to a mode where you spend two to three hours a night or four hours a night just watching TV or Netflix, it's not good for your brain. Because while your emotional system might be responding, you're largely on autopilot and you're not engaging the prefrontal cortex. And if you want to stave off things like dementia, you have to keep the prefrontal cortex engaged. Now, let me qualify that quickly. You can't stop dementia from coming, but you can attempt to put your brain in the best possible state to fight off or resist the impact of dementia. And if we're younger, because a lot

of our listeners aren't, you know, worried about dementia, that's a problem for people like me that are over 50, but anything that engages the brain is good for brain function and brain health. So when you're sitting there, all right, and you're building your adult Lego set, or you're rebuilding a car engine, or you're doing knitting, you're engaging the prefrontal cortex, which is good for brain health. Now, the second reason why Lego is good for the brain is it's a form of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a state where you're sort of turned off the outside world and you're relaxed. Now, it might seem contradictory that the two things are at odds with each other, but they don't have to be. Some types of mindfulness, like some types of meditation, actually you see increases in activity

in the prefrontal cortex because of the style of mindfulness that's being done. So it's not always deep breathing and relaxation. Sometimes you are focusing on things, focused attention meditation being an example of this. So the neuroscience of Lego, there you have it. You can say that neuroscience guy has told you to go out and buy adult Lego. I've got a whole bunch of people that are going to be angry at me because their partners are going, yep, I've got a justification and it's neuroscience based. But these things are good for your brain. The take home message for this bite, tonight, if nothing else, or every night this week,

or every night for the rest of your life, do something that engages your brain and practice some form of mindfulness. My name is Olof Kregolsen and I'm that neuroscience guy. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you on Sunday for a full episode of the podcast. And you're going to like it. It's about engaging your brain in a way you've probably haven't thought of. Filipino stick fighting. True story.