The brain is one of the most fascinating organs of our organism: Professor Giulio Maira, neurosurgeon in Humanitas, guest in the studio at Buongiorno benessere on Rai Uno spoke about its functioning and how to keep it active.
“The brain is divided into two hemispheres and unlike other dual organs, which have the same functions such as the lungs or kidneys, the two cerebral hemispheres have completely different functions. The left hemisphere is that of logic, reasoning, and the analytical hemisphere of the man of science; instead, the right hemisphere is that of fantasy, creativity, sensitivity and imagination, it is more the artist’s hemisphere. Often the left hemisphere is the dominant one and in it there are the important areas for language: it is thanks to the left hemisphere that we are able to speak, to understand what we are told and what we read in a book. However, in left-handed people these functions are performed by the right hemisphere. From the integrated whole of the two hemispheres the functioning of our brain is born”, explained Prof. Maira.
Amnesia, when to worry?
“Amnesia means memory loss. Memory is one of the most important functions we have, we are our memories: we are the facts, the people and the situations that have fixed themselves in our brains throughout their lives. With memory we think of the past and plan for the future, it is the glue of our mind. Sometimes we lose our memory; we can lose it for trivial things, because today life is so fast that it requires us to store so much information that it is as if we have a limited attention span, and in these cases we don’t have to worry about it. Sometimes, however, memory loss indicates the presence of a neurodegenerative disease that is developing, such as Alzheimer’s disease,” said the specialist.
The brain needs novelty
“Today life leads us to age more and more and we would all like to do it with a very active brain that maintains its functions. Based on scientific data, we can say that in order to age well, we need to have an active life, both physically and intellectually; we need to eat little and in a healthy way; we need to sleep a lot. The brain is like a muscle, it grows constantly and also gets bored, it needs to be amused and it needs novelty. It is advisable to do new things, such as learn to play a musical instrument, learn a new language, read a book, possibly aloud because it activates more brain areas, maybe mark the important paragraphs and then comment on them; it is recommended to have a positive attitude towards life and laugh,” concluded Prof. Maira.
Watch the entire interview with Professor Maira by clicking here.
