Here's a little something I'm working on for the Bible Song Sunday School manual.
Your brain contains 100 billion nerve cells – as many as all the stars in the Milky
Way galaxy. There are quadrillion connections between these neurons – as many
as all the phone calls made in the world in the last twenty years. There is a physical
pathway connecting nearly every part of your brain with every other part. Not only
that, but these neural connections extend far beyond the brain, itself, to every part
of your body.
a. Neurons (Nerve Cells) An average nerve cell, the color of raw liver and the
consistency of an avocado, connects electrochemically with an average of 10,000
other nerve cells. Neural signals are not confined to your head, but travel through
an amazing maze – an information super-highway of unfathomable complexity
and overlapping wiring. These tentacle spies reach out to sensory outposts in every
part of your body. In a very real sense, your mind extends to your fingertips.
Here’s another strange truth: you don’t just have memories in your brain.
Memories are stored in every nerve cell in your body. You actually have memories
in your arm, your liver, your eyeballs, and your feet! (Ask Tiger Woods about
muscle memory.) If, as neuroscientists believe today, nearly every part of your brain is involved in nearly everything you do, then nearly every part of your body
is also connected to nearly everything you think, feel, learn and experience.
Memorization on a neural level is all about building, maintaining, and
strengthening connections and patterns of connections between the neurons of
the brain and body. The more connections - and the more repetition to solidify
those connections - the better your chances of creating long-term retention of
what you are trying to learn.
b. Glial Cells (Memory Glue) Aside from neurons, an
increasing bit of attention has been paid recently to another type
of brain cell – a glue cell made from glucose that provides
several maintenance functions for the brain. These mysterious,
yet abundant, glue cells (glial cells) provide structural support in
the brain, lay down markers to tell nerve cells where to grow,
facilitate waste removal, and maintain nutrition in the brain.
They provide one additional function that will relate to our
singing and signing Scriptures: they insulate the wiring of the
neurons with a little fatty sheath – myelin – to help the nerves
fire more efficiently. As with electrical wires, the more insulation,
the better the connection.
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