We hear a lot about brain damage being the “signature wound” of the Iraq war. In An Instant, the story of ABC new anchor Bob Woodruff, we get a good idea of the importance of keeping mentally fit. It also illustrates the resilience of the brain and neuroplasticity in action.
The scene is Bethesda Naval Hospital, January 31, 2006. Lee, Bob Woodruff’s wife, is speaking to the doctor in charge of her husband’s care. Only two days earlier Bob Woodruff was severely injured in Iraq by an IED (improvised explosive device).
The doctor is explaining why it is so important to use your brain to its maximum potential.
“If you are a person who sharpens pencils for a living and you have a brain injury, you will probably not have as many neurons from your former life to help rehabilitate yourself.
But if you are a person like Bob Woodruff, who is forty-four and has made great use of his brain in his life, speaks multiple languages, has an intellectual curiosity and abundant life experiences, you have a better shot as how well those neurons are going to reconnect.
Think of those neurons as a road – I-95 for example. If the only way your brain knows how to get from New York to Washington is along I-95, and a giant jackknifed truck closes all lanes of the highway, you are in trouble.
But if you are Bob Woodruff and you know alternate routes, you can take back roads or board Amtrak or hop on the shuttle flight at Reagan National. If you are a person who can come up with other solutions, who has really used your brainpower, (italics, mine) you have more chance to develop alternate pathways for cognitive function and reasoning and putting all those neurons back together again.”
There you have it. Don’t wait for head injury, stroke, or dementia; develop your brainpower to the maximum.
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