We all need a Wellness Plan! A mental plan and a physical plan.

Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and growsby interacting with the world through perception and action. Mental stimulation improves brain function and protects against cognitive decline, as does physical exercise.

The human brain can continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old age,it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation. In other words,use it or lose it.

The neural network of the brain forms and starts to evolve in the womb. Beginning in the womb and throughout life this vast networkcontinues to develop, adapt and learn. Look inside the brain at a cellular level to find out how yourthree-pound mega muscle forms and evenhow you learn.

Step back a half-billion years ago, to when the first nervecells developed. The original need for a nervoussystem was to coordinate movement, so an organism could go find food, instead of waiting for the food to come to it. Jellyfish and sea anemone, the first animalsto create nerve cells, had a tremendous advantage over the sponges that waitedbrainlessly for dinner to arrive.

After millions of generations of experimentation, nervous systems evolved some amazing ways of going out to eat. But behind all the myriad forms of life today, the primary directive remains. 

Movement. In fact, a diminished ability to moveis a good measure of aging. Inflexibility is a forewarning of death, whilea flexible body and fluid mind are the stamp of authentication of youth.

Elastic comes from the Greek word for "drive" or "propulsion." It is the tendency of a material to return to its originalshape after being stretched. Elasticityis the basic animal drivethat powers your muscles, giving you strength and balance – flexibility, mobility, and grace.

Plastic derives from theGreek word meaning "molded" or "formed." It is the tendency of the brain to shape itself according to experience.  Plasticity is the basic mental drive that networks your brain, giving you cognition and memory – fluidity, versatility, and adaptability.