Brain Damage is Permanent

The Fact is: Our brain can repair itself or compensate for certain lost abilities; it can even generate new cells and neural pathways.

Previously it was believed that we were all born with a specific number of brain cells and damaging any of them or being born with fewer brain cells meant that your number of cells would be depleted forever. Until recent research discoveries, prominent neuroscientists believed this to be true and even believed that the brain could not be repaired once it was “broken”.

Many scientists have now been convinced to think in a different way regarding brain cells and brain damage. This is the result of new evidence that has brought to light the fact that your brain remains “plastic” throughout your life and can rewire or change itself as a response to learning new things. Amazingly the brain is able to generate new cells under certain circumstances. This process is called neurogenesis.

In 1998 scientists demonstrated the brain cell regeneration process by placing a substance in a group of terminal cancer patients that would identify dividing cells. The substance was located during post-mortem examinations attached to new cells in the hippocampus. In addition to demystifying the belief that we are born with a specific number of brain cells but also brings hope to the individuals who have suffered a brain injury that resulted from trauma or diseases.