Rewiring the brain at any age

Debbie Jacob

I DIDN’T set out to change my brain. It just happened when Hart, a blind retired police dog, came to live with me on August 15, 2022. A few days before he arrived, I wrote to Mounted and Canine Branch Supt Geoffrey Hospedales, who placed Hart with me, and said, “I have blind-proofed my house for Hart.”

To make the house safe for him, I moved everything from the middle of the room – chairs, a coffee table, shoes – and pushed kitchen and desk chairs under a table or desk. I cleared the gallery.

Soon, simple acts caused changes in how I thought and functioned. Last week, I found the notes I took on how Hart was changing my brain.

With Hart around, I couldn’t leave shoes in the middle of a room or close a door halfway. Instead, I stacked shoes neatly in a corner and made sure doors were completely closed or open. Things I once did absent-mindedly became focused actions because I had to consider their impact on Hart.

My memory of where I put papers and objects – including my keys – improved, and putting objects in one place made me feel more organised. Life became more structured.

For years, I walked about 15 steps around a countertop to pick up a water distiller, carry it back to the sink, clean and fill it, and then return it to the most inconvenient spot possible.

Shortly after Hart arrived, I wondered why I was doing that when the distiller could be placed just an arm’s length from the sink. I moved the distiller.

My new routine included giving Hart eye medication at regular intervals five times daily. I got better then at scheduling events and appointments.

Hart ate on schedule, rested for two hours, and then played catch with me to burn off his energy. Belgian Malinois are high-energy and bred to be working dogs for law enforcement and the military. Hart needed a home with someone who could meet his medical needs plus challenge him physically and mentally.

I was the best fit, but now I had to deal with his off-the-chart energy. I devised a plan to work for a half hour and then play with Hart for 20 minutes. My trainer once told me that elderly people shouldn’t sit for more than a half hour at a time so Hart’s needs gave me the discipline to get up and move at scheduled intervals.

This, too, affected my brain and made me more adept at changing gears. I stopped surfing the net, pacing the kitchen and wasting an hour before settling to work in the morning. My concentration improved. Those short spurts of work and play gave me more energy and better concentration. Procrastination, always one of my biggest enemies, seemed defeated.

Then my balance and strength improved. With Hart in the picture, I probably did more than 100 squats a day to pick up his balls. He would catch a ball and keep it in his mouth while he chased another ball, but he wouldn’t bring any balls back to me.

A blind dog darting about the driveway and chasing a ball meant I had to be more aware of space so my spatial awareness improved, though it wasn’t an earthshaking improvement since I have always been spatially challenged. That rewiring is still a challenge. In almost three years, he’s only managed to knock me down twice.

More exercise meant less anxiety, a better mood and less sleep. Daytime naps diminished. I slept better and longer – about six to seven hours a night. The need to establish a bedtime routine for Hart created better sleep patterns for me.

Science has a better understanding of the brain’s neuroplasticity. We know the brain can change and adapt. It needs to be exercised like the rest of the body. That’s why crossword puzzles, picture puzzles, and reading help concentration and memory. But those are static activities.

Hart forced me to introduce movement into a routine that needed structure and organisation. Changing my behaviour to meet his needs affected me in a positive way.

The brain is remarkable in its adaptability. The late neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote about this in An Anthropologist on Mars and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

It’s good to know that we can rewire our brains and change behaviour more than we ever thought possible. Sometimes it takes a drastic change in our lives to realise how our brains can function on a whole new level.