A brain abroad
Fascinated by topics like neuroplasticity, the effects of meditation on our brains and the neuroscience of learning I did recently a “Neuroscience Upskiller” intensive course. What an exciting world to dive into! I only scratched the surface so far, but there are already so many connection points to my work in Learning and Development, to grow & glow, to my own journey and the way I want to support our son in his development….
Today I want to dig with you a bit deeper into the topic of ‘a brain abroad’. How do our brains change through such an intensive experience as living in another country?
My hypothesis is, that living abroad has the potential to enable extraordinary positive neuroplasticity and through that accelerated personal development. When I brought this topic up towards a very clever person he stated: “Well, your brain actually doesn’t know that you are in another country. So you should do rather research on new experiences in unusual environments.” :D Of course he is completely right, there is not such a thing as an expat brain per se. Still moving to another country comes along with a broad and very intensive range of new experiences for our brains.
First of all: Language.
I still remember very vivid my first Hungarian lesson on our balcony in Stuttgart in 2014 and my first Chinese lesson at our kitchen table here in Suzhou in 2019. I still see the table, the books, the teacher, I remember the curiosity, the awe feeling when my mind encountered for the first time Hungarian and Mandarin.
If you are wondering…No, we did not pick on purpose two countries with languages considered to be extremely difficult to learn. But definitely it had/has a very strong impact on our brains. I could literally feel that when I did in 2019 a 7 weeks intensive 1:1 Mandarin course. It was like observing a brain experiment. My mind was for the first week in shock. What I saw, heard or was supposed to say did not make any sense to me. And after learning a little, my brain went into a kind of brain-freeze mode, where the only thing I could do is making some stupid jokes to distract my teacher as I needed urgently a break. By the way, I just recently learned that laughter is a perfect remedy to decrease quickly cortisol levels and ease the stress.
And this might sound a little crazy (maybe it is :D), but during these weeks I partially felt very foggy in the brain, had headaches and I had the feeling that somehow I was missing energy on the left side of the brain. I went to see a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) doctor and with a few acupuncture sessions it became a lot better. Back then I was honestly a little worried about these symptoms, but with the knowledge I have today it makes a lot of sense to me. There was massive rebuilding going on in my brain. Research shows that when learning a new language, the brain’s grey matter grows and forms new synapses, forcing neuroplasticity. The left inferior parietal cortex of a person learning a new language is bigger than of a person who speaks only one language. There is even evidence that the more foreign languages we learn, the faster the brain responds and processes the data it absorbs during learning. And even more mind blowing, learning something very difficult in a short time, like a new language, can help people to overcome such a serious condition as a period of depression.
Novelty - about the “just right amount”
Studying about how our brains experience novelty is very fascinating. It seems that we need the exact right amount of novelty in order to get most out of it. How is that?
The Centre for Studies on Human Stress states that novelty is one of the main potential stressors for us. They define novelty as “something new you have not experienced before”. Well, that’s also how you could describe the whole experience of moving and living in another country :). Following this stress model, experiencing too much novelty activates the stress response. With our amygdala in overrun, we fall rather in reactive or “survival” “fight, flight or freeze” patterns. Translated into the experience of living abroad this could trigger behaviors as fighting emotionally against the country and experience:
Fight: Complaining about what is different, falling into stereotypes etc….something every expat sees and hears a lot)
Flight: Dissociating with the experience, eg by withdrawing from the real experience and staying in the famous expat bubble. Or staying mostly at home and/or work without getting in touch what is “out there”
On the other hand experiencing novelty has the potential to stimulate enormous positive neuroplasticity. Our human race is magically drawn to new things, as they may be of great use for us (new food, new tools…). Just imagine the fascination kids have for new toys, or just think about how easily you can recall so many “my first time….”. Experiencing novelty is closely tight in our brains to learning, motivation and rewards. We have so to say have a “novelty centre” in our brains, and experiencing something new can reward us with a big boost of dopamine, our feel good hormone which makes us wanting more of this experience, thus stimulating positive neuroplasticity.
And as surprising these two ends of novelty might sound at the first time, everyone having lived or living abroad can probably very easily connect this to their own experience.
I am regularly hunting for these dopamine spikes :D. By:
Visiting those parts of Suzhou, which are so different from what I grew up with: The old town with fascinating temples, mind-blowing gardens, unknown stores and habits … seeing often for hours no other laowai (the Chinese word for foreigner)…enjoying diving into a whole new world
Trying new foods. Great news is, that China has so many different food to offer, that I can rely on a lot of dopamine over the next years :D
Getting in touch with the culture, trying Chinese Traditional Medicine, going tea plucking, doing a Yoga and meditation retreat in a Buddhist temple close to Suzhou….
Each time I get some of this “novelty-me-time”, I feel energized, in presence and I get a lot of new ideas and inspiration! Because my brain is in “intake mode”, creating new connections.
On the other hand the novelty can tipp into “too much” and then easily overwhelm us. Based on my experience the first few weeks in a new country are very challenging. Especially if the surrounding is very different and works very different from what we know - or think is the norm ;).
I remember my husband, my son and me in September 2019, shortly after we arrived in China. We had a simple plan, going to Decathlon. So I did what I would have done in Germany or Hungary: I researched where Decathlon is in Suzhou - First challenge: I couldn't easily find the information, and after 30 mins I decided that this should be the right place. Then we took the metro for the first time - Second Challenge: Figuring out how to buy the tickets, where to go, to change lines etc. When we arrived we realized that what looked as very close on the map was actually a 30 mins walk in the burning sun - third challenge. The mood of our son dropped significantly….Finally we reached the place where Decathlon should be…Realizing that this was an office building in the middle of nowhere where Decathlon had offices, no store….My husband and I didn’t know what to do…Fourth challenge. We didn’t want to walk 30 mins back to the metro, so we decided to take a taxi….After standing 15 minutes at the road without any taxi stopping we realized that this idea doesn’t work for taxis in China - Fifth challenge. So we entered a nearby China Mobile shop, where the staff was very kind, but we couldn't communicate with each other and it took another 20 minutes until we finally could call a taxi from there and get home -final Challenge. We were very quiet in the taxi on the way home, feeling a little lost in a country we didn’t understand (yet)….and we just wanted to go back into our safe space, our apartment, to recover.
I am sure the expats amongst you can all recall similar experiences, where the novelty became “too much”. In these moments the stress is becoming too high, and we need to do some proper self-care to reduce it. By relaxing at home, having some good family time, meeting people we know, eating well and especially winding down and sleeping enough, so that our minds can recover and restore our energy level.
Overall it’s about finding the sweet spot or rather the right balance where you stay open to the new information and allowing your brain (and of course your whole being) to take a rest in between, return to a safe spot and consolidate all the new intakes. For me it works to ask myself: “Is today a day to explore or consolidate? What do I need at the moment to process all of this?”
Besides “language” and “novelty” there are so many other elements of living abroad providing the soil to “grow & glow” …. I am curious about your experiences. What does or did have the biggest impact on your “brain abroad”?