(Originally published in Holistic Therapist Magazine…)

Once a schoolgirl who disliked science, Susan Greenfield is an inspirational scientist; fascinated by the human brain…

1. The holistic world very much believes in the mind-body connection, what are your thoughts on this? I certainly believe that how we are thinking plays a very important part in our overall health. The placebo effect is a powerful one, and I think more research should be done on this. There is a direct link, for example, with people who are depressed, and their low production of new neurons, whereas if people are exercising there is greater production.
2. So do you believe that some people require more exercise than others to feel balanced in their brain? I don’t think one size fits all. There are so many factors to consider, like your lifestyle, and your income, the demands of your job, and what you want to achieve. For me personally, if I can’t play squash two or three times a week, then I start to feel less good. I certainly think that the benefits of exercise are huge.
3. From your research and experience, would you say we develop addictive characters or that we inherit them genetically? Obviously, if a gene goes wrong, then you’ll have a serious problem, for example Huntington’s disease, but that is not to say that everything is locked into the genes. Especially in humans! The more sophisticated we become, compared with say goldfish, then the more we have our own individual characters, mind-sets, and repertoires. As we have individual experiences, we literally leave a mark on our brains, and become individuals. Fish are not renowned for their great personality traits, whereas humans are. All a gene does is cause protein to be made, and so my own view is that we develop these traits just as much from our environment. And whilst we know that genes and the environment react with each other all of the time, one should never think that we are just born in a certain way, with certain traits and that that is all.
4. I have read your thoughts on Internet Addiction: How can we still teach technology, but avoid the affect it has on the addictive part of the brain?The moderate use is not what concerns me, as the Internet, TV and technology are all part of our lives, but it is when it substitutes or acts as an escapism for our lives, instead of helping to enrich our real lives. It has even become unhealthy the way people use Twitter. For parents, I would say work out ways that will encourage children to make their own choice to go out and climb a tree or go for a walk, rather than be locked in the screen.
5. What are your thoughts on the brain’s ability to lucid dream? I think these phenomena are really interesting. Dreaming is greater in young children, and if you deprive people of dreaming they start to hallucinate – so we know that it fulfills a vital function, one of them is that we consolidate what has gone on in the day. Lucid dreaming is a halfway house between the conscious state and dreaming – if you view consciousness as I do, as being more like a dimmer switch, then lucid dreams can fit in-between the spectrum of the reflective consciousness and dreaming.
6. Anti-aging is a huge part of the beauty and medical world… and more people are increasingly looking to holistic professionals for natural methods to do this – Can we anti-age our brain naturally? My one example would be my own mother, she’s eighty-five, and does line dancing three times a week, and she talks about old people like she isn’t an old person. She has just written a book about her life, which we are hoping to get published, and that seems to have kept her very young. During a recent phone conversation, she said ‘I haven’t done any house work, as I’ve been writing all morning.’ And I think it is a wonderful thing, because it’s really taken years off her. To truly create is a very exciting thing. If I ruled the world, I would say the best thing for older people to do, as well as dancing, and learning languages, is to record their life story. Even if people have lived a so-called ordinary life, this gives them a sense of purpose, and is great legacy for their children, and for society, and a much more constructive thing to do then just waiting to die.

To find out more about the Baroness visit: susangreenfield.com