The brain is even more than a veritable soup of chemicals mixed with a spaghetti junction of endless combinations of nerve connections. How do our nerves remain healthy? They need Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) to grow and maintain their function. However, in stressful situations there is a reduction in BDNF in key brain areas, especially the hippocampus.

The hippocampus of the rat has been studied by John O’Keefe who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine last year. We now know that this region of the brain possesses its own stem cells which can be made into new nerve cells.

A pretty handy strategy in the fight against depression.