Illusions Improve Our Health

What would we be without illusions? We have illusions of all kinds and “poor” of those who do not have them. Illusions are desires to which a hope of materialization is attached. In this sense, recent research has shown how having illusions  significantly improves our health.

Specifically Álvaro Pascual-Leone, professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, after learning about the results of his study, expresses it as follows: “ Having a vital project, a goal in life that transcends oneself and that reports satisfaction in striving to achieve it is good for the brain and for general health ”.

It seems that having illusions or a life project increases the cognitive reserve. The cognitive reserve, which is the brain’s ability to face challenges at a level where our abilities are really put to the test. It is closely related to tolerance to change, to the new or to uncertainty.

But what kind of illusions are we talking about?

It is about aspirations or some transcendent reason, what motivates us to keep going. For one person the reason for getting up in the morning may be their children or grandchildren, for another the job they do or perhaps the faith they have in a religion …

They are diverse, individual or collective, and can change over time. What does not change is the state of satisfaction that they produce in us once we have completed them, once we have achieved it with our effort, and if not, our satisfaction for having tried and not “throwing in the towel.”

Keys to a healthy brain

People with a well-defined life project and who are excited seem to have clearer, healthier minds. Thus, the illusion seems that oil that greases all our cognitive processes. They also have fewer cognitive problems in their daily lives and take better care of themselves.

To enjoy healthy neurons we have to nurture seven areas of our life:

• Health: the number of times we get sick and the way in which we deal with the disease affects our brain.
• Nutrition: a complete and balanced diet helps us to stop brain deterioration.
• Sleep:  good sleep hygiene, since the quality of sleep is directly related, for example, with the consolidation of memories.
• Exercises: combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercises. An hour and a half of exercise improves brain function.

• Cognitive functions:  how we face our problems, presence or absence of difficulties in attention or memory, prevent or slow down brain deterioration.
• Social relationships: the type of social network, the number of friends or the possible support received are factors that condition cognitive reserve.
• Vital project: to treasure illusions or goals, finding satisfaction in them, raise our gaze and make us bet on the future by taking care of the present.

The magic of illusions

The illusion is the essential dimension of the future. Perhaps not so much its content as its coverage. With it we can hold our gaze to life, open our eyes and dream, but knowing that most of our illusions are going to ask us, in exchange for coming to reality, an effort.

Injecting illusion into one’s project is to revitalize it, give it energy, polish it, clean it up, vaccinate it against the enemy of monotony. Thus, the efforts to achieve what is intended are unraveled, and any shipwreck is positive, it teaches a concrete lesson to add to the bag of our walk.

Finally, note that joy, like tenacity and patience, keep our illusions from the erosion of a path decorated with roses that are not devoid of thorns. Yes, the same illusions that take care of our mental processes (memory, attention, intelligence …).