Mind Fitness - Improve Your Brain Power
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Improve Your Brain Power - Tips, Techniques, and Resources
You can improve your brain power. Have you heard of the term "brain plasticity"? Brain plasticity, or neuro-plasticity, refers to the ability of the brain to change and adapt, and even rewire itself. A mounting body of evidence suggests that our brains contain more plasticity than previously thought, and that there are things we can do to strengthen our brain, regardless of our age.
The brain, just like the body, needs to be kept in shape to perform at its optimum level and boost your brain power. Your brain is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it will get.
This lens contains over 50 ways--including nutrition, physical exercise, stress management, and mental stimulation tips--to help you take optimal care of your brain. So whatever your age, read on to improve your memory, concentration, and decision-making abilities. That is, read this lens in order to improve your brain power.
photo credit: LoreleiRanveig
The brain, just like the body, needs to be kept in shape to perform at its optimum level and boost your brain power. Your brain is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it will get.
This lens contains over 50 ways--including nutrition, physical exercise, stress management, and mental stimulation tips--to help you take optimal care of your brain. So whatever your age, read on to improve your memory, concentration, and decision-making abilities. That is, read this lens in order to improve your brain power.
photo credit: LoreleiRanveigImportant!
Daniel Amen, M.D.
" . . . [A] balanced brain is the foundation for a life that is happier, healthier, wealthier, and wiser . . . if you really understand how to develop and take care of your brain, your life will be better no matter what your age."
Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential
Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential
To Increase Your Brain Powr, Exercise Your Brain
Neuroscientist Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg explains that scientific research shows that you can improve the functioning of your brain by engaging in brain fitness training. Your brain is constantly creating new neurons and new connections, which is called neurogenesis. This means that you have the power to strengthen your mental muscles in the same way in which you strengthen your body's muscles when you lift weights at the gym. In order to do this you need to exercise your brain in a way that's novel, has variety, and presents constant challenge.
curated content from YouTube
4 Pillars of Brain Health
Good Nutrition
Physical Fitness
Stress Management
Mental Stimulation
Three Brain Boosters to Get You Started
1. For brain health, eat two or three servings of fish weekly. Fish is rich in omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for brain function and development. These healthy fats have amazing brain power: higher dietary omega 3 fatty acids are linked to lower dementia and stroke risks; slower mental decline; and may play a vital role in enhancing memory, especially as we get older. For more information on the benefits of eating fish, go here.2. Drink water. Carla Hannaford, Ph.D., author of Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head
, explains that the brain is between 75 and 90% water. In addition, as a major component of blood, water is vital for transporting oxygen to the brain. Drinking water throughout the day improves concentration and focus. Many of us have a habit of choosing soft drinks, carbonated beverages, and juices over water. Start replacing these drinks with water.3. The brain loves novelty. When you challenge your own assumptions, look at things from many different perspectives, change your routines, break your habits, and so on, you actually open new pathways in the brain and nervous system.
photo credit: adactio Keep Well-Hydrated
Since electrical impulses are impeded by even a slight dehydration of the brain, not getting enough water literally interferes with proper brain function.
The Famous Nun Study
Since 1986, University of Kentucky scientist David Snowdon has been studying 678 nuns hoping to discover secrets of the brain. In particular, what happens to the brain as we age. His findings have shed some light on how to live a mentally active life well into old age.
- The Nun Study - TIME
- How one scientist and 678 sisters are helping unlock the secrets of ALZHEIMER'S
- How Sharp Is Your Memory?
- Take the following quiz to test your memory.
- What You Can Do - TIME
- Relatively simple changes in diet and lifestyle can help keep your brain fit.
“Dr. Carla Hannaford presents the mounting scientific evidence that movement is crucial to learning.”
Smart Moves
Learning is Not All In Your Head
Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head
Amazon Price: $11.29 (as of 06/01/2012)
Dr. Hannaford offers clear alternatives and remedies that people can put into practice right away to make a real difference in their ability to learn.
She advocates more enlightened educational practices for homes and schools including: a more holistic view of each learner; less emphasis on rote learning; more experiential, active instruction; less labeling of learning disabilities; more physical movement; more personal expression through arts, sports and music; less prescribing of Ritalin and other drugs whose long term effects are not even known.
Learn to Juggle
Brain researchers at the University of Regensburg in Germany have found that learning to juggle can change brain structure.Researchers conducted a study in which they divided 24 people into two groups: 12 people were taught to juggle and the other 12 were not.
Magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the size of different areas in the brains of the subjects. Brain scans were taken before anyone practiced juggling, three months after the jugglers practiced and three months after the jugglers stopped practicing.
At the first brain scan, there were no differences in the brains of the study participants. However, at the second brain scan, a significant expansion was found in two areas of the brains of the 12 jugglers, areas that are important for processing information related to moving objects. No changes were seen in the brains of non-jugglers at the second scan. At brain scan #3, after the jugglers stopped juggling, the brain expansion seen earlier was reduced.
photo credit: jayniebell Juggling for the Complete Klutz
Juggling for the Complete Klutz with Other (Klutz S.)
Amazon Price: $12.00 (as of 06/01/2012)
Don't know how to juggle? Try the book Juggling for the Complete Klutz
Make Guacamole
Every organ in the body depends on blood flow, especially the heart and brain. Eating fruits like avocados--yes, avocados are fruit--can enhance blood flow, offering a simple, tasty way to fire up brain cells.
Important!
What is "Brain Gym"?
Movement is a key part of the process of development and learning. Brain Gym is a program of simple exercises, developed over a 25 year period by a remedial educational specialist, Dr. Paul Dennison.
Brain Gym exercises can help with things such as:
- Comprehension
- Concentration
- Abstract Thinking
- Memory
- Mental Fatigue
- Completing tasks
- Physical balance and coordination
Visit the "The Official Brain Gym Website".
Brain Gym exercises can help with things such as:
- Comprehension
- Concentration
- Abstract Thinking
- Memory
- Mental Fatigue
- Completing tasks
- Physical balance and coordination
Visit the "The Official Brain Gym Website".
“Some of the brain gym movements are designed to connect the left and right sides of the brain.”
The Brain on the News
- The New York Times
- Boomers are seizing on a mounting body of evidence that suggests that brains contain more plasticity than previously thought, and many people are taking matters into their own hands, doing brain fitness exercises with the same intensity with which they attack a treadmill.
- USATODAY.com - Want a sharp mind for your golden years? Start now
- Knowing they'll need a nest egg for later years, sensible middle-aged adults may put their stockbroker on speed-dial and keep 401(k) updates handy. But how about building a cognitive reserve account their brain can draw on at older ages.
- CBS News, TIME Partner For Brain Series
- As 21st century science and technology open the brain to exploration as never before, once accepted truths are now being challenged. "A User's Guide to the Brain," A five-part CBS News series produced in conjunction with Time magazine, gives a first-hand look at the fascinating and radical new discoveries surrounding one of the human body's most extraordinary and mysterious organs - the brain.
Mental Stress Symptoms
* Lapses in concentration or judgment
* Decision-making difficulty
* Memory impairment
Relax - Find Ways to Relieve Stress
Neuroscientists have found that continuous or intense stress can harm brain cells, brain structure and brain function, causing such side effects as memory problems or depression. In one study reported by the Society for Neuroscience, when researchers stressed rats by restraining them, cells in the hippocampus-a brain area important for memory-withered. Therefore, reducing stress is vital to maintain a healthy brain.Here are three tips to help you relieve stress:
1. Prioritize. The tendency to try and accomplish too many things in too little time is a major source of stress for a lot of people. Instead of trying to do it all decide what are the most important things for you to accomplish and concentrate on those. Drop activities that don't bring you joy and don't move you closer to your dreams.
2. Breathing exercises. Since breathing is something we can easily control and regulate, it's a useful tool for achieving a relaxed and clear state of mind. Andrew Weil, M.D.-a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing approach which encompasses body, mind, and spirit-, advices the following: "Practicing regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing and can even help with stress-related health problems."
3. Get rid of small stressors. Make a list of small things that annoy you such as the leaky faucet in the bathroom, the closet door coming off its hinge, and the burned light bulb in the closet. Get these things fixed.
For more tips on how to reduce stress read my post, Stress Management: 25 Ways to Relieve Stress.
("Meditation Posture", courtesy of instantstressmanagement).
“If you exercise your mental muscles, your mind becomes sharper.”
The Brain Fitness Program
This program presents a workout to help viewers get their brains in better shape.
The Brain Fitness Program
Amazon Price: $6.50 (as of 06/01/2012)
The Brain Fitness Program is based on neuro-plasticity, the ability of the brain to change and adapt - even rewire itself.
In the past two a team of scientists has developed computer-based stimulus sets that drive beneficial chemical, physical and functional changes in the brain.
Dr. Michael Merzenich of the University of California San Francisco and his colleagues around the world have been leading this effort; he brings the research findings, along with a scientifically based set of brain exercises, to PBS viewers in this innovative and life-altering program.
Important!
Challenging a Specific Part of the Brain Encourages it to Grow
There are numerous studies showing that challenging a specific part of the brain encourages that region to grow and develop, as in the well-publicized example of the London taxi drivers, who develop a larger hippocampus - the part of the brain responsible for spatial memory - as they learn their way around the city.
For more information on the study, go here.
For more information on the study, go here.
Healthy Brain Links
- You're Wiser Now
- A new look at the surprising resilience and growth potential of the human brain. when people over 50 notice that they've lost a bit of that snap-crackle speed, they frequently overlook the mental powers they've gained in the bargain.
- Salk Institute - Press Releases - Salk Scientists Demonstrate For The First Time That Newly Born Brain Cells Are Functional In The Adult Brain
- Salk Institute scientists have observed for the first time that new cells in the adult brain grow and mature over time, functioning just like any of their neighboring neurons.
The study offers proof that newly born cells integrate into existing neuronal circuitry, providing the brain with a continual reservoir of youthful active cells. Such cells might then replace older neurons or possibly be used to reshape the brain so it may learn and adapt to new experiences. - Innovators - Fred Gage
- Until Fred Gage came along, brain scientists accepted as a matter of faith that the neurons, or brain cells, you were born with were all the brain cells you would ever have. Then, two years ago, this 49-year-old neurobiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., showed in a groundbreaking experiment that neurons are constantly being born, particularly in the learning and memory centers. Gage's discovery forced scientists to rethink some of their most basic ideas about how the brain works.
- Brain Plasticity
- Many scientists once believed that as we aged the brain's networks cemented in place. But now an enormous amount of evidence uncovered in the past two decades finds that the brain never stops changing and adjusting.
- Successful Aging of the Healthy Brain
- This article was originally presented at the Conference of the American Society on Aging and The National Council on the Aging March 10, 2001.
- Build Your Brain Without Shrinking Your Wallet
- The brain-training movement promises to help you not just find the garage opener or remember who won the 1988 World Series (the Dodgers), it could protect you from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of age-related dementia.
The concept is right-on. Research shows that - at any age - you can switch on your brain's amazing ability not only to generate neurons (brain cells) but to connect them, a phenomenon called neuroplasticity.
Here Are My Last Five Blog Posts
Get Enough Sleep
Without adequate rest, the brain's ability to function quickly deteriorates: concentration levels drop and memory becomes impaired. In addition, the brain's ability to problem solve is greatly impaired. Decision-making abilities are compromised, and the brain falls into rigid thought patterns that make it difficult to generate new problem-solving ideas. Go here for more information.Not getting enough sleep? Here's a tip to help improve the quality of your sleep:
Even as we sleep, our minds continue to respond to stimulants from all of our senses. Small amounts of light-such as that from a glowing alarm clock-can interfere with sleep quality, so you might want to consider a sleep mask. In addition, even noise that doesn't wake you can disturb sleep, so experts suggest playing white noise, classical music, or other soothing tunes while you sleep. As for the sense of touch, choose loose, soft fabrics, and make sure you have a comfortable mattress. An aroma dispenser that changes fragrances or emits the same scent at intervals is also a good sleep aid. Popular scents for rest include chamomile, bergamot or lavender. In addition, according to the Mayo Clinic, a glass of warm milk really might help you fall asleep.
Want more tips to help you sleep better? Read my post, "Sleep Extravaganza - 40 Tools, Tidbits, and Resources to Help You Conquer Sleep".
("Sleeping In", courtesy of cmrowell).
“The brain becomes complacent if it's not stimulated. Lateral thinking puzzles demand an open mind.”
Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Exercise Your Brain
Exercise your brain in a way that is:
1. Novel
2. Has variety
3. Presents constant challenge
Brain Age 2
Brain Age 2 acts like a treadmill for the mind!
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!
Amazon Price: $9.75 (as of 06/01/2012)
Brain Age 2 has seventeen (17) engaging activities designed to help work your brain and increase blood flow to the prefrontal cortex. When you start a new game, you will take a series of tests and get a score that shows how old your brain is. This number is called your Brain Age. With daily training over weeks and months, you can improve your mental acuity and lower your Brain Age.
Brain Age is inspired by the research of Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, a prominent Japanese neuroscientist. His studies evaluated the impact of performing certain reading and mathematic exercises to help stimulate the brain.
Dr. Elizabeth Zelinski, dean and executive director of University of Southern California's Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, says games like Brain Age can help keep older generations of Americans' minds active. "Americans can do a great deal to maintain and even improve their mental abilities," Zelinski explains. "Aging is about taking on new challenges for our minds. Nintendo's Brain Age is a great way to do that."
With the simplicity of the Nintendo DS, and Brain Age's challenging and rewarding exercises, baby boomers and test-prepping kids alike can stimulate their brains!
Free Games to Exercise Your Brain
- Brain Metrix
- With Brain Metrix you can train your brain with a variety of exercises and tests, to boost your intelligence and your brain reflection, solving math problems and games, brain workouts, mind training and how to boost your brain power.
- Play With Your Mind - Original word games, logic puzzles, typing tests and other games for your brain
- Mind games galore - online word games, typing tests, logic puzzles and more. 100% original!
- Brain Arena
- The online free brain training of your dreams.
Cognifit Mindfit
Cognifit MindFit
Amazon Price: $59.95 (as of 06/01/2012)
MindFit is a computer program that has been specifically designed for adults who wish to actively maintain a vital, agile and vigorous mind.
The program is designed for use on a Microsoft Windows based computer; it is easy to use and requires minimal computer knowledge.
Subscribe to Brain Fitness Websites
- Luminosity - Brain Games & Brain Training
- Lumosity offers a brain training program consisting of engaging brain games and exercises designed by leading neuroscientists. The program includes tools to track your progress and improvement.
Researchers from Stanford and McGill universities and the University of California, San Francisco built this series of simple and surprisingly fun games using real neuroscience research to improve your attention, memory, and even peripheral vision. Your first fourteen days are free and for $9.95 a month thereafter, the site offers a guided program of 30 10- to 15-minute sessions. - Happy Neuron - Brain Fitness for Life
- HAPPYneuron brings you Brain Fitness through entertaining games that are fun and scientifically developed to challenge your brain and keep it in top gear at all times. The comprehensive program stimulates your attention, language, memory, visual-spatial and executive function skills. Get started with your Brain Fitness lifestyle.
“In one test, eating 1/2 a cup of blueberries a day reversed age-related mental decline in rats.”
Make Blueberry Pancakes for Breakfast
Research in animals shows that blueberries help protect the brain from oxidative stress and may reduce the effects of age-related conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Studies also show that diets rich in blueberries significantly improved both the learning capacity and motor skills of aging rats, making them mentally equivalent to much younger rats.("Blueberry Pancakes", courtesy of The Mooncake Box).
Important!
Antioxidants Protect Brain Cells
Antioxidants protect all your cells, including brain cells. Some of the foods highest in antioxidants include: prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, garlic, kale, cranberries, strawberries, spinach, and raspberries.
Brain Foods : What to Eat for a Healthier Brain
- Brain Foods Pictures Slideshow: What to Eat for Better Concentration
- Can brain foods really help you concentrate, or boost memory? You can increase your chances of maintaining a healthy brain -- if you add "smart" foods and beverages to your diet.
- Susan Perry: How eating fish protects the aging brain
- A study published in Neurology (the medical journal of the St. Paul-headquartered American Academy of Neurology) found that the regular consumption of some fish significantly reduces the risk of "silent strokes."
Silent strokes are known to increase the risk of cognitive impairment (loss of thinking skills), dementia and full-blown strokes. - FOXNews.com - Eating 'Smart': 9 Super Foods for Better Brain - Fitness
- Add these nine super foods to your daily diet, and you will increase your odds of maintaining a healthy brain for the rest of your life.
- Boosting Brain Power -- With Chocolate
- Eating chocolate could help to sharpen up the mind and give a short-term boost to cognitive skills, a University of Nottingham expert has found.
Here's Another Brain Hack: Develop Your Creativity -Creativity Gives Power to Your Thinking
Visit my lens on "How to Be More Creative" for inspiration.
Meditate
Neuropsychologists now say that meditation can alter brain structure, specifically, meditation can change brain circuits linked to attention.
Meditation Links
- Meditation Alters Brain Structure
- Scans of Monks' Brains Show Meditation Alters Structure, Functioning -- SCIENCE JOURNAL By SHARON BEGLEY - November 5, 2004
Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain
Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves
Amazon Price: $7.69 (as of 06/01/2012)
Put Together Jigsaw Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles quiet the mind and induce a state of creative meditation. They tap into our creativity and rewire our brains to make "connections".Putting together jigsaw puzzles stimulates both hemispheres of the brain. The left brain hemisphere, our linear, analytical side, sees all of the separate pieces and attempts to sort them out logically. The right brain hemisphere, our creative side, sees the "big picture" and works intuitively. In exercising both sides of the brain at the same time, we create actual "connections" between the left and right sides. These connections increase our ability to learn, to comprehend, and to remember. In addition, completing a puzzle, or even just the successful placement one piece, encourages the production of dopamine, a brain chemical that increases learning and memory.
Try to make it challenging: choose puzzles with 500 pieces or more.
For more information on how jigsaw puzzles stimulate the brain, go here.
Eat Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate has powerful antioxidant properties, and contains natural stimulants like caffeine, which can enhance focus and concentration.
Use the Memory Peg System
A peg system is a technique for memorizing lists. It works by pre-memorizing a list of words that are easy to associate with the numbers they represent (1 to 10, 1-100, and so on). Those are your memory pegs. When you need to quickly memorize a list of arbitrary objects, each object is associated with the appropriate peg. Once you've memorized the pegs you can use these same pegs over and over again every time that you need to memorize something. When you have to memorize a list you visualize each number on the list in relation to the memory peg. You can choose words that rhyme with the numbers, such as the following example from wikipedia:1-gun
2-zoo
3-tree
4-door
5-hive
6-bricks
7-heaven
8-plate
9-wine
10-hen
For example, suppose you're memorizing a list of 10 items you want to get at the pharmacy: cotton balls, toothpaste, gum, paper, glue, index cards, multivitamins, hand cream, shampoo, and nail polish. Do the following:
1. Visualize cotton balls being fired from a gun.
2. Visualize a gorilla at the zoo brushing his teeth.
3. Visualize a tree with packs of gum growing on its branches.
4. Visualize someone breaking through a paper door.
5. Visualize a jar of glue surrounded by bees as if it were a beehive.
6. Visualize a house made up of "bricks" of index cards.
7. Visualize angels taking multivitamins.
8. Visualize a plate full of hand cream.
9. Visualize a wine glass filled with shampoo.
10. Visualize a hen with bright red nails.
("Peg People on a Slide", courtesy of syam C).
The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain
The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain
Amazon Price: $7.50 (as of 06/01/2012)
Important!
Exercise
Recent studies have linked exercise to brain cell growth. In one study, published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, the brain cells in the hippocampus doubled in adult rats that exercised on running wheels.
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
Amazon Price: $13.28 (as of 06/01/2012)
The book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
Scientific evidence demonstrates that aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.
Go Out and Socialize
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health used data gathered from 1998 to 2004 from the Health and Retirement Study, a large, nationally representative population of American adults ages 50 and older to study the effects of social isolation on mental decline. Their findings suggest that strong social ties, through friends, family and community groups, can preserve our brain health as we age and that social isolation may be an important risk factor for cognitive decline in the elderly.("More Socializing", courtesy of jenniferdianesmith).
Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobotic Exercises
Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobic Exercises to Help Prevent Memory Loss and Increase Mental Fitness
Amazon Price: $0.60 (as of 06/01/2012)
An activity becomes neurobic when it meets the following:
- It involves one or more of your senses in a novel way
- It engages your attention
- It breaks a routine activity in an unexpected, nontrivial way
Examples of a neurobic exercise include brushing your teeth, eating, drinking, opening doors, using the remote, etc. but done with your opposite hand instead of the hand you normally use.
Also, taking a shower, eating, tying your shoes and so on, done with your eyes closed, are neurobic activities.
What happens in your brain when you do these activities in such a novel way is that dormant or new associations (brain cell connections) in your brain get activated. When you close your eyes for instance when doing a task, your brain must rely more heavily on other senses not normally used for that given task. By activating and using those brain connections you strengthen them.
Brain Blogs
- Online Brain Games Blog
- With so many people looking for ways to improve their brain function, the internet has exploded with websites feeding this need. There are literally thousands of sites on the subject of brain fitness and brain games. The Online Brain Games Blog was created to help sort out the best of the best from these sites.
- Brain Ready
- Get your aging brain back into shape - naturally.
The Brain That Changes Itself
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
Amazon Price: $9.34 (as of 06/01/2012)
Only a few decades ago, scientists considered the brain to be fixed or "hardwired," and considered most forms of brain damage, therefore, to be incurable. Dr. Doidge, an eminent psychiatrist and researcher, was struck by how his patients' own transformations belied this, and set out to explore the new science of neuroplasticity by interviewing both scientific pioneers in neuroscience, and patients who have benefited from neuro-rehabilitation.
Here he describes in fascinating personal narratives how the brain, far from being fixed, has remarkable powers of changing its own structure and compensating for even the most challenging neurological conditions.
The Brain That Changes Itself
- Boingboing Article
- Article on "The Brain That Changes Itself".
Follow the Ancient Aztec's Advice
The cacao bean, minimally processed, has in recent years been shown to be a veritable powerhouse of cognitive enhancement. For a tasyy, brain and body-fueling drink, do the following:Mix a large spoonful of 100% organic cocoa powder with a bit of espresso and organic unsweetened soy milk; add some cinnamon and sprinkle with a bit of cayenne red pepper. You'll be making a drink not unlike what the ancient Aztecs used to make.
You get protein from the soy milk, brain-enhancing cinnamon, a little brain-enhancing caffeine from the espresso, and theobromine from the chocolate. As an added benefit, the cayenne pepper helps with digestion and is also brain-enhancing. (Source).
photo credit: xicana_momma Smell the Sandalwood
Michelle Schoffro Cook, doctor of natural medicine and author of The Brain Wash
has the following to say about the benefits of sandalwood:
"Natural scents have a direct pathway to the brain and research shows that some chemical constituents of aromatherapy oils, particularly . . . sesquiterpenes [a chemical compund found naturally in plants] can cross the blood-brain barrier and increase oxygen flow to the brain."
Extra oxygen increases energy, immune function, positive moods, and learning. Frankincense and sandalwood are particularly effective at increasing oxygen levels in the brain. An easy way to improve your brain health could involve a little aromatherapy.
has the following to say about the benefits of sandalwood:"Natural scents have a direct pathway to the brain and research shows that some chemical constituents of aromatherapy oils, particularly . . . sesquiterpenes [a chemical compund found naturally in plants] can cross the blood-brain barrier and increase oxygen flow to the brain."
Extra oxygen increases energy, immune function, positive moods, and learning. Frankincense and sandalwood are particularly effective at increasing oxygen levels in the brain. An easy way to improve your brain health could involve a little aromatherapy.
Go Dancing
The New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a study on the effects of different recreational activities on mental acuity in aging. The study wanted to see if any physical or cognitive recreational activities influenced mental acuity. They discovered that frequent dancing offers protection against dementia.Quoting Dr. Joseph Coyle, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who wrote an accompanying commentary: "The cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which are critical to these activities, are remarkably plastic, and they rewire themselves based upon their use." That is, dancing improves cognitive reserve and increases the complexity of neuronal synapses, which makes a person more resistant to the effects of dementia.
By involving yourself in activities which require split-second rapid-fire decision making, and dancing is an excellent example of this type of activity, you will stimulate the connectivity of your brain by generating the need for new pathways.
Another suggestion that the study makes is that you do it often.
(Source).
photo credit: lepiaf.geo Improve Your Critical Thinking
Just as you should improve your creative thinking, you should improve your critical thinking. In Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms, the word "critical," implies "an effort to
see a thing clearly and truly so that not only the good in it may be distinguished from the bad and the perfect from the imperfect, but also that it as a whole may be fairly judged and valued."
Alvaro Fernandez, co-founder of sharperbrains.com, explains that instead of just believing what you're told or what you read you should always ask yourself, "Where is the evidence?". He adds that even if an article has been endorsed by 20 Harvard Medical School researchers and doctors, nothing should substitute your own brain in action.
Other aspects of critical thinking are to think of counterarguments--to make sure that you've examined both sides of the issue--, to look for an author's motivations, and to check if what you're reading or what you're being told is an alignment with your own personal experience.
see a thing clearly and truly so that not only the good in it may be distinguished from the bad and the perfect from the imperfect, but also that it as a whole may be fairly judged and valued."
Alvaro Fernandez, co-founder of sharperbrains.com, explains that instead of just believing what you're told or what you read you should always ask yourself, "Where is the evidence?". He adds that even if an article has been endorsed by 20 Harvard Medical School researchers and doctors, nothing should substitute your own brain in action.
Other aspects of critical thinking are to think of counterarguments--to make sure that you've examined both sides of the issue--, to look for an author's motivations, and to check if what you're reading or what you're being told is an alignment with your own personal experience.
Think Positive, Loving Thoughts
A decade of research at the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior led by neuroscientist Richard Davidson found that choosing specific thoughts and emotions can permanently change the working of the brain.
When participants practiced feeling love and compassion, their brains went into action -- connecting and building new circuitry at high speed.
Davidson has concluded that emotions play a strong role in mental acuity and that spending just 10 minutes a day focusing on feeling loving and kind can make you smarter -- and happier. (Source).
When participants practiced feeling love and compassion, their brains went into action -- connecting and building new circuitry at high speed.
Davidson has concluded that emotions play a strong role in mental acuity and that spending just 10 minutes a day focusing on feeling loving and kind can make you smarter -- and happier. (Source).
Brain Builders!: A Lifelong Guide to Sharper Thinking, Better Memory, and an Age-Proof Mind
Brain Builders!: A Lifelong Guide to Sharper Thinking, Better Memory, and an Age-Proof Mind
Amazon Price: $5.18 (as of 06/01/2012)
In Brain Builders!: A Lifelong Guide to Sharper Thinking, Better Memory, and an Age-Proof Mind
"Believe it's possible to be smarter, wield more brain power, and have a wider, sharper range of mental abilities. Resolve to transform your attitude."
Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals
Forgo the usual three square meals a day and eat more frequently - four or five small meals a day. Small meals are easier to digest and keep your brain and body constantly energized and nourished. Large meals divert nutrient and oxygen-carrying blood to your digestive tract and away from your brain. (From 20/20 Thinking
).
). Keep Your Brain On Its Toes: Stimulate Your Creativity
Michael Michalko explains in Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius
that--when confronted with a problem--people typically look for a solution by thinking about past problems they've encountered. Because a certain solution worked in the past, they're confident that it's the best solution for the problem at hand. That is, they look for the expected, conventional response to the problem.For example, when asked "What's one-half of thirteen?" most people will say "six and a half". This is thinking reproductively based on similar problems they've had in the past.
However, creative people think productively, not reproductively. When confronted with a problem they look for all the different ways they could possibly solve it, instead of just asking how they've been taught to solve it. Then they come up with many different responses, some of which are unconventional. This is how a creative thinker might answer the question "What's one-half of thirteen?":
- Thir-teen (four letters on each side) = 4
- XIII = XI and II = 11 and 2
- 1 and 3
Productive thinking is about generating as many choices as one possibly can. A creative thinker thinks about the problem from many different angles. This gives them a number of possible solutions to choose from.
The next time you're confronted with a problem, instead of jumping to the first obvious solution, take a step back and see if you can find several alternatives. By stimulating your creativity in this way you'll be keeping your brain on its toes.
photo credit: ivoryelephantphotography Creativity And the Brain
Age Does Not Make You Less Creative
- Does age make you any less creative?
- Does age make you any less creative? When we are young our minds are open to new possibilities, experiences, and thought paths.As we age, we begin to form ?ruts? in our way of thinking. As we grow older, each of us begins to accept that things need to b
- 50 Ways To Boost Your Brain Power | 4 Mind 4 Life - Brainwaves
- In the fast paced society of this 21st century, it is important to stay mentally fit. Check out this list of 50 ways to keep your brain in shape!
Improve Your Attention and Short-Term Memory
The YouTube video below shows a chimp taking an attention and short-term memory test in which numbers are flashed briefly, and have to be recalled in numerical order. In each successive trial, the numbers are flashed for a briefer time. The chimp out-performs college students.
Ready to test your attention and short-term memory? See if you can beat the chimp at this game. (I had to do it four times before out-performing the chimp.)
Ready to test your attention and short-term memory? See if you can beat the chimp at this game. (I had to do it four times before out-performing the chimp.)
curated content from YouTube
Choose the Indian Restaurant Instead of the Steak House
Scientists from the University of California discovered that curcumin - a yellow-coloured compound found in the curry spice turmeric can slow the onset of memory loss. Small doses of curry could also help protect the brain against Alzheimer's disease - at least that's the effect in rats. Curries with a yellow tinge will have the highest curcumin count. (Source).
Eat Walnuts
Add walnuts to your salad. Omega-3s in walnuts have been found to improve mood and calm inflammation that may lead to brain-cell death. They also replace lost melatonin, which is necessary for healthy brain functioning.
Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind
Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind
Amazon Price: $10.38 (as of 06/01/2012)
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cacey-taylor May 26, 2012 @ 1:00 am | delete
- Im blown away at how much information their is on this topic. You could be teaching Squidoo lessons for a living. Nice Lens!
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- Im blown away at how much information their is on this topic. You could be teaching Squidoo lessons for a living. Nice Lens!
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nolinel
Mar 16, 2012 @ 9:22 am | delete
- Really great lens. I love your site. I suppose it is always to ehar chocolate is good for me. Dark chocolate, I know. :)
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ZazzleEnchante Dec 1, 2010 @ 2:14 pm | delete
- Great lens, informative & interesting, with doable steps and great videos, makes a great read. Blessed by a SquidAngel.
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Fit_Over_40_Buzz
Sep 20, 2010 @ 2:13 am | delete
- Very cool lens. Informative and fun. Thanks for sharing. Thumbs Up given.
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by Marelisa
Hi, I'm Marelisa Fabrega. I blog over at Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown...
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