.png)
How To Be Smart and Sharper Than You Are Now!
I read this article from a local newspaper a while ago and I really had to post it up here. Bad thing is its written so well I cant even add on any of my charming humour to make it any better, its just that good. Its as if another me wrote it. Anyway its quite a lengthy one so Ive split it into two, I'll post the rest of the article soon. Happy reading!
"Simple ways
to become
the sharpest
tool in box!
You want to be smart, right? You want to be the brain
of your group, the smart fellow who knows everything
under the sun, right? Well, there is no magic to it. The trick
is to eat right, exercise right and learn one or two new
languages. And, oh, go back to writing with your hand.
People are never born dumb, but the environment they
grow in, their life choices and the foods they eat determine
how they turn out later in life
Some things should never happen.
Like sitting at your desk during end-of semester
examinations and wondering
why you know all the questions but only a
handful answers, or making a presentation
in a packed boardroom only for a certain
portion of your points to completely
disappear, leaving you to make hoops
and somersaults all over the presentation.
Even worse is struggling to remember
the second name of your third-born child
when you hit 55 years.
Sounds familiar, right? Loss of memory,
slow and dismally performing brain or
outright dementia — a serious loss of a
person’s cognitive ability — are all over
the place. The symptoms come in varied
ways; from simple instances like forgetting
where you placed your key or the
inability to synthesise a minor scientific
explanation, to major instances such as
driving past your gate while going home
or lacking the ability to connect essential
parts of an argument.
Yet everyone wants to have a sharper
memory. Everyone wants to have an active
and alert brain. Everyone wants to be
the light bulb at an event; the one whose
words the rest hang onto, the one with
witty responses, the one who will explain
an odd fact, like why people from India
are the best at spelling contests in the
entire world (true, they are, they win those
contests every year. In fact, they normally
bag all the top three positions).
It all boils down to the brain, the one
organ in the human system that has
the most impact on how we live our
lives. It will determine how far you go
academically and professionally, how
much you earn annually and, to some
extent, how you socialise with others.
Yet, like every other part of the human
body, the brain grows, wears and tears,
and gets exhausted.
This means the performance of your
brain will vary at different points of your
life. How you understand concepts and
ideas, how you synthesise and connect
tiny aspects of a larger phenomenon, the
retention rate — by your cerebral cortex
— of what you read or hear, the ability
to memorise names of people or places
accurately and without much hustle….
These functions of the brain will at no
point be constant, neither will they be
upbeat all the time.
So, what should one do to have a better
functioning, faster and more responsive
brain? The approaches are four-forked;
follow science, eat the right food, go
physical or just be imaginative. All of them,
though, have scientific backings.
For instance, good sleep works. In
2010, a psychology professor at Berkley’s
California University, Mathew Walker,
conducted a research whose findings most
parents would love to disagree with. The
value of sleep in keeping the brain alert
was put to test, and his results were that,
contrary to what most people think, sleep
is indeed good for your brain. An hour’s
nap can dramatically boost and restore
your brain power.
The findings further showed that 40
winks at noon in your office cubicle
actually refresh your mind and make you
smarter. In fact, the more one stays awake,
the more sluggish their minds become.
“Sleep not only rights the wrongs
of prolonged wakefulness but, at a
neurocognitive level, it also moves you
beyond where you were before you took a
nap,” said Mathew, an assistant professor
of psychology.
The capacity of the brain is such that
it can handle lots and lots of information
that come across its path. At a simple level,
the best analogy would be a walk on the
city streets; the sounds, the colours, the
faces, the adverts, the traffic, the people...
and still you manage to retain your path
towards your destination.
Exposing yourself to different kinds
of information from multiple sources is
proven to be good for your brain’s health.
Aside from keeping you informed and in
the know, as well as keeping your mind
engaged, opening up your mind to new
ideas will help in increasing your stock
of knowledge from which you will be
able to base your arguments and draw
experiences."
0 comments: