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How To Keep You're Brain Sharp and Stay As Smart As You Should Be! (Continued)
So as promised in my previous post, I said I'd give the continuation of the article about how to keep your brain sharp and be as smart as you are supposed to be. Thanks for all the response you have given so far it's been awesome keep the comments coming and share the article with friends, family and loved ones so that you don't have a wife or husband who will keep calling you honey when you're in your sixties not because you're still keeping the fire burning, but because they actually forgot your name. Oops!Anyway enjoy reading and share share share!
Go physical: Play
a game
While most people head to
the gym so that they can lose
weight or tone their bodies,
there is a hidden benefit of a
programme of regular exercise;
that of keeping your brain in
good form. The increased rate of
blood flow improves the amount
of oxygen being delivered to
the brain, which keeps it fresh
and active. Aerobics and other
coordinated exercises or games
are equally beneficial to your
brain too. In his book, Spark:
The Revolutionary New Science
of Exercise and the Brain, John
J Ratey argues that moving
muscles help in producing
proteins that play a role in
neurogenesis and repair of
synapses.
Feeding the
brain:
The drinks and
food
There are certain foods and
drinks that go further than
just keeping hunger at bay
and building your body.
These foods also happen
to contain certain elements
that are vital for the brain
cells. They keep the brain
active, improve memory
performance and will stir up
a sluggish mind.
First off, drink water. This
will help in keeping your
brain hydrated. A significant
percentage of the brain is
made up of water. When
the body lacks water, brain
cells and neurons shrink and
the biochemical processes
involved in brain activity
slow down.
Coffee, red wine and
yoghurt need to form part
of your regular drinks.
Coffee improves short-term
memory and speeds up your
reaction time by acting on
the brain’s prefrontal cortex.
Learn a new
language:
This helps in task
switching, the ability
of your brain to switch
from one activity to
another without breaking
a step. A 2010 study
by Carnegie Mellon
University on Language
and Cognition using two
groups of participants
(monolinguals and
bilinguals) proved that
learning a third or fourth
language benefits the
brain. The trials, which
required task-switching,
found that the reactions
of bilinguals were six
milliseconds quicker on
average. Learning a new
language also grows
the section of brain
responsible for planning
complex cognitive
behaviour and moderating
social behaviour.
Write by hand:
The electronic gadgets that
have taken over human
life have made ‘writing’ so
easy such that by the press
of buttons, the phone or
computer can even predict
the word that you’d like to
type. It saves time, sure, but
the downside is a lazy and
sluggish brain. Writing by
hand helps your brain in two
ways. One is that it involves
a systematic coordination
between the brain and the
reflexes of the hand. And
this coordination — same as
the one that occurs during
activities like knitting or
making handcrafts by hand
— is key in keeping the
association between your
brain and limb functions in
proper form.
Go imaginative:
Mnemonics
There was once a Greek goddess
of memory called Mnemosyne.
It was believed that those who
stood in favour of this goddess
had sharper memory and
could retain large amounts of
information. Today, most people
who intend to commit lots of
information to their memory
have gone another route though;
mnemonics, where they use
visual aids or acronyms. They call
it building a memory palace and,
basically, it involves attaching
any new item to a particular
known material. For instance,
if one gets introduced to three
people successively at a function
or party, say, Jack, Brian and
Maureen, then they can be stored
in the mind with the images of a
jackal brewing beer in the moon.
A different way involves creating
a mental picture of the new item
and attaching it to a particular
place such that one can use the
landmarks within the country
or city to denote specific things
that may slip out of the mind.
To go with this are the usual
acronyms.
FYI:
OTHER WAYS OF IMPROVING THE BRAIN
Changing hobbies
Reading indiscriminately
Watch fiction (plays or movies)
Debating
Breaking routine
Playing competitive indoor games like chess
Playing video games
Exchanging cultural ideas
Turn off your phone when you do not need it
Meet new and
interesting personalities:
Sticking around the same old same old
people may not be good for your mind after
all. The presumption is that after a certain
level of interaction, they will not be offering
anything new to you. The solution is to attend
conferences and meetings where you will be
able to meet new personalities in different
fields. These meetings offer a good chance of
challenging your old views and engaging in
new conversations.
Attend science conferences even if you are
not a scientist, go for literary festivals or
music festivals or an art festival. You will
meet and engage all the weird and eccentric
personalities here and before long that
diminishing spark will be back in your system.
Earlier on, it was assumed that the capacity
of the IQ of a human being was genetic and
hence was fixed at birth. What that meant
was that regardless of how much one tried to
improve on it, it would never be reorganised
beyond what had been indicated at birth. It
was also assumed that the brain would be on a
growth trajectory that will eventually level off
as the individual nears the age of 30. Science
has since proven that wrong.
A study at Michigan University led by Swiss
postdoctoral fellow Susanne Jaeggi revealed
that at least one aspect of a person’s IQ- fluid
intelligence, which was usually considered
fixed at birth can actually be improved.
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