Improve Memory, Brain Training

We all know what we should do to increase physical fitness. But how can we increase the brain fitness? While taking your mind for a jog isn’t an option, giving it regular brain exercise is.

Whether you choose to try to reduce the age of your brain , or make your brain bigger by reading “how to improve memory” there’s no shortage of new ways to train your brain.

Brain Training

Recent research suggests that everything from absentmindedness to arithmetic skills can be improved by playing certain intelligence and memory-stimulating activities. Scientists and neuro-experts believe puzzles that rely on problem-solving, memory and logical deduction can be highly beneficial for the brain by making people approach tasks in a more flexible way. A widely held belief used to be that the memory loss happened as we got older. Now it’s known that people can acquire new brain cells throughout their lives, provided their brains are stimulated.

According to the Society for Neuroscience, remembering lists of facts or keeping day-to-day information in your mind is different from memorising things in the long term. To do this, you have to exercise your brain.

“When you’re stimulating your brain, it is more active and can even grow brain cell connections. If you teach people to play the piano, the part of the brain that controls finger movements increases and is more active. That’s the idea behind brain training.” say the the neuroscientists.

Dr Blakemore says there are two reasons for the interest in brain training. “People are living longer, so they are noticing that their memories are going sooner, or they’re aware of it over a longer period. They care about that because there’s more awareness of about brain health. There’s also scientific evidence showing that training your brain improves it.”

Experts Say

Specialists agree that exercising your brain is a good thing. Dr Kawashima says: “If you don’t use your brain, it will age quickly. You’ll have a brain with less power than the ideal brain age of 20. But you can train your brain just like your body.”

Psychologist Professor Walter Furneaux agrees that this kind of mental stimulation is valuable. “It’s true to say that almost any mental rehearsal can be useful to improve memory [and mental agility]. While I don’t know of any specific results about these games, it would be interesting to do some serious work on them.”

Dr Marshall D Voris conducted a study using the brain training exercises. He claims that the exercises increased IQ, reduces anxiety, and improves cognitive efficiency and speed”.

It’s said that doing puzzles can slow the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and improve mental capacity in the young. According to a study into the effects of Alzheimer’s by the Case Western Reserve University in the United States, middle-aged people who kept active, mentally or physically, were less likely to develop the disease in later life. Activities such as gardening, playing a musical instrument or exercising were found to be the most successful in helping to prevent the disease.

How to train my brain

So you may be able to boost your IQ by a point, but the great novel may take a little more time. Here are some memory techniques.

Get plenty of sleep. Aim to get eight to nine hours of sleep regularly. Being awake for 21 hours straight decreases your mental agility to that of someone who has been drinking. If you are having problems with getting a good quality sleep read our article about it.

Don’t skip breakfast. Those who miss breakfast have far lower levels of concentration. For best results, eat within an hour of waking up and choose food high in fibre, protein and carbohydrate.

Get plenty of exercise. Physical activities are proven to improve memory, abstract thinking and concentration, promoting the growth of brain cells.

Learn another language. Language learning provides a great mental workout, forcing your brain to switch tracks constantly. It also helps tone the frontal lobes, which decline with age.

Break your routine. Breaking at least two habitual actions a day keeps your brain active. Try altering your route to work or using your “wrong” hand for your mouse.

Eat well. Scientists recommend sunflower seeds, dark berries, unrefined grain foods (brown rice, pasta and wholemeal bread), oily fish, ginkgo biloba and minimal amounts of caffeine.

Drink plenty of water. Aim for eight glasses every day – dehydration can affect concentration levels.

Low-tech brain workouts aka brain gym: Solve puzzles, Riddles, crosswords, sudoku and Scrabble are all reported to greatly improve brain function and memory, and decrease mental decline.

Filed Under: Health & Fitness