Brain Fitness Program 2.0

Brain Fitness Program

Welcome from Mike Logan

Brainfit For Life-A Users Guide to Life Long Brain Health and Fitness

Curious about brain fitness programs? Is there anything to them besides smoke and mirrors? I have been using four of them, and I like them, and I believe that they work. Dr. Simon Evans and Dr. Paul Burghardt from the University of Michigan have written an informative e-book that explains how brain fitness can be induced or practiced. Their e-book draws on their professional expertise to explain in a humorous way that brain fitness is certainly something we can cultivate.

Want just a chapter, and not the e-book? No problem, but for $17.00, how can you go wrong?

Remember, everything starts in the brain. That is correct, if you want to pick up a fork to eat apple pie, your brain is what moves your body and picks up the fork.Once you have read the book, look for links below to exceptional brain fitness tools used and recommended by me.

"Dr. Simon Evans and Dr. Paul Burghardt draw from their brain science research and extensive speaking experience to mix important health messages with an entertaining journey into your brain and mind.

BrainFit For Life will motivate, educate and delight you on your way to a healthier brain and more enriched life. After all, thoughts are things. They are electrical and chemical pulses that change your brain by their very existence. BrainFit for Life gives you the tools to change your brain for the better and achieve life-long brain health and fitness."

Thoughts about your perceptions do change your life, and fast. You change your hormonal bath with a thought twice as fast as you can blink your eyes. (You may have dated your significant other for a long time, and when you made the words "I love you", your life changed didn't it)?

Brainfit for Life-A Users Guide to Life Long Brain Health and Fitness

Brain Fitness Program 2.0 is part of the programs that Michael Merzenich, Ph.D. has developed at Posit Science.

It is an auditory program, and the others I have seen are visual in nature.

I bought it and began to use it about one month ago, and have completed about six hours of the exercises, and enjoyed it.

I noticed immediately an increased ability to remember a list of chores more effectively, and a series of numbers in another program, called Brain Builder 3.0.

I did not realize that I was having a little bit of trouble prioritizing my "to-do" list, crediting that to my ADD.

I also like that the program, although I am not quite sure what criteria is used, tells me when I have met my challenge level on that particular auditory task. This program will then change the challenge a bit so that I can continue learning but not wear out those neurons.

There are some visual changes on the computer screen to occupy my optical nerve, but the feedback is auditory.

In the book, The Brain That Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge, MD, Merzenich is said to claim that when learning occurs in a way consistent with the laws that govern brain plasticity, the mental machinery of the brain can be improved so that we learn and perceive with greater precision, speed, and retention.

Doidge continues, "Clearly when we learn, we increase what we know. But Merzenich's claim is that we can also change the very structure of the brain itself and increase its capacity to learn. Unlike a computer, the brain is constantly adapting itself."

"The Cerebral Cortex," he says of the thin outer layer of the brain, "is actually selectively refining its processing capacities to fit each task at hand." It doesn't simply learn, it is learning how to learn."

"The brain Merzenich describes is not an inanimate vessel that we fill, rather it is more like a living creature with an appetite, one that can grow and change itself with proper nourishment and exercise."

"Prior to Merzenich's work, the brain was seen as a complex machine, having unalterable limits on processing speed, limits on memory, and intelligence. Merzenich has shown that each of those assumptions is wrong."

Wow, I like that, not only can I sustain where I am in terms of a 60 year old brain, I can get better with practice, I can continue to grow.

I will give that a try, and report back to you.

Here is a link to the Lumosity model of brain fitness, which has some advantages over the Posit Science model.

I like that I can subscribe online, with a free trial, and that the lessons are fast, might take me ten minutes on a slow day, and I see immediately how thinking about my next chore impacts my performance,(poorly), and I can begin to adjust for that. The downside is that the Merzenich Brain Fitness Program is much more in depth. I invite you to try it to get a feel for the kind of training the researchers feel is useful for brain fitness.

Using this tool increases your IQ, and the more you practice the better you get.

More useful tools for brain fitness.

Get your Omega 3's here. Very important brain fitness nutrient.

Would You Share Something That You Are Grateful For?

When I was beginning my personal growth journey, a wise person told me that when I was feeling resentful or afraid or sad, that I should remember the phrase "gratitude is the attitude" when I was ready to feel better. That phrase has helped me feel better tens of thousands of times.

Would you share what you are most grateful for? Your story could be just what another person is searching for to renew themselves? Thanks.


Have a question and want to talk with a therapist? Call 815-316-2621 for Julie Logan, LCSW, RN. 7121 Windsor Lake Parkway, Loves Park, Illinois 61111 jlogan7264@myway.com