Improve Your Brain

Improve Your Brain

Most of us who want improved brains also want the things that go with it in the external world, and most of us think that all I need to do to improve my brain in pour in knowledge, and at some point there is a tipping into superiority, I guess is the phrase to use.

Actually that kind of expectation for improving your brain is a pipe dream.

However, there are some things we can do now to increase neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, two recently discovered capacities of the human brain which underlie an improved brain.

Your brain grows new neurons every day, which is neurogenesis, and your brain is incredibly plastic, which means it grows new connections each time you learn something, and if those connections are fired enough they will remain available for work.

Until about ten years ago, no one knew our brains could rewire so profoundly or so rapidly, and now we are working on developing tools to enhance neurogenesis and neuroplasticity.

In fact, in April of 2009 the IMPACT study was published which put the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program to the research test, and both the participants and the researchers were impressed by the rigor of the results.

If you are curious about what the brain fitness folks are saying about improve your brain research, and counseling, then you should read Brainfit for Life by Simon Evans,Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt,Ph.D. who are neuroscientists at the University of Michigan. Evans and Burghardt have culled the neuroscientific research looking for tidbits that you and I can use to keep our brains improved.

They write for the layperson and also write with a sly sense of humor, and they say that we can all improve your brain if we attend to the the pillars of brain fitness, which are physical activity/exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress management, and novel learning experience, and novel learning experiences might include using a computerized brain fitness program.

So now maybe you can see why I said that the phrase improve your brain might not mean what you thought it would mean.

Improve Your Brain Through Physical Exercise

The bad news is that if you want neurogenesis and neuroplasticity you have to do it.

Actually there is more good news, you can do a workout at home like the workout that 88 year old Bill and 82 year old Pat do at home to keep in shape for their globe trotting. If you click on that link, about half down the page that you land on, you will find Bill and Pat who have been doing this kind of workout with Scott Tousignant for 8 years.

Improve Your Brain Through Nutrition

Evans and Burghardt go into great detail about micro and macro nutrients and what they are, and they emphasize the tremendous importance of omega 3 fatty acids to your neurons. It turns out that our neurons are mostly omega 3 and if there is not a regular supply of replacement omega 3 our neurons get brittle and do not communicate with each other effectively. That looks and sounds like confusion and disorientation.

The best source of omega 3 is fish, which runs the risk of mercury poisoning, so perhaps you want to get that part of the improve your brain puzzle through a supplement which has been appropriately processed to remove mercury.

Sleep Your Way to an Improved Brain?

Same goes for stress management. Stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol kill those new neurons, so managing stess is a very important part of the improve your brain game plan.

According to Alvaro Fernandez, the best stress management tool on the market is the Heartmath tool, as rated in his book.

Heartmath can help with both the sleep and stress management aspects of this process, and it is an excellent golf and test taking tool also.

Improve Your Brain Through Novel Learning Challenge

We cannot do more of the same old same old and expect to get more neuroplastic connections in our brain. So I cannot read another counseling book and expect any improvements because my brain knows counseling.

However, I can get some neuroplasticity going if I give my brain a challenge that involves an increasing level of challenge and an opportunity for an appropriate number of correct responses, like around 80%.

That is what the Posit Science Program does and that is what the Lumosity and Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro computerized brain fitness programs do.

In fact, the Mind Sparke will increase your IQ, not your EQ, but your IQ, and do it very efficiently.

Want to try it out? Here is a link.

I have used these three programs and enjoyed them all. Got better word recall from Posit, the Mind Sparke made a noticeable dent in my attention to task, and Lumosity gives me quick brain brightening practices at my desk top, on demand. Good luck with your improved brain.