Scotts - Exercises for the brain and memory: 70 neurobic exercises & fun puzzles to increase mental fitness & boost your brain juice today with crossword puzzles

A growing new body of knowledgecalled Neurobics is gaining popularity. Neurobics refers to mental exercisesthat enhance the brains performance. Dr. Lawrence Katz was an early pioneer inthe field and coined the term Neurobics. It covers a broad spectrum, drawing onsome previously known ideas then adding supplemental activities to the coreresearch.

This new research in brain activityis that the brain like other parts of the body produces new cells that adaptand become integrated in the brains overall function. Previously, it wasbelieved that brain cells were fixed, that you had a given number at birth.Then the research branched out into producing specific activities thatstimulate brain activity.

The first part of this discussioncovers the background activities that stimulate brain function, starting withdiet and exercise then we discuss the more complex theories of mental activity.Included here will be specific brain related exercises.

Diet

Water is the key to life. A baby inthe womb is 90% water. After birth it is 80% water. As an adult we are 70%water. In old age water drops to 60%, then to 50% in death. Our brains are 75%to 90% water. As you can clearly see water is critical. The oxygen in watertravels to every cell in our body. Dehydration or lack of water causes fatigueand diminishes our ability to focus and concentrate.

Some foods are especially good forus. Eating fish two or three times a week provides Omega 3. Some researchindicates that it lowers dementia and strokes. Most berries especiallyblueberries are also beneficial.

Walnuts calm inflammation of cellwalls. Raw cocoa and dark chocolate are two known antioxidants. Use bakingcocoa in milk. The milk has lactose that is a form of sugar and sweetens thecocoa.

Exercise

Physical movement stimulates thebrain. Playing all kinds of sports activates brain activity. Your brainprocesses hundreds of connections for you to perform a given sport. Dance is anotheractivity that increases brain function.

Now we examine the mind and thebrain. We often confuse the mind with the brain. The mind is non-physical whilethe brain is a physical organ inside our bodies. How the mind works is still amystery. We do know that the mind processes hundreds to thoughts and sends themto the brain. Obviously the more times a thought is sent to the brain the morepowerful the brains activity will be; this is how habits are formed. The brainautomatically sends signals for you to act in a certain way. On a much deeperlevel these habits become beliefs and control our behavior. What Neurobics doesis change the thought that you send to your brain forcing it to expand andadapt to a different pattern. A study of jugglers showed that brain waveactivity expanded when juggling.

We can draw upon some oldertechniques as well. Meditation is one such activity. Researchers haveidentified four levels of brain wave activity from highly active down to sleep.They are beta for very active, then alpha which is slower, followed by thetathat is even slower then delta which is sleep. During meditation your brainwave activity slows going into alpha and even theta. Slower brain waves keepout extraneous thoughts. This allows the two halves of your brain to functionas one. Most of our daily activity is in the active state of beta that is leftbrained. By moving into alpha and theta we allow the right half of our brain toactivate. The right brain is the seat of intuition and creativity.

The activities of Neurobics aredesigned to stimulate the right brain. If we look at creativity for a moment wefind that given an activity we can change the sequence, we can add parts to itor we can subtract parts from it. If we take puzzles for example, the writerhas already scrambled the parts and we are to put them back into their properorder. Some Neurobic activities involve removing one of the senses such astaking a shower with our eyes closed, or turning off the lights and trying tomove about by touch. Some involve the use of special scents. For sleeping forexample, lavender is often used. Then you can try brushing your teeth with yournon-dominant hand. What each of these exercises does is change the signals thatare sent to the brain forcing you to change your behavior.

Lets take memory. Say you have alist of items you need to get from the supermarket. By making wild, off thewall associations, youll be able to remember them better. For example, if oneof the items is cabbage, you might visualize you old Aunt Alice with a bigcabbage in place of her head. Studies show that the more bizarre theassociations the easier it will be to remember them.

Stress

Stress causes lapses inconcentration and judgment. It can affect your decision making process, memoryand concentration. Here again use your creativity. Examine your dailyactivities and eliminate as many non- essential ones as possible. Learn to sayno when you feel overburdened by others requests.

You can use this brief summary toanalyze your own behavior and find Neurobics changes that will stimulate yourbrain. You will recognize your brains function as central to your overallhealth.