The Online Brain Games Blog

Well, it’s the end of yet another year. It seems like the older I get, the faster they come and go.

It’s been just over one year ago this month that I started blogging about brain games and brain fitness. I sit here now writing what will be my last post of not only this year, but of the last decade.

In my research on brain fitness, I learned about The 4 Pillars of Brain Health from Alvaro Fernandez, SharpBrains’ co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. These 4 pillars form the foundation of everything you need to know and do in order to keep your brain healthy and fit.

The 4 Pillars of Brain Health are:

1. Physical Exercise
2. Mental Exercise
3. Nutrition
4. Stress Management

As you and I think about this last year, and plan for the next, we need to evaluate if we’ve made any progress with respect each of these 4 Pillars. We need to evaluate where we’re at in relation to where we want to be so we can make course adjustments.

Because these 4 items are Pillars (or supports), any weakness in any one of them can cause overall weakness of the system (your brain health) as a whole. It’s important then, as we plan for 2010, that we include activities and actions that incorporate *each* of these 4 Pillars.

So, where are you at? Are you including activities and actions in your life for 2010 that include each of the 4 Pillars?  I hope you do.. And so does your brain!

Happy New Year, and we’ll see you next year!!

Related Posts:

• My 4 Pillar Brain Health Goals for 2010
• Yawning Boosts Mental Abilities and Helps Olympian Win
• Brain Fitness is not just Playing Brain Games
• Yawning can Improve Memory, Brain Fitness and overall Brain Health
• How Sleep Affects Our Memory and Brain Health

A recent study was performed on adults 60 years of age and older in an effort to see if age related declines in brain function could be slowed or even reversed via social service work. The participants were entered in an Experience Corps (EC) program in three elementary schools.  The volunteers were trained and spent 15 h/wk for 6 months during the academic year to assist teachers in kindergarten through third grade to promote children’s literacy and academic achievement. The study participants, along with a control group, were studied via fMRI scans and cognitive testing at the beginning and end of the 6 month period. The results of the study suggest that;

socially engaging cognitive activities in midlife and early late-life may reduce risk for AD (Alzheimer’s Disease) and dementia decades later.

Many studies have shown that being both mentally and socially engaged later in life is important to maintaining our brain fitness. What’s wonderful about the Experience Corps program is that it combines the two.

According the the Experience Corps website:

“Giving back to your community may slow the aging process in ways that lead to a higher quality of life in older adults.”

Experience Corps is a program that engages people over 55 to help meet the needs of their community, while helping themselves. They program is currently offered in 22 cities across the United States. It’s a triple win in that it helps the students, the schools and the older adults who participate.

If you or someone else you know is over 55 years of age and looking for a way to give back to the community, why not check out Experience Corps.

Resources:

Evidence for Neurocognitive Plasticity in At-Risk Older Adults

Experiencecorps.org

Clues To Maintaining Brain Fitness Into Old Age

Related Posts:

• Clues To Maintaining Brain Fitness Into Old Age
• How to Prevent Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
• Dementia Symptoms: Brain Exercises Help Reduce The Risks
• More Muscle Strength equals Less Risk of Alzheimers
• How To Build Your Brain Without Emptying Your Wallet

Yawning turns out to be an excellent brain exercise!

I’m reading a book called “How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist”.  In the book, the author(s) list 8 brain exercises to help improve memory, brain fitness and overall brain health. The 5th brain exercise listed in the book is the simple act of yawning.

Here are 12 good reasons to yawn according to the author(s);

1)   Stimulates alertness and concentration

2)   Optimizes brain activity and metabolism

3)   Improves cognitive function

4)   Improve memory recall

5)   Enhances consciousness and introspection

6)   Lowers stress

7)   Relaxes every part of your body

8)   Improves voluntary muscle control

9)   Enhances athletic skills

10) Fine-tunes your sense of time

11) Increases empathy and social awareness

12) Enhances pleasure and sensuality

According to the author(s), “Yawning will relax you and bring you into a state of alertness faster than any other meditation technique I know of”.

Brain-scan studies have shown that yawning evokes a part of the brain called the precuneus. According to researchers, the precuneus appears to play a central role in consciousness, self-reflection, and improve memory retrieval, among other things.

The process of yawning also involves numerous neurochemicals including dopamine. This leads to yet other neurochemicals and areas of the brain which regulate and help improve memory, voluntary control, temperature regulation, pleasure, sensuality and relationship bonding.  It is hard to find another activity that so positively influences so many functions of the brain.

Conscious yawning takes a little practice and discipline. All you have to do to trigger a deep yawn is to fake it 6 or 7 times.

~

So go ahead and try it now… yawn 6 or 7 times.

~

See, don’t you feel better? I bet that last yawn was a good one too!

~

For more information on how yawning helps improve our brain function, as well as to learn about the other 7 brain exercises shown to improve memory, brain fitness and overall brain health listed in the book I’m reading, click on the book link below:

~

~

Related Posts:

• Yawning Boosts Mental Abilities and Helps Olympian Win
• How Sleep Affects Our Memory and Brain Health
• Brain Health and Fitness News Links Sept 2009
• A Simple Yoga Exercise To Build Your Brain Power
• Knitting and Sewing Are Good For Your Brain

Below are a few of the best links I’ve come across over the last few months on how sleep affects our memory and brain health. I hope you find them as informative and useful as I did.

Below are the links with article summaries:

When Sleep Suffers, So Does Decisiveness – A recent study, which included 49 U.S. military cadets, looked at how sleep deprivation affected thinking abilities which rely heavily on instantaneous, gut-feeling decisions. They found that even moderate sleep deprivation can cause an immediate loss of these abilities.

Lack of sleep harms brain health – Another great link with respect to the importance of getting adequate sleep for maintaining optimum brain health and fitness.

Why ‘Sleeping on It’ Helps – A recent study concluded that for certain kinds of decisions – those that are complex and where you have some expertise – “sleeping on it” may be more helpful than spending minutes or hours of conscious thought on it. The brain makes good unconscious decisions, when we let it.

Rule #7 Sleep well, think well –  Online link to useful information on the importance of sleep with respect to brain health and fitness found in the book “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School”.

Sleep & Nap – An excellent post detailing 14 great things we can do to help preserve, protect and enhance our gray matter. Number 5 deals specifically with sleep.

Healthy habits to improve memory – Getting enough sleep one of several healthy habits we can have in order to maintain and improve our memory.

Sleep Now, Remember Later – An excellent article which details how sleep affects our memory. Want a good memory, get enough sleep!

No sleep means no new brain cells – Wow..  A study suggests that missing out on sleep may cause the brain actually to stop producing new cells.

Have a Poor Memory? Then Try Sleeping On It – In humans, one particular study looked at memory recall with and without sleep. The study found that people who slept after learning the information performed best, successfully recalling more words than those who had not had sleep prior to being tested.

So there you have it.. A great excuse to go take a nap!

Related Posts:

• Yawning can Improve Memory, Brain Fitness and overall Brain Health
• A Simple Yoga Exercise To Build Your Brain Power
• An Apple a Day Improves Your Memory
• How to Prevent Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
• Inside The Brain – The Plasticity Facor