The Online Brain Games Blog

Pulitzer Prize-Winning author, Ronald Kotulak, summarized recent scientific discoveries about the brain at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society on Aging (ASA) last March in Orlando, Fla. His discoveries were detailed by April Thompson on the ASA website.

According to Kotulak, scientists now realize that the brain actually organizes and constructs itself, something no other organ does. Rather than being hard-wired for growth, the brain wires and even rewires itself–for example, to enable it to continue operating in the wake of a stroke or spinal injury. “At the core of this new knowledge is the plasticity factor, a term used to describe the brain’s amazing capacity to constantly change its structure and function in response to experiences coming from the outside,” said Kotulak

To read more about what Pulitzer Prize-Winning author, Ronald Kotulak had to say, click here.

Technorati Tags: brain, brain fitness, brain health, fitness, health, neuroplasticity, online brain games

Tags: brain fitness, online brain games by admin
1 Comment »

Let’s face it, we’re all growing older every day. If you’re over 30, Scientists say the number of brain cells you have are starting to decline. But, they also say that based on a physical behavior called neuroplasticity, our brain can grow new brain cells throughout our lives, regardless of age. The key, they say, is to continually be challenging our brains. It’s this challenge that causes the growth. Therefore, it is possible to reverse the mental decline normally brought on as we age.

Now, lets take the neuroplasticity concept one step further..

If we were to be regularly challenging our brain, our brain would respond in turn by growing new brain cells and new brain connections. By continuing this habit over time, we not only could reverse the brain-age decline normally associated with growing old, but we could actually be building what’s called a “cognitive reserve”.

This so called cognitive reserve, or brain-buffer, can help protect us against Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. In fact, studies such as the Nun Study have shown that even if we do contract the markers of Alzheimer’s, our cognitive reserve can help us compensate.

Nun Study Video:

So how do we go about building our brain-buffer?  Well, Alvaro Fernandez tells us how via the four pillars of brain health. To learn more about these four pillars, click here.

How big is your brain-buffer? Why not increase it’s size by playing some free online brain games?  Check out our list of free online brain games by clicking here.

Technorati Tags: alzheimer, alzheimers, brain, brain buffer, brain fitness, Brain Games, congnitive reserve, fitness, free brain games, health, neuroplasticity, online brain games

Tags: brain fitness, online brain games by admin
1 Comment »

Our minds and bodies need sleep. Prolonged sleep deprivation has been shown to kill rats, flies, cockroaches and even humans.

Scientists have discovered that one of the many benefits sleep has is in memory improvement. In rats, certain brain cells that activate during their daytime exploration tend to reactivate during sleep. Scientists speculate that during sleep the brain reenacts waking activity in order to lay down lasting memories.

In humans, one particular study looked at memory recall with and without sleep. Forty-eight people between the ages of 18 and 30 took part in the study. All groups were taught the same 20 pairs of words in the initial training session. One group was taught the word pairings at 9 a.m. and then tested at 9 p.m. after 12 hours of being awake. Another group was taught the word pairs at 9 p.m. and then was tested at 9 a.m. after a good nights 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, how much sleep is really required to keep our memory sharp?

“Long” sleepers who slumber more than eight hours a night and “short” sleepers who get fewer than seven hours of shuteye both report more sleep complaints than people who sleep in the “just right” zone of seven to eight hours, say Michael A. Grandner, B.A., and Daniel F. Kripke, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego. Their study appears in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. “Although it is unclear why long and short sleepers should have similar types of sleep complaints, these data challenge the assumption that more than seven or eight hours of sleep is associated with increased health and well-being,” Grandner says.

What can you do if you don’t get the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep? Take a power nap!  The video below describes how taking a nap can help our memory.

The main point here is to make sure you get between 7-8 hours of sleep in order to keep our brains in top shape. If you you get less than 7 hours, feel free to take a nap!

To further improve your memory, click here to play free online memory games.

Technorati Tags: brain, brain fitness, health, how to improve memory, memory, memory improvement, nap, power nap, sleep

Tags: brain fitness, how to improve memory, online brain games by admin
1 Comment »

Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia. Today, 4.5 million adults over the age of 65 have the disease and by the year 2050 it is estimated that number will grow 4X to more that 18 million. Currently there is no known cure for the disease but there are some things you can do to help slow it’s onset. With this many people who either already have the disease or will develop it later in life, it’s important that we become more aware of it and what we can do about it.

HealthiNation put together 4 videos which cover the following topics related to Alzheimer’s disease:

• What is Alzheimer’s Disease?
• Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s
• Slowing the Onset of Alzheimer’s
• Treating and Caring for Alzheimer’s

These videos can be accessed online by clicking here.

Online brain games play an important role in keeping our brains fit.  Such games can be accessed by clicking here.

Technorati Tags: alzheimers, brain, brain fitness, brain health, fitness, online brain games

Tags: brain fitness, online brain games by admin
No Comments »

The Stroop Effect test is a cool brain teaser which exercises your brain. To play the game, you start by pronouncing the color of the following words. Don’t read the words, just pronounce the colors of the words.

Green Red Blue
Purple Blue Purple

Easy enough, right? Now, do the same for this second group of words. Again, don’t read the words, just pronounce the color of the words.

Blue Purple Red
Green Purple Green

Ahh… That time is was a little more difficult wasn’t it? It took you a little more time to go through the list of words. The reason is that the color of the second group of words does not match the actual word itself. This causes a delay in the time it takes to name the color of the words in the second group. This is called the Stroop Effect.

The Stroop Effect test exercises the portion of the brain which is considered to be responsible for higher order executive functions (frontal lobe). The Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! software program for the Nintendo DS contains an automated Stroop Test built into it.

Check out the YouTube video below based on the Stroop Effect test.

The link below takes you to an interactive version of the Stroop Task game. It’s difficulty increases as you get better. It’s a blast to play!

Click The Color

For even more online brain games, click here.

Technorati Tags: brain fitness, Brain Games, brain health, free brain games, online brain games, stroop effect

Tags: free brain games, online brain games by admin
2 Comments »