The Online Brain Games Blog

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.

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

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

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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:

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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!

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While traveling on business a week or so ago, I came across this older man who gave me a valuable secret with respect to keeping our brains  sharp and fit as we get older.  Since I know most of you are interested in such things, I’ll share with you how I cam across this man and what I learned about aging and  brain fitness.

I was sitting at a table in the lounge area of a small airport waiting for our delayed plane to arrive. While I was sitting there watching a big screen T.V., this older man asked if he could sit down at my table.. I said sure.  This man was dressed very casually, had long white hair tied in a pony tail and had a beard. We started out with small talk and then he started talking about himself, his family and the many and varied things that he’s seen and done in his life. He handed me his business card which indicated he had a Ph.D. and was a Professor Emeritus at the local state University. During our discussions, he noted things that had happened to him many decades ago. I said to him, “how old are you because you certainly don’t look old enough to of experienced some of those things.” He said he was 83 years old. I was a little taken back at first because he certainly didn’t look or act 83 years old to me. Mentally he was sharp as a tack.   I said, “what’s your secret to staying so mentally sharp?” He replied, “I stay engaged.”

This 83 year old Professor Emeritus was definitely engaged in life.  He had not retired from work – didn’t want to retire. He was still teaching kids about architecture at the local University. In fact he had taught not only locally, but had at different times in his life taught at different locations around the World.  He continues to travel the world for both business and pleasure. He keeps up with local and World politics and goings on.  He stays socially engaged. In fact on several occasions during our wait at the airport, I noticed that he had socially engaged many others just like he had done with me – he liked to socially engage with others.

So how do you keep your brain sharp and fit as a tack as you age?  Stay engaged!

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Clues To Maintaining Brain Fitness Into Old Age

The 4 Pillars of Brain Health

Fit Nuns with Sharp Brains

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I recently stumbled upon an article online  titled, “Can Tetris or other games enhance your brain?”  The article discussed the results of a study that was conducted by neuroscientists on two dozen adolescents in order to find out how playing the game of Tetris effected their brains.   The online article reported the following results from the study;

Subsequent brain scans revealed that, in these players, certain regions of the cerebral cortex—areas with a role in planning complex movements and coordinating sensory information—had added new cells and grown a half-millimeter thicker.

Wow, I think that’s really awesome.  I mean, who can’t use more brain cells? Increasing one’s ability to plan complex movements and coordinate sensory information may not get you an “A” on your next test, but it certainly will help you in life. In addition, it helps build what’s called a cognitive reserve, which has been shown to help prevent or delay the effects of alzheimers and other forms of dementia.

As a final note, you need to understand that what might be greatly beneficial for one person with respect to a particular brain game (free or commercial) might not be as beneficial to another. There is no “one size fits all”. I cover this along with how you can best choose a brain game specifically for you in a special report I send out to The Online Brain Games Blog newsletter subscribers. If you’d like to obtain this free report, fill out the request form below and it will be sent you via email immediately.

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