We all know how important it is to exercise our bodies, but did you know how vital it is to regularly give your brain a workout?
Research shows that using your brain – in particular to learn something new – can help it to work better. And while it’s true that our brains shrink as we age and many of our cognitive (thinking) abilities degrade over time, it is possible to prevent or reverse this decline by constantly challenging your mind.
Change your brain People used to think that once we became adults, our brains were incapable of change. This was because the brain develops the wiring that controls abilities such as hearing, seeing, feeling, thinking and movement when we’re infants. But over the past 10 years, new research has shown that physical changes take place in the brain every time we learn something new. Brain chemicals called neurotransmitters are released, helping to keep our “mental wiring” working properly. This process of physical change is known as brain plasticity. It’s now thought that one of the reasons the brain doesn’t work as well when we are older could be because we’re not using it to learn new things like we did when we were younger.
Beef up your brain Say you take your two left feet along to a dance class and learn how to salsa. As you concentrate on what you’re doing and file it in your memory so you can do it again next time, your brain is creating new wires (or neural pathways) in its complicated wiring system. This is helping your brain to grow and strengthen. Researchers believe that being less inclined to seek out new experiences, and doing the same old things the same old way you’ve always done them, may weaken the wiring so it doesn’t work as effectively. Then you start noticing problems like forgetfulness.
oemories our senses – hearing, vision, taste, smell and touch – are closely linked to our memory and thinking processes. A weakness in one may contribute to a weakness in another. As we get older, our brain doesn’t process what we hear, see and feel as well as it once did and we can’t store our experiences so well. Therefore we have trouble recalling them later and may get that awful sensation of our mind going blank. So exercising your senses can help your memory and ability to think. Use it or lose it Like the rest of your body, the more you use your brain, the fitter it will be and the better it will work.
Scientists say you should do activities that:
Teach you something new.
Challenge you and make you concentrate.
Become progressively harder.
Are rewarding. Rewards boost the levels of crucial brain chemicals that improve your learning and memory.
- Thanks to the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand. For more information about brain fitness as well as other information on how the brain works, including neurological disorders, visit www.neurological.org.nz*
Seven brain exercises
1. Learn to play a musical instrument Playing an instrument helps to exercise many types of related brain functions, including listening, controlling refined movements and translating written notes to music.
2. oemorise a song Listen to a song over and over until you can remember all the words. Developing careful listening habits helps your ability to understand, think and remember. Singing the song word for word requires you to be able to focus your attention and tap into your memory. When you focus like this, your brain releases a chemical that helps it to rewire itself. once you’ve memorised one song, try another one.
3. Exercise your peripheral vision and memory Sit in a place where you don’t usually spend much time, stare straight ahead and don’t move your eyes. Concentrate on everything you can see, including everything in your peripheral vision. When you think you’ve noticed everything you can, write down a list of what you’ve seen. Then do it again, this time adding to your list. Tasks like this, which use vision and memory, encourage the brain to release more of a chemical that is crucial for our ability to focus and remember things.
4. Do a jigsaw puzzle Make sure it’s a challenging one of at least 500 pieces. Completing a jigsaw requires you to make visual judgements, focus and use refined movements to put the pieces in place. It gives your brain a great workout.
5. Play ball Practise throwing and catching a ball. Do it by yourself if no-one else will play ball. If you’re really good at it already, take up juggling. oastering these activities improves your brain’s ability to see and to develop hand-eye coordination, which helps strengthen your brain.
6. Use the other hand If you’re right-handed try using your left hand to do everyday tasks like brushing your teeth. Keep practising until you’ve perfected it, then try a more complex task such as writing with the opposite hand. This gets the neurons in your brain working really hard.
7. Make your brain work harder Find an activity you like to do, such as crosswords, and take it to the next level. Do a harder crossword or challenge yourself to do one in a shorter period of time. Doing something that is more demanding makes your brain’s learning machinery re-engage.
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