Can't face another Sudoku? Crosswords just firing you up? IQ challenges just too much? You needn't have to do such 'obvious' methods of 'brain training' to get the benefits of stimulating the neurons.
'Neurobics', brain exercises, are fast becoming the new healthy. Sure, your body looks great on the outside, you eat well for the inside, but how is the old 'grey matter'? Many people realise the importance of looking after the body, but forget about the brain also. If you have been doing the same cardio or resistance programme every day for the last year, chances are your brain might not have been stimulated as much as it could have been. The answer doesn't have to rest with the more well known puzzle workouts, we can use other forms of stimulation.
Did you know that playing the odd game of darts, pool, poker or bowling can help stimulate the brain in similar ways? Probably, but there are less obvious suggestions also. Simple activities such as wearing your watch on the opposite wrist for a day a week, trying to write your name upside down or with the other hand, using your other hand to operate the computer mouse are less obvious ways, but still stimulating. Using a map to get to where you need to get to rather than using GPS services.
Dr. Moriah E. Thomason, assistant professor in the Department of
Pediatrics of the Wayne State University School of Medicine and scientific adviser to brain game websites said "We used to think that what you're born with is what you have through
life. But now we understand that the brain is a lot more plastic and
flexible than we ever appreciated. Still, like the rest of your body, aging takes its toll. Certain activities will lay more neural pathways that can be more
readily re-engaged," Thomason says. "The hope is that there are ways to
train and strengthen these pathways."
Dr. Michael Maddens, chief of medicine at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak said "There is some evidence of a use-it-or-lose-it phenomenon...Diet, exercise and mental maneuvers all may boost brain health in ways
science still doesn't understand. In the best cases, the right mix might
stave off the effects of Alzheimer's and other age-related disease too."(sic)
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