Six ways to improve your brain
July 30, 2010
1. Take a guided tour of a museum. Pay close attention to what the tour guide says. When you get home, try to reconstruct the tour with a detailed written outline.
What it does: Memory activities that engage all levels of brain — receiving, remembering and thinking — improve function and hinder the rate of decline.
2. Sit on a park bench or in a café. Stare straight ahead and don’t move your eyes. Concentrate on everything you can see. Then, write a list of everything you saw. Then try again and see if you can add to your list.
What it does: Scientists have shown that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is crucial to focus and memory, falls off with memory loss and is almost absent in Alzheimer’s patients. This activity should help you reinvigorate the controlled release of acetylcholine.
3. Sharpen your brain’s neural pathways by listening to a classical composition and dissecting it into the instruments you hear. For example, where do the cellos come in and out?
What it does: Making fine distinctions in sound pitch and timbre is useful for improving speech understanding and voice recognition.
4. Set your television volume down a little from where you normally have it set. See if by concentrating you can follow just as successfully as when the volume was higher.
What it does: Many people raise the volume because their listening has become “detuned” — a little fuzzy. Turning down the TV sound to a conversational level can help you catch every word when talking with others.
5. Practice throwing and catching a ball up in the air. Or even take up juggling.
What it does: Scientists have recorded improvements in the functional brains of people who have mastered these kinds of sensory-guided movement skills.
6. Do a solo activity — such as a crossword puzzle or solitaire — and take it to the next level, by concentrating enough to complete it faster.
What it does: There is limited value in a game or exercise that you can play without paying close attention. It is important to always strive to get to a higher and more demanding level, where you re-engage the brain’s learning machinery.
Source: Posit Science
Changing the adult mind through the power of plasticity
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