02/05/99

Enhance Your Brain Power

The January 1-3, 1999, issue of USA WEEKEND published a fascinating article called "The Brain Yields its Secrets," about how the brain analyzes, processes, stores and retrieves information. As a sidelight, the authors included 15 tips for improving one's cognitive processes, i.e. one's BRAIN POWER. In case you missed it, I've paraphrased the tips here and added a few of my own. As parents, you may be interested in teaching some of these techniques to your children (or vice versa!)

• Timing is key. Some people think best in the morning - others at night. Figure out your pattern and adjust your most demanding work/study tasks accordingly.
• Schooling is important, but so are other forms of education. Supplement book learning with experience and mentorships or apprenticeships when possible.
• To improve your memory, write it down. The writing process adds focus, time, visualization and maybe even a bit of muscle memory.
• Drink coffee. Research shows that the caffeine in one cup of coffee improves concentration, but also makes some people anxious or jittery. Coffee past noon just keeps me awake! (I personally don't recommend coffee or other caffeinated drinks for children.)
• Relate new experiences to old ones. This helps organize information and improve recall.
• Practice. Practice stamps in new learning and also helps drive out errors or misconceptions. As a musician, I learned that five repetitions of the right notes usually prevented me from playing the wrong ones again.
• Give ideas full play. Don't jump to conclusions under pressure to decide and move on. Contrary to folklore, your first impression may not be the best or most relevant one.
• Exercise your mind. Choose smart friends and a smart mate.
• Try on opposites. For example, try drawing with your non-dominant hand or try studying a language with a different alphabet.
• Consciously lengthen your attention span. We're frequently bombarded by so much external stimulation, we simply forget to block it out and pay close attention.
• Listen to classical music. I did not know about the research that demonstrated an increase in complex brain connections by listening to Mozart!
• Exercise. Some studies show that aerobic exercise increases oxygen and nutrients to the brain, thus improving mental functioning.
- Do habitual tasks in a new way. When you vary routines, you challenge your brain, too.
• Find a quiet place to work. Distractions diminish ability to concentrate and think clearly.

** Next are my additional tips for massaging your brain power:

• Sleep on it. After working hard on a complex and challenging task, head for bed and let your mind work on it while you sleep. You may wake up with several new ideas or a workable solution! Friends tell me that meditation can accomplish the same thing.
• Look for the humor. Humor is great brain food because it tickles the mind to see things in a novel way. Plus laughter releases all those wonderful endorphins we've read so much about!
• Maintain healthy skepticism. There's always another way to solve or resolve just about any problem.
• Challenge all your senses. Explore sight, sound, taste, touch, smell and kinesthetic senses to contribute information to your thinking.
• Allow emotions and intuition to guide your thinking, too.
• Become computer literate. Learning about the computer and the Internet has not only expanded my brain power; it has also helped me pursue a whole new career!

LINKS:

BRAIN POWER: Brain Enhancement Websites

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.