10 Easy and Effective Ways to Exercise Your Brain

If you’re like most people, you probably slack off on your physical exercise during the winter season. There’s no reason, however, that you can’t continue with your mental exercise. Keeping your brain in shape is one of the best ways to ensure that your brain function is not only stable throughout your life, but actually increases.

If you want to exercise your brain but don’t know where to start, here are 10 ways to help you do just that.

Do Puzzles

Whether you fancy Sudoku, word searches or even crossword puzzles, attempting one each day will give your brain some much-needed exercise. By doing puzzles you engage your brain to work logically, a skill that is often underused. Doing puzzles like this can also help to up your concentration, as short mental-intensive exercises like this involve a lot of concentration and thought to achieve success.

Write More Often


It’s true that we live in a world where keyboards and touch screens dominate, and paper is a thing of the past. However, just because typing and texting have grown in popularity, you shouldn’t ditch writing with a pen and paper.

Believe it or not, physically taking notes and writing down thoughts increases focus, memory and brain function.

Then, Write With Your Opposite Hand

While taking notes or writing letters with your opposite hand is likely a bad idea, doodling, drawing or just writing a few sentences with your non-dominant hand can actually work wonders for your brain.

When you use your non-dominant hand to write, draw, cut or even brush your teeth you strengthen the neural network in your brain, and can even form new neuron connections. This can help to unleash untapped creativity and potential, as using your non-dominant hand helps to activate the non-dominant part of your brain, resulting in different and more innovative thinking.

Learn a New Word Each Day

A great way to improve both your memory and vocabulary is to learn a new word each day. By learning and memorizing new words and using them, both sides of your brain begin to work in conjunction, helping to increase brain lateralization.

Better yet, there’s no greater mental workout than learning an entirely new language. Study on your own or with an informal group, take a class, or practice your foreign language while traveling.

Read More

Keeping your brain engaged and focused plays a huge role in keeping it sharp and healthy. A great way to do this is to incorporate reading into your daily routine, and to mix up your content, as different types of reading material work different parts of your brain.

Reading a novel can help to increase creativity and can also improve the brain’s functionality, while reading a news or scientific article can improve critical thinking and help you to increase your knowledge.

Socialize More Often

If your day is largely spent in front of a screen with little verbal communication, it’s time to up your social activity. Believe it or not, having candid face-to-face conversations helps your brain to quicken its reflexes, while also aiding in improving focus and attention.

Try a New Recipe

If your routine involves cooking the same meals over and over again, it’s time to switch it up, not only for your palate but also for your brain. Learning to cook a new recipe can help to break your brain out of thoughtless routines and help to re-introduce problem solving and critical thinking back into your daily routine.

Do More of the Things You Enjoy

Doing something mentally engaging that you actually enjoy can be the perfect exercise for your brain. If you already have a hobby that you love, whether it’s knitting, playing a sport, speaking a second language or playing an instrument, spend time doing it every day.

Honing your skills will help you to think critically and problem solve, forming new neuron connections and keeping your brain sharp. Picking up a new hobby can also have the same brain-engaging effects too.

Re-Think Your Routines

While daily habits and routines help all of us to get from point A to point B and accomplish everything on our to-do lists with success, they put our brains on autopilot. This lack of thinking can cause our brains to become less stimulated and engaged, leading to lower levels of brain function.

To increase brain activity throughout the day, break away from your routines and try something new.

Be More Mindful

We do a lot of things throughout the day without thinking about them. This includes everything from brushing our teeth to making breakfast, taking a shower and even relaxing in front of the TV. However, while it may be time-effective or relaxing to do things without thinking, we actually end up wasting precious time that we could use to boost cognitive function. Instead of simply going through the motions, live mindfully by actually being conscious of what you’re doing while you’re doing it.



Source: http://motivationgrid.com/10-easy-effective-ways-exercise-brain/#ixzz3L8oxEFFG

9 Ways to Quickly Improve Your Memory

Having memory problems? We all do at some point, fairly regularly actually. Do you often walk into a room, stop and then begin to question yourself as to why you went in there in the first place? You’re not alone. I do that far too often.

If your memory isn’t too brilliant and you feel like you forget things the majority of the time, important or otherwise, then don’t worry. There are many things that you can do to improve your memory in both the short term and the long term.

The only problem with improving your memory is that it’s pretty difficult to notice any kind of results. Never the less, some of the points I’m about to go through won’t just help with improving your memory, but many of them also are great for relieving stress and keeping your energy levels up. So here are…


1) Meditate

Photo credit: Mitchell Joyce

Researchers at the University of Washington completed a study to see whether meditating would in fact improve memory and concentration. The study involved participants going on an 8 week course that would teach them about meditation and body relaxation.


After these 8 weeks, they were then monitored along with a group that hadn’t undergone the course, performing various daily office tasks, and tested on factors such as their accuracy, speed and ability to multitask. The results of the group who had undertaken meditation clearly outweighed that of the others in terms of improved memory, stress levels and focus.

2) Listen to Music

Photo credit: Sascha Kohlmann

As it turns out, music has so many benefits on a person, and not just from the entertainment value that gives the music industry its huge value. Music has a positive effect on your blood pressure, your heart, immunity, memory, concentration and even athletic performance.

An article on eMed Expert shows exactly what the benefits are and that according to a paper written in the latest UK-based journal of Advanced Nursing, that listening to music can often reduce depression by up to 25%.

It used to be just classical music from artists like Mozart that was thought of as improving peoples’ ability to remember things, but it just so happens that listening to any type of music that gives you personal enjoyment will have the same benefits.

3) Focus on One Task at a Time

Photo credit: Ryan Ritchie

Focusing on just one task at a time will mean that you are able to give your full concentration to this task and not have to think about anything else. Which means your brain won’t be having to remember as many things at once and your thoughts will be focused on just one thing.

This makes it easier for you to remember things because you will be using all your concentration and brain power on one subject, an not splitting it between multiple tasks. Which is partially why when you multitask you become less productive as a whole, and therefore it’s always better to just focus on one thing at once.

4) Chew Gum

Photo credit: Adrien Leguay

Chewing gum has been shown to help people to stay focused on various tasks for longer, according to a study that The British Psychological Society performed. The study showed that anybody who took part in an audio task whilst chewing gum, had quicker reaction times and results that were more accurate than that of those who weren’t chewing gum.

When you chew gum, the flow of oxygen to the brain is increased, which in turn helps to keep people’s concentration levels high. Something that is very important if you wish to remember everything you’re trying to learn. So next time you’re struggling to concentrate on something you’re working on, why not give it a try?

5) Go for a Run

Photo credit: Ken Douglas

Running is healthy in almost every sense, apart from for your knees perhaps. Going for a run every now and then can improve your stamina, your muscle endurance and your state of mind, but it’s also been linked with improving memory and encouraging the development of new brain cells.

Running was taken for an example, but just exercising in general can help towards having a healthy brain and encouraging the growth of brain cells.

6) Doodle

Photo credit: Empress of Blandings

A recent article on Wise Health Geek showed that doodling can increase memory by up to 29% and it also states chewing gum, as mentioned above, improves tests scores by around 5%.

One of my best friends used to constantly doodle in our German language class back in high school. In fact, by the end of the year his German work book was completely covered in doodles and he’d been told many times to stop. But, when it all came down to it he got incredible scores in his exams compared to most of the class.

With that being said, doodling is not something that helps everyone, so there’s a good chance it may not help you out much.

7) Eat Berries

Photo credit: Maira Gall

Berries, or blueberries in particular have been linked more towards slowing down the natural rate of memory loss that comes with aging, rather than improving your memory.

Never the less it will improve your memory in the long term and essentially slow down aging. This is information that has been around for a while, but before this berries were considered as more anti-aging in terms of your skin and general health, rather than being associated with the brain.

An article was written about the study by Harvard researchers of this on CBS News a couple of years ago, by Ryan Jaslow. It gives a little more detail as to how they were able to show the effects of blueberries on a person’s brain.

8) Caffeine

Photo credit: Zach Inglis

Caffeine is often associated with improving your energy levels within the short term, or even causing fatigue if you have too much, but it’s now associated with also improving memory.

A study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, that involved various participants being shown a series of pictures, and then being given a pill. Half of the pills were caffeine pills and the other half were placebos.

After a day had passed, the contestants were showed the pictures again, with some of them being new, and everyone was asked whether they remembered those pictures or not. Needless to say, those who took the caffeine pill performed better than those who didn’t.

9) Challenge Yourself

Photo credit: Voice of Your Soul

Lastly, challenge yourself! How can you expect your memory to improve if you are not challenging your mind at all, to make it improve.

If you are never challenging yourself then your brain has no reason to grow. But if you do, it will be forced to grow as you’re pushing it to improve to cater for your needs.

Source : Motivationgrid

How to Become Better when You Are Sick

When you're sick you can rarely go to places, see friends or go to sports games - it's no fun at all. Nobody likes to be sick, so follow these steps to get better quickly.

EditSteps

1. 1
   Eat healthy foods. Unhealthy foods can make you feel, and possibly become, even more sick, and they usually contain little nutrients, so they won't help you get better. Eat healthy foods like fruits and vegetables while you're sick, especially fruits that contain vitamin C. Honey is also especially good for sore throats and colds.
2. 
   2
   Make sure you stay warm. Get into your long pajamas or get a soft and warm blanket and curl up on the couch or in bed. Drink tea or other hot liquids and eat soup to help keep you warm and soothe your throat.
3. 
   3
   Try to blow your nose less often. Blowing your nose may be worse.
4. 
   4
   Take some medicine. Medicine can help the body when you are sick, so consider taking some medicine to help you get better. If your doctor has prescribed you any specific medication, be sure to take it.
5. 
   5
   Lie down and get some rest. You should get about 8-9 hours of rest or more when you're sick, so be sure to get a lot of sleep at night and to take a nap or two during the day, if possible.
6. 
   6
   Get some fresh clean air occasionally. Go outside and sit on your porch for a while on a nice day to get some fresh air; it can do wonders for you. Bring a book with you and read for a bit while you experience the sunshine. Make sure that if it's cold outside, try to get all bundled so you can feel warm and toasty.

EditTips

• Do not forget that it is okay to relax and try to get as much sleep as is reasonable when you are sick. It can also be helpful to try to stay in a positive frame of mind as opposed to focusing on how miserable you may feel. Dwelling on the negative too much is just going to make time pass more slowly, and you never know, maybe there is something to the idea of thinking yourself well.
• Rest in a cool place and make sure that it is not noisy. Noisy places causes headaches and such which could delay recovery.

EditWarnings

• Read the warnings on the medicine carefully.
• Never take other people's medicine. It can make you even more sick.

EditThings You'll Need

• Water
• Vitamins and Supplements (Shaklee)
• Quiet place to rest
• Ice cubes
• Healthy snacks
• Warm clothes