advertisement:
(MS) — No matter what your age, keeping your brain sharp and staying on top of things is a concern for many. For parents of young children, finding ways to stimulate children’s intellect while keeping them interested can prove difficult. On the opposite end of the spectrum, senior citizens often face similar hurdles as they seek to stay involved in their world in spite of changes such as retirement and a decline in daily responsibilities. For active adults, those with or without children, staying sharp mentally can be a way to increase productivity at work and in life.
Fortunately, there are a number of methods you can employ to boost your brain power and gain both immediate as well as long-term benefits.
• Diet. While many people associate diet with an increase in one’s physical health, the right diet can also do wonders for your mental health. Since the time of your youth, you’ve no doubt been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Is it? Quite simply, yes it is. Studies have shown that skipping breakfast greatly reduces individual performance at both work and school because the body simply does not have the fuel it needs to keep up with mental functions. Breakfasts high in protein have been shown to help students perform better on advanced tests, while breakfasts high in fiber also led to positive cognitive results.
A Boston University study revealed the positive effects of eggs on memory. This is because eggs are high in choline, which is used by your body to produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, low levels of which have been linked to sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease.
However, breakfast is not enough. Be sure to eat a well-balanced diet throughout the day to maintain peak mental capability. For times when energy and cognitive ability are waning, try a snack of pretzels, a handful of nuts or some whole wheat crackers with cheese to keep you motivated.
• Puzzles. For decades, puzzles have played an integral role in the cognitive development of children, who learn many applicable life lessons from simply working at and completing a puzzle.
But puzzles are also beneficial to adults, who can keep their mind sharp in ways they might not necessarily need to while at work. AARP, for instance, recommends puzzles for anyone looking to break up their routine and work on their spatial intelligence. Logic puzzles such as crosswords, the new and popular Sudoku and b. dazzle’s beautiful and intriguing Scramble Squares® (www.b-dazzle.com) have been shown to boost brain power in the very way AARP suggests.
Scramble Squares, for example, which are recommended by Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D. (“Dr. Toy”), director of the Institute for Childhood Resources in San Francisco, as a fun game for all ages that boosts brain power, are easy to play but hard to solve. Players must arrange the nine 4-inch by 4-inch square puzzle pieces to perfectly match the squares’ edges printed with brilliant and stimulating illustrations on nature, sports, history, culture, occupations, fantasy, science, technology, hobbies and activities, while forming a 12-inch by 12-inch square. The puzzles are packaged in a handy resealable traveling pouch for play on the go. Plus, trivia questions and answers are also included in the package, further challenging the brain to kick into high gear.
“While home for Christmas I enjoyed the Scramble Squares puzzles my daughter had purchased,” said Mary Ann Hanvey of Big Springs, Texas. “I purchased some and showed them to residents of the retirement center. Over half of the residents wanted these puzzles.”
Puzzles can also be a means for adults, who are often subject to a dulling routine both at work and home and can fall into distinct cognitive patterns as a result, to force the brain to work at things from a new and fresh perspective that is outside of their daily routine experiences.
• Music. Many people, in particular high school students preparing to take college board exams, have heard of the benefits of Mozart on cognitive abilities. That’s the result of Frances Rauscher, a psychologist now working at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, who released a study over a decade ago that showed how listening to Mozart improved mathematical and spatial reasoning.
While the Mozart theory did not apply to everyone, many scientists do feel music boosts brain power just by the way it makes listeners feel, which is often more relaxed yet more stimulated at the same time.
Where music has shown to consistently increase brain power is in younger children who receive music lessons. One of Rauscher’s own findings was that preschool children given music lessons saw a 2- to 3-point boost in IQ scores over children given drama lessons or no extra lessons at all.
Boosting brain power can be a simple as making a few enjoyable lifestyle changes and by having fun challenging your brain with logic puzzles.