| Bench Press for Your Brain |
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| Ririan | |||
| Wednesday, 19 September 2007 | |||
  - Will Rogers According to research by a BBC programme, doing ‘brain exercises’ such as watching Countdown, playing Sudoku or taking a shower with your eyes closed can make us all up to 40 per cent cleverer within seven days. The tests conducted for Get Smarter in a Week appear to bear out the growing belief among scientists that making simple changes to our lifestyle can lead to significant improvements in how well our brains function. …a combination of techniques based on healthy eating, physical activity, sound sleep and stimulating your mind through solving puzzles and remembering lists makes people sharper, more confident and better at making decisions. When the production team did trial runs among 15 volunteers, who each followed a ‘get smarter’ regime for a week, they expected their guinea pigs would be about 10 per cent cleverer at the end of it. What they found was that some performed up to 40 per cent better than in the initial assessment. However, one man who had gone out on a stag night the evening before the second test found his score 20 per cent down - proving that alcohol damages mental function. So, do you want to exercise your brain, flex your mental muscle, and stretch your mind? Here is BBC’s “Get Smarter Guide” that you can employ in your weekly schedule intended to help sharpen you mental acuity: Saturday Brush your teeth with your ‘wrong’ hand and take a shower with your eyes closed. Sunday Do the crossword or Sudoku puzzle in your Sunday paper and take a brisk walk. Monday Have oily fish for dinner, and either cycle, walk or take the bus into work. Tuesday Select unfamiliar words from the dictionary and work them into conversations. Wednesday Go to yoga, Pilates or a meditation class, and talk to someone you don’t know. Thursday Take a different route to work; watch Countdown or Brainteaser. Friday Avoid caffeine or alcohol; memorise your shopping list. Also try to increase your creative thinking. “The brain needs exercise, the same as other body parts,” says Philip Carter, editor of the British Mensa newsletter Enigmasig, and coauthor of more than 100 puzzle books. Here, try the following brainteasers: 1. The words “black” and “white” are opposite in meaning. Name two more words, one rhyming with black and the other rhyming with white, that are also opposite in meaning. 2. Dallas is 1,219 miles from Detroit. A train leaves Dallas going 80 mph. One leaves Detroit at the same time traveling 90 mph. Which train will be farther from Dallas when they meet? A lot of people feel they are under-performing in their life, that they are letting themselves down, in terms of their ability to handle events or thinking that people at work are cleverer than them. But the truth is that everyone can get smarter, and feel better. So, start exercising your brain, and get smarter! ANSWERS to brainteasers: 1: slack and tight; 2: both trains will be the same distance from Dallas when they meet.
Disclaimer: Harmonious Living is written for and read by a community of individuals with strong and independent opinions. While the publishers of Harmonious Living are dedicated to providing a forum in which views can be openly expressed, those views do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.
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This is the powerful story of the author's struggle with Multiple Sclerosis and how a healer's unusual prescription of mindful altruism - to 'give away 29 gifts in 29 days' - ignited her energy, her happiness, and invited more abundance into her life.
