Exercises for the brain

Our brains are like muscles: if he does not give daily work, he grows old, becomes lazy, the command 'think!' does not recognize. But if the load is – the little grey cells grow in the literal sense of the word. Scientists describe this process as: the formation of new synapses between neurons, the cerebral cortex becomes thicker and more tortuous, in the matter of the brain grow new capillaries, axons are faster conducting nerve signals, more complicated functional relationships between the individual structures of the brain.

But in the meantime the brain is not so primitive as muscle. The usual 'rocking' (like daily writing at the computer for 10 thousand characters), it is not enough: bored and sooner or later the routine will dismiss as unnecessary. Will have to surprise and even deceive unusual gymnastics.

Neyrobika

This technique exercise for our brains invented by the Americans – the neurobiologist Lawrence Katz and author manning Rubin. And for the past 15 years, the world is engaged according to the book 'Fitness for the mind', choosing the most suitable of the 83 exercises to improve memory and the development of intellectual abilities.

To complete the fun exercises you will have a little 'seemed' to do everyday things a little crazy by using all 5 senses in unusual combinations. Doing the same routine work, we find it difficult to focus on the new: memory decreases, concentration falls. But if you do the usual things in an unexpected way, the brain has to build fresh connections between nerve cells and restore them if they were lost.

Try to run a thrust to all unusual at every free moment, performing home duties, commuting to work and to shop sitting in front of the TV or at the computer. Make exercise fun, ironic, in a good mood, the brain is very like emotions.

6 useful exercises

1. Turn to the work of the left hand (or right if you are left-handed). Try it to clean your teeth, buttoning your blouse, eat soup, typing on a computer keyboard and to write letters.

Why do it? Activation of the motor cortex is transferred from left hemisphere to the right, which is conducive to creativity and lateral thinking.

2. Test new sensations, to develop new skills. Move in your own apartment, you know, take a shower with your eyes closed. Try to touch to determine the worthiness of a coin lying in your pocket. Try to master the Braille system of reading and writing for the blind. Agree with home to chat the whole day only in sign language.

Why do it? Gets escalated to the limit new touch region of the brain that are normally involved little or no work, which is also a good exercise for neurons in the entire brain.

3. Don't be afraid to change their image. Unusual wear new clothes, try new make-up, experiment with hair color and hairstyle.

Why do it? People different feels, trying on a new image (recall the 'effect coat' for male or 'studs' for women!), and it changes the way of thinking.

4. Walks and go to work the new routes (even if unusual road will be longer!), often travel, every vacation try to spend in a new place, go to museums and exhibitions.

Why do it? Developing spatial memory, and even increases the size of the hippocampus, according to recent research physiologists.

5. Often change the interior of the house and at work, weekly rearrange things in the apartment, swap kitchen utensils, try to prepare for the overseas prescriptions, buy a new perfume. A few minutes wandering the house, wearing on the right foot Shoe on the heel, and the left – slipper.

Why do it? Habits tire the brain, and novelty stimulates the sensory inputs of the brain, makes life more vivid and memorable.

6. Learn non-trivial overexposed to answer questions like 'how are you?', 'what's new?' think of every time a new phrase – give up the stereotypes, remember the jokes, themselves invent new jokes, entertaining stories – and be sure to flash them in conversation.

Why do it? If you price things spoken creatively, from different angles, thereby stimulating the memory and the speech centre in the brain – the left temporal region of the areas of Wernicke and Broca.

150 minutes of movement each week

Remember that brain activity is influenced by traditional exercise.

Researchers from the University of Illinois USA under the leadership of Arthur Kramer found that moderate exercises, a total of 150 minutes per week (or 75 minutes of high physical activity), plus daily walking not less than 500 meters increase the volume of the cortex of the human brain in frontal and parietal areas. They are responsible for working memory, attention and switching from one job to another. As evidence, scientists have provided the image obtained with computed tomography.