Using more of your brain

Over the last few months I’ve become quite interested in age-proofing my brain. There's no point living longer if your body marches forward and your brain doesn't keep up. I came across something called the 10% idea, which suggests we only use 10% of our brain and the other 90% is redundant. I found that quite exciting. What if I could find a way to activate these redundant areas and improve my brain function? Let’s face it, after the third time of walking into a room and not remembering why, the slightest improvement would be welcome :)

Sadly, the more I explored the topic the more I found that the 10% idea is a myth, as MRI scans have shown that electrical impulses run throughout these ‘redundant’ areas of the brain when activated in the right way, however, that got me interested in brain activation. So, I set about finding information on activities can stimulate the brain to create new connections (neurogenesis) and strengthen existing ones (in the hope I can remember why I walk into rooms!) 

• Physical exercise, to get some fresh air and extra oxygen flowing to the brain. Walking is my thing and there's miles of it round here.
• Breaking your routines and engaging in novel experiences uses all your senses
• Anything that involves planning ahead, for example, chess, crosswords, sudoku, stimulates the frontal lobe area of the brain 
• Training your short range spatial skills, such as dancing and court games (basketball, volleyball, etc), where you have to quickly plan moves in a confined space
• Activities requiring the coordinating of multiple regions of the brain, such as painting and learning a new language
• For general brain wellbeing, reading books, writing, crafting, listening to music are all good
• Cognitive training, such as computer games* like Tetris, and Rubik's cube.

*The Stanford Center on Longevity’s guidance statement on cognitive fitness notes: “Before settling on a particular method and investing time and sometimes money in a particular product, consumers need to consider hidden costs beyond dollars and cents. Every hour spent doing solo software drills is an hour not spent hiking, learning Italian, making a new recipe, or playing with your grandchildren. Other avenues for cognitive enhancement, such as participating in your community and exploring your passions, may also stimulate your mind while producing socially meaningful outcomes.”

Other helpful things include meditation, good nutrition, enough sleep and eliminating allergies and stress. I haven’t included supplements, as their effectiveness varies from person to person, but the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 oils is known to be important for good brain health and ginkgo biloba is known to improve blood flow. Our brains need to be bathed in good lipids and have plenty of oxygenated blood.

Because my day job is entirely about words, I spend between 8-10 hours a day on my laptop. Then in the evening I go back on after dinner. I’m aware I spend too long on the internet and rarely exercise my brain, I have become a passive ingester of information and have probably replaced the TV with the internet. Not only has all this computer activity affected my posture and eyesight, it has also served to atrophy my brain a little. 

So, I'm putting together a plan to improve my brain health based on the list above, starting with doing more puzzles. I found an old Rubik's cube while decluttering and have started trying to solve that. It is surprisingly addictive. It has also had an unexpected side benefit: it has reactivated some long forgotten muscles in my fingers, wrists, and arms that 17 years of typing has atrophied. I'm not so stiff anymore and have regained some manual dexterity in my fingers. I also seemed to have fixed a painful problem in my left wrist that left me with a weakness and wearing a splint during the day to stop the wrist flexing.

So, over to you. Do you exercise your brain?