My plan for this week’s post was to discuss the benefits of brain training and my February health goal of committing to doing it every day. It was sure to be a hit, and I was confident that I’d find a magnitude of resources touting brain training as the best decision I could ever make for my brain health in 2016. After all, brain training is on my list of “45 Things I Want to Do in My 45th Year” (#20).
Imagine my surprise when virtually every resource I came across debunked my belief that brain training was beneficial. Rather, scientists are claiming that it’s a waste of time and money. According to the Scientific American, the only thing brain games do is make you better at playing brain games. How ’bout that?! Clearly, I haven’t researched this topic in quite some time. I found myself questioning whether or not brain training was a worthy pursuit.
The thing is, the current research claims that brain training doesn’t make you smarter. But I’m not approaching brain training to make myself more intelligent and/or increase my IQ score. For me, the idea is to use my brain for tasks that aren’t necessarily part of my everyday life through various games that online services such as Lumosity provide.
I’m curious…
- Will it make my thinking more clear?
- Will it enable me to approach things from a different perspective?
- Will it improve my ability to make quick decisions when I need to?
- To sum it up, will it make me more efficient at everyday brain tasks?
At this point in my life, I strive to improve upon my daily living rather than seek bragging rights on a test score. As I always tell my boys, there are all different kinds of smart—none better than the other—and I’m perfectly content with my kind of smart. So, should I or shouldn’t I?
I’ve decided I should. There’s a reason I was drawn to it in the first place. What’s the harm in giving it a try for February, the shortest month of the year? Challenging your brain in different ways each and every day certainly can’t make it less effective. Right? It isn’t any different from the daily newspaper crossword puzzle or Sudoku. The point is to get your brain thinking and using it in all sorts of ways.
Whether or not daily brain training ends up being advantageous, I’ve already brought several other favorable actions into my regular routine, and plan to add more throughout the year. Besides helping you keep up your whole food, nutrient dense diet, these habits also give your brain what it needs.
Water – Being dehydrated causes your brain to function much less efficiently. Your attention span decreases, your response time slows, and your memory is impaired. Drink water, one way or another.
Exercise – Aerobic exercise has been proven to improve your brain function. From assisting with insulin resistance and other ailments that affect your body’s overall health (brain included) to increasing the size of your prefrontal cortex and medial temporal cortex (the thinking and memory sections of the brain), the list of reasons to get into a regular exercise routine that you love goes on and on. Move your body, everyday, in whatever way keeps you coming back for more.
Meditation – Studies continue to show that making meditation a priority in your life has an important impact on your brain’s gray matter. This is the stuff that keeps your emotions in check and improves your focus. I’m so glad I made meditation my health goal for January.
Some of the benefits I’ve noticed with my daily meditation practice: I’m less reactive with my boys, I stay on task with greater ease, and my energy level seems more even throughout the day. I highly recommend adding it to your list of healthy habits to try. I know I won’t be letting it fall to the wayside any time soon.
Have you tried brain training? What was your experience like?
Paula Widish, author of Trophia: Simple Steps to Everyday Self-Health, is a freelance writer and self-healther. She loves nothing more than sharing tidbits of information she discovers with others. (Actually, she loves her family more than that—and probably bacon too.) Paula has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Public Relations and is a Certified Professional Life Coach through International Coach Academy.
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