Maintain Your Brain
by Miki Saxon
Thanks to brain imaging scientists now know that your brain keeps growing as long as you’re alive.
Quite a difference from the old view that your brain stops making new neural connection around puberty.
Another new idea is that your brain needs just as much exercise as the rest of you, especially as you age.
Thinking is essentially a process of making neural connections in the brain. To a certain extent, our ability to excel in making the neural connections that drive intelligence is inherited. However, because these connections are made through effort and practice, scientists believe that intelligence can expand and fluctuate according to mental effort.
It’s simple; we’re talking Pilates for your brain.
And a simple way to do it, thank to some of the leading brains at Stanford and, what else, but a startup.
Now, a new San Francisco Web-based company has taken it a step further and developed the first “brain training program” designed to actually help people improve and regain their mental sharpness. Called Lumosity, it was designed by some of the leading experts in neuroscience and cognitive psychology from Stanford University.
UPDATE: While Lumosity has been debunked by the FTC, the science of using your brain and building new neural paths is well founded.
And, like physical exercise, you don’t want to wait until age makes the exercise a necessity.
Your brain will thank you. And as you age your family, friends and the healthcare system will all thank you.
After all, you don’t want to end up an old codger or biddy.
Flickr image credit: tellatic
