Brain Exercises
When I was in Sept-Iles for hospital appointments last week, I had an opportunity while shopping at Bureau en Gros to buy a computer CD called (I think) "Brain Exercises", supposedly to keep the brain functioning and developing through old age. I wish I brought it!!! Now I'm kicking myself. 
But I'm also thinking that maybe babblers might have some resources to share along these lines - or might know where to purchase this particular CD online (I'm going to email Bureau en Gros on Monday to ask if it the CD is still in stock).
Aging is starting to be an issue for me - I've had memory problems, and health issues as well. I'd like to keep my brain functioning at least on its current level of sophisication, and even help it grow a bit. What works for you? (I just turned 60 btw).
I think physical exercise is one of the best ways to reduce plaque buildup in both our bodies' arteries as well as microcapillaries in our brains. Someone said that we were designed to be in motion, and that everything works better over time with exercise. And I really believe that.
Bob Demarco wrote:
Here is what caught my attention. The middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus - areas of the brain known to be important in working memory and decision-making --were triggered in Newbies after a week of searching Google.
Middle frontal and inferior gyrus? Who knew? So put down the books and newspapers, and stop watching TV. I remember reading that watching TV burns as many calories and stimulates your mind into raising its brainwaves to some level about as much as doing absolutely nothing at all. Personally I think it's some kind of weird quantum effect. They say the universe knows when it's being observed. Could be something similar with the Google effect.
Think long thoughts, teach yourself to look at things, all things in as many aspects as you can.
Take a box of tissues for example, and then write down all the things you know about it, like listing how many working hands, it has passed through, from beginning to end, what procressing has been done for its composition, contents and packagings, in order for it to come to you as is.
Think about what governs its production and contents, and transportation and anything else you may think has gone into it.
Once you think you know your tissue box, move along and get to know something else.
I have worked with people in groups getting them to do this, some list 100's of truths about a tissue box, and how many dozens of workers hands it has been through to get to them, while others list somewhere around 10 things they can see about it, and workers never have a thing to do with it.
Somehow that box just made itself, and then filled itself with tissues, that also made themselves.
The people who list 10, are the ones, that need to get their brains into action, and really think about something, instead of being a reaction, to a provoked emotion.
Thanks for the responses.
yw, how many worker's hands has a tissue box and its contents, been through, before it got to you? ;)
I'd like to start with the loggers who cut down the trees, but I also assume that recycled paper comes into play as well. So, from new wood freshly cut, I'd guess 20 - 25 pairs of hands have been involved in the production of a box of tissue paper. Recycled paper, probably half that number. This is a good exercise - now I'll probably go and apply it to everything I see.
Well more than 25 hands for production, and even more for it to get to you, but a good start.
I was reading somewhere or other about memory exercises being helpful as a brain booster and the advice given was to exercise your memory by not writing every little thing down. So with that in mind, I go grocery shopping without a list and go through the store aisle by aisle letting my vision jog my memory.
Ha! If I go grocery shopping without a list, I end up buying almost everything in the store.
I was reading somewhere or other about memory exercises being helpful as a brain booster and the advice given was to exercise your memory by not writing every little thing down. So with that in mind, I go grocery shopping without a list and go through the store aisle by aisle letting my vision jog my memory.
I've tried that... and I know neither the chocolate nor the salty "treats" were on the list... but they were in the shopping bag. Strangely enough I also ended up with a third box of corn startch...
When it comes to grocery shopping I try to follow the advice a friend's sister passed on... walk the perimeter of the store, produce, dairy, bakery and butcher shop are on the perimeter... only go down the aisles if you actually require something that is processed and comes in a container... this really cuts down on the impulse purchases.
Boom Boom, I've read that learning a second language really helps keeping the mind fit throughout your entire life. Are there any French or Spanish classes nearby where you live, or a private tutor that could come by and give you lessons?
Oh, I'm terrible at learning languages. I have a French Language certificate from Canadore College in North Bay (I think it's dated 1986), but I've forgotten all of it. I have a French Language learning CD, but it's too dense for me. Locally, there's no part-time French tutor here. I'll probably take another crack at the CD this winter while I'm hibernating.
Yes, I even have a grocery shopping term for that, I call it "going off list". It usually involves high carbohydrate items, or non-food related items that I think might make good sex toys.
Shopping with me is fun and fattening.
AAAAAaaaaaaaanyways....
Back when I was going through separation, and working nights and not sleeping well either at home or work, I began to have memory problems. Of course, I attributed it to stress, but I wanted to find out.
I took a book of poetry to work, and started memorizing. I memorized "The Cremation of Sam McGee", "The Highwayman" and "The Shooting of Dan McGrew", and refreshed my memorization on some Shakespeare and a stanza from "Horatius at the Bridge"
Years later, I think I could get through Sam McGee and the Highwayman right now cold, with a bit of prompting here and there. And, McBeth's last siloloquay sticks with me always, as does the stanza from Horatius at the bridge.
I found this memory work actually easier than the memory work I did in high school.
It's been noted in my household that my "memory loss" is selective in nature and has a flavour of being somewhat self serving. But I don't care what they think. (kidding)
My personal failings aside, Boom Boom, besides memorizing your favorite poems, I'd suggest a few video games. Tetris is good, to a point. After a while, parts of the brain that builds new connections stops doing that, so one could move on to another type of game.
Just trying to understand everything is good, too. I'm allways looking into this or that-- for example, if I'm to understand the flora and fauna of my locale, then I think I should understand the underpinnings, so I've been investigating and reading here and there about Ontario geology.
Understanding where you live could be a life's endeavor, and should keep your brain active.
Low Carbohydrate Dieters Lose Memory Skills - Study
Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. My grand' used to tell me that strength goes in at the mouth. It goes for improved memory in the am, too.
Oh, I love a big breakfast!
(wish we had a 'drooling' smiley)
I skipped very many breakfasts when I was a skinny kid. And I was a straight C's student then, too. Things improved when I broke with the morning fasts.
Gary Anaka, brain coach, is pretty good on brain exercises. He does a workshop for teachers that is excellent.
Gary Anaka, Brain Coach.
OMG, you know Gary, nbeltov?
What a blast from the past.
Crossword puzzles have really improved my memory.
My mom used cryptograms
Every day I play about three dozen moves of word games online on Facebook (Wordscraper and Lexulous) similar to Scrabble. I used to play chess but got tired of losing.
If you want to play chess at your own level, set up an account at FICS, download an interface, and play people with a rating around your own. I do.
Too busy for chess, and I love scrabble-type games.
I'm off to play blitz chess. Games over in 10 minutes. You are not too busy for chess, Boom Boom. Purchase some books of chess problems and try solving them. Wonderful for the brain.
Usually takes me ten minutes or more to make a move in chess, aside from opening moves.
Here's the link to the disks I made reference to in my OP: http://www.neuroactiveprogram.ca/EN/
Here's the link to the disks I made reference to in my OP: http://www.neuroactiveprogram.ca/EN/
Jeez, you aren't fooling around. How's it helping so far, Boom Boom?
I've ordered one of the three packages, should arrive next week. The one I ordered is "Complete Brain Training" although I'm now thinking I should have ordered the second one, "Fitness For the Brain". I very much doubt I will order the final one, "Learning" because I don't see it as relevant to my needs. Damn, I wish I had ordered that second kit instead.
Ya they tried to teach me about learnin, too. I'm sure I made it as difficult for them as possible at the time.
Here's a related article from today's Toronto Star. The focus is on our education system, but the ramifications go beyond school.
http://www.thestar.com/atkinsonseries/atkinson2009/article/719091--brain...
"We used to say that intelligence was 80 per cent genetic and 20 per cent environmental," says Martin Westwell, a neuroscientist in Adelaide at Flinders University. "Now we tend to say that it's 20 per cent genetic and 80 per cent environmental."
The brain is malleable. And the research is showing that if students think they can learn, then they do. If they think their intelligence is fixed at a low level – whether because of social or economic status, skin colour, gender, family history, which country they live in – then they stick to that level.
"It is absolutely clear that the brain is not fixed," says Westwell. "And in schools the kids who see intelligence as malleable have a better trajectory."
At work, things have been in flux, to say the least. It used to be that you posted for a job, and that's what you did. All the time. But lately, you may be classified in one job, but you get transferred to others quite a bit. Particularly me, as I tend to like learning different jobs.
I had to learn to run a blanking press. Essentially, it makes the simplest part in the plant-- something that resembles a 22 inch, 30lb washer. Only it makes a lot of them, really fast. There's several elements to it. At the back end, we use a crane to unload 20 ton coils of steel off of trucks. Then they are loaded into a de-coiler, which takes the tongue of the coil, feeds it through rollers, over a table of rollers and into the maw of the great blanking press. Every time it cycles, it makes a noise comparable to a rifle shot.
But wait, there's more.
The blanks get taken away by a shuttle that zooms in and out of the back end of the press, catching the blanks as they fall from the dies. Then they are delivered to a set of magnetic rolls which deposit them onto pallets.
Of course, there's skeleton left over, the scrap steel which is still part of the coil, but it has big holes in it. that gets fed along into a shear press, which cuts the skeleton into managable bits, which fall into a basement conveyor which delivers it to scrap bins outside.
There are many things to learn in order to get this whole process to work. And many things to learn in order to prevent it from not working. And many things to learn in order to get it working when you missed something and didn't prevent it from not working.
Most of those things are unplesent. Unplesent things can be good teachers.
When I was learning that job-- the most I had to learn since getting out of Q.A., I felt engaged and alive. My reading comprehension at home was better, my ability to deal with life's anxieties better.
When I do the job I've been doing for the past month or so, where the problems are all solved and the only skills required of me are to physically move the parts, I have felt rather stupid. Very stupid. Slow. In fact, I was in some important problem solving yesterday afternoon, and Rebecca West had to step in and rescue me a couple times as my head swam.
I read the thread on jets in space last night, and was really depressed because I know I had good comprehension of cosmology at one time, but it just seemed too heavy for my brain to lift last night.
That blanking press sounds interesting! I've had a variety of jobs in my lifetime, I guess one of the most challenging was working in Manpower and Immigration Canada in the 1970s during a time of high unemployment, and when Trudeau was PM. Our office was the newly-created Local Initiatives Program, I was one of the first hired for that job, and 'brainstorming' with the team leader was a regular feature. I guess that happens in every department of government, how to function better, how best to organise, and so on. But this was hectic, because unemployment was so high - we encouraged new ideas for make-work projects, basically anything that would put people to work would be considered for government funding. I was in my low 20's at the time and this was my first crack at a professional job, and the pressure was intense. But it was also fun, and I got to know some great people as a consequence. Being under that much pressure was incredibly stimulating for me.
It is interesting. Not just the learning part, but trying to squeeze the most production out of the process as one can. There's a thousand little tricks, and the learning should never stop. Most of that pressure is self inflicted. However, the pressure I feel when I'm moving the coils around with the crane is something different. An accident there won't leave you with a black finger nail. You can kill someone. That's the kind of task where fear is an interesting companion. Of course, you don't want fear to overwhelm you so you can't do the job-- which isn't dangerous at all if you do everything the way it's supposed to be done. But on the other hand, you want to keep that fear somewhere in the back of your mind so respect for what you're dealing with is maintained.
That's the kind of job I could never do, Tommy, bcause I'm easily distracted. I made the mistake of choosing the technical program in high school, because, as it turns out, I simply didn't have the aptitude for technical things. Once I blundered my way to the end of high school, I went and graduated from two arts colleges, two universities, and none of these had anything whatsoever to do with technology.
He he.
Years ago, when I was more snide, on other message boards, I used a tag line that read "Philosophy is a field of study designed to keep the right people away from sharp objects and moving machinery."
I'm not Joe handy guy either, compared to many of my co-workers. But, all it takes is a little focus. For example, when using a skill saw at home, I make sure my work area isn't cluttered, I make sure the blade depth is set right, and I think the cut through before I do it, conscious of where my hands will be and where the cord will be in relation to the blade. Same with moving coils of steel around. You think it through, look for potential problems first. Most accidents are the result of several small things going wrong. You eleminate all the ones you can, and the ones you miss probably won't have a catastrophic impact.
That's why someone once observed that "luck" is the residue of good planning.
Speaking of which, I've promised to construct a light box for Rebecca West, and I should probably do that today-- or at least get started.
Excellent discussion guys, really enjoyed it, keep us informed boomboom what the disks are all about.
That is funny you should say that, I started to read it, and felt the same way, so I moved along, but kept thinking about it in the background, and of a sudden, it all started clicking and I went "hey", and went back to the thread and read it, and the majority of the linked info.
And yep, sure enough, it all meant that relativity exists in the micro and macro of this light speed.
Very simply put of course.
Loved that whole read, wonderfully refreshing.
I'm hoping I can download the disks into both my computers - my desktop is a generic 2003 WinXP with an 80GB hard drive/1.5GB RAM, which I use every morning; my laptop is a 2008 Dell Inspiron 1525 with the latest version of Windoze, a big hard drive, lots of RAM, which I use every evening and when I travel. I'm wondering if manufacturers prevent downloads of their (purchased) material on more than one computer? The package should arrive in a few days.
(ps: please don't harass me for using Windoze - it came installed on both computers at the time of purchase)
just register your computers as a network, in the soft ware registration prompt
Received the Brain Exercises CD today. The cover is all French, but the CD offers a choice between English and French, as does the handbook. It can only be installed on one computer; a license for a second computer is just $20.00. I guess I'll install it just on my laptop, as the laptop follows me everywhere I go.
I am not as old as you are Boom Boom, but I have a similar problem that if I do not use it, I tend to loose it.
Psychological Mindedness (PM) is a concept which refers to an individual's capacity for self-examination, self-observation, introspection and personal insight.[citation needed] It also includes an ability to recognize and see the links between current problems within self and with others, and the ability to insight one's past particularly for its impact on present attitudes and functioning. Psychologically minded people have average and above average intelligence and generally have some insight into their problems even before they enter therapy. Psychological mindedness is distinct from intellectualizations and obsessional rumination about one's inner problems. The latter is of no help in psychotherapy, but it is a sign of resistance.
Since we can be creatures of habit, it seems to me that neurological pathways are highways so to speak, and not traveling these roads, names of towns can slip our mind. "Waking up by traveling similar journeys" do tend to re-ignited those same neurological pathways. Having a strokes and damaging areas of the brain means that in order to ignite processes in our body expressions means to try and ignited those same pathways that were used.
By correspondence, we see correlations to our own lives. Looking at something and orientating the mind to see angles of something, is to me much like looking deep within the functioning of society to see what lies at the "bedrock or infrastructure" of the supporting objects of perception.
This is where something vaguely familiar eggs the conscious mind to look harder into the reservoir of our own histories. Brings those memories back to the surface.
I correspond quite a bit with friends on Facebook, and I'm finding that my memory is actually not as bad as I feared, especially my long term memory. Short-term memory is a bit more iffy. These cognitive brain exercises - and they suggest on the CD doing them three times minimun per week, half hour each time - I think are going to be interesting.
OMG, you know Gary, nbeltov?
What a blast from the past.
Having attended a recent seminar, I can attest that Anaka is very good. Some of his exercises, e.g., relate to getting communication between the different hemispheres of the brain going. (Juggling is one way.) But it is his infectious enthusiasm that is, perhaps, most memorable. For those interested in brain exercises, his presentations and books are great resources.
Harry Braverman wrote about the deskilling associated with many jobs under current capitalism. I don't know if this relates to your above remarks but, it sounds like it does and, if it does then I would suggest having a look at Braverman's famous book.
Harry Braverman: Labour and Monopoly Capital
Psychology professor Karim Nader is helping sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder lessen debilitating symptoms—and in some cases, regain a normal life.Owen Egan See also: The Trauma Tamer
IC: Why is this research so important?The Spotless Mind
Karim Nader: There are a lot of implications. All psychopathological disorders, such as PTSD, epilepsy, obsessive compulsive disorders, or addiction—all these things have to do with your brain getting rewired in a way that is malfunctioning. Theoretically, we may be able to treat a lot of these psychopathologies. If you could block the re-storage of the circuit that causes the obsessive compulsion, then you might be able to reset a person to a level where they aren’t so obsessive. Or perhaps you can reset the circuit that has undergone epilepsy repeatedly so that you can increase the threshold for seizures. And there is some killer data showing that it’s possible to block the reconsolidation of drug cravings.
The other reason why I think it is so striking is that it is so contrary to what has been the accepted view of memory for so long in the mainstream. My research caused everybody in the field to stop, turn around and go, “Whoa, where’d that come from?” Nobody’s really working on this issue, and the only reason I came up with this is because I wasn’t trained in memory. [Nader was originally researching fear.] It really caused a fundamental reconceptualization of a very basic and dogmatic field in neuroscience, which is very exciting. It is the first time in 100 years that people are starting to come up with new models of memory at the physiological level.
There are three different characteristics of all discoveries from which new sorts of phenomena emerge. These three characteristics are proven through an experiment dealing with a deck of cards. The deck consisted of anomalous cards (e.g. the red six of spades shown on the previous page) mixed in with regular cards. These cards were held up in front of students who were asked to call out the card they saw, and in most cases the anomaly was not detected.
For certain when composing articles in blogging format your trying to build off of previous information. You gather information so providing links is a way, much like connecting neurons to what was written before. Doing search functions for what is relevant to a topic in Google, or as a mean to use these search functions to help memory point to correlations.
Betrayal of Images" by Rene Magritte. 1929 painting on which is written "This is not a Pipe"
Looking at things from different angles is much like an artist who grabs onto an idea and furnishes us with a expose' into the idea of attention with further presentations visually. It is about seeing the idea manifest toward some kind of reality that is dare to say abstract in it's extrapolations, much as math is used to describe an aspect of nature.
Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904-1989). Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubicus), 1953–54. Oil on canvas. 77 x 49 in. (195.6 x 124.5 cm). Gift of the Chester Dale Collection, 1955 (55.5). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
© Salvador Dalí, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
So in a way, while we seem to see true representations "about the fundamental ideas" these manifest toward physical manifestation. These ideas "are covered by abstractions." Much like experience in our daily lives. Sorting through the memory is like sorting through the experience. Recall then becomes something of a challenge when we seek to better understand how we have become who are.
Waking up means to become aware at what resides at the basis of our experiences in society, and how these have manifested in our daily dealings within that society.
As simple as possible then in mathematical interpretation. You see?
I've been a huge fan of Dali's paintings most of my life.
I've been a huge fan of Dali's paintings most of my life.
Yes mine too. Another of course is Escher.
I can't stand Escher, personally - I find his stuff too tacky, techical, impersonal, etc.... On the other hand, the Surrealists really appeal to me.
Having attended a recent seminar, I can attest that Anaka is very good. Some of his exercises, e.g., relate to getting communication between the different hemispheres of the brain going. (Juggling is one way.) But it is his infectious enthusiasm that is, perhaps, most memorable. For those interested in brain exercises, his presentations and books are great resources.
Interesting, Gary's and my paths have intersected a few times over the last 20 years, or so....
This is an amazing thread, thanks for starting it boom boom....
Spending a little time looking into science and art, Dali rose to the occasion in my view in terms of Geometry and the tesseract.
Generalizations of the cube to dimensions greater than three are called hypercubes or measure polytopes. This article focuses on the 4D hypercube, the tesseract.
He had a "religious epiphany" moving toward dimensional perspective, and related it too, moving perception toward geometry, as if "other worldly." Many understand his private life not to be so blessed with such religiosity?:)
During the later half of the 1950’s, Maurits Cornelius Escher received a letter from Lionel and Roger Penrose. This letter consisted of a report by the father and son team that focused on impossible figures. By this time, Escher had begun exploring impossible worlds. He had recently produced the lithograph Belvedere based on the “rib-cube,” an impossible cuboid named by Escher (Teuber 161). However, the letter by the Penroses, which would later appear in the British Journal of Psychology, enlightened Escher to two new impossible objects; the Penrose triangle and the Penrose stairs. With these figures, Escher went on to create further impossible worlds that break the laws of three-dimensional space, mystify one’s mind, and give a window to the artist heart.
See:Penroses Influence on Escher
IN this way, I felt there was a kinship toward artist expression moving minds in science toward an malleable experience in terms of "using the brain and twisting it" one might say.
This is a perspective I formed around how we view projective geometry in terms of it leading perspective in that artistic sense.
The NeuroActive Program CD isn't easy - it amounts to IQ testing for 20 minutes every second day (although my first session took an hour to get used to the program). There were four tasks - math was one, and the easiest. The others were identifying different shapes, memorizing constellations, and skill tests involving shopping at a store. It's very challenging, and you really need to be fully awake to succeed at the tests. I registered as a person with a post-graduate university degree, although that was 30 years ago! I think if I registered at a lower level, it might have been an easier set-up. But, perhaps the tests are adjusted according to one's results on these tests as one proceeds through them. It's quite a large disk - with 14,500+ mb of space required (14 GB?). I liked doing all the tests except memorizing the constellations - that was bloody difficult, and I had to do that part of the test four times before I completed it. I'm sure the program thinks I'm an idiot.
Check this out:
http://www.braingym.org
I came across one today.
Albert (who is married) is looking at Bertha who is looking at Callum (who is unmarried).
Question: Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?
Answer: (a) Yes; (b) No; or (c) Impossible to tell from information given.
Apparently, 80% of people get this one wrong.
Ha! Good one, G. Pie. That's a good puzzle.
I came across one today.
Albert (who is married) is looking at Bertha who is looking at Callum (who is unmarried).
Question: Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?
Answer: (a) Yes; (b) No; or (c) Impossible to tell from information given.
Apparently, 80% of people get this one wrong.
Guess I should post the answer, too, which is (a) Yes. If Bertha is married, then it's Bertha looking Callum. If Bertha is unmarried, then it's Albert looking at Bertha. Either way, a married person is looking at an unmarried person.
Oh boo! I'm in there with the 80 percent.
And then there's always this little beauty: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_hall_problem
Aside from slowing my year-old laptop computer down a bit because it's such a massive program, I am quite pleased with the NeuroActive CD. It has a ton of brain exercises that one can do anytime, besides the regular program designed to be done every two days. All these exercises take quite a bit of concentration, and some memorization, as well. It's such a large program, however, that I've decided not to install it on my old desktop computer, which is already quite slow.
How many hours does it take to complete usually did it say boom boom?
Twenty minutes every second day is the suggested schedule. There are music and spoken words sections as well, so headphones are a good idea unless your computer has good speakers.
Gammagard Hope for Alzheimer's sufferers
Gaah. I accidentally deleted my entire sessions to date, so have no statistics, nothing. I have to start over from scratch - there's no way to jump back into medium or advanced testing modes. The NeuroActive folks will be hearing from me!
I had some issues with ABI a few years ago. I had problems with keeping my brain alert (I couldn't function for several hours in the morning after I woke up until my brain "woke up") and also had some issues with cognitive functioning. Fortunately while I worked at it I was able to build in ways that would help me function like a "normal" person but was dependent on things like schedules and writing the most basic things down (Even I do laundry on Saturdays etc).
One of the things that was able to wake my brain up and also build my cognitive and memory skills to the point where I need no assistive adaptions was actually the Nintendo DS and their Brain Age. I would do it in the morning and my brain would wake up after half an hour of playing versus 3-4 hours, thus allowing me to start working in the mornings again. If I had issues during the day (trust me a weird feeling when your brain is shutting down but you are not physically tired) I would pull it out and use it for 15-30 min and voila it would wake my brain up. Also I started out at a 80 year old level (it is done by age) and stayed there for quite awhile but as my brain age went down my real life skills started improving and I was able to stop using so many assistive adaptations anymore. Now I am back to where I was before the ABI. Plus it was loads of fun to play. It is a fairly cheap alternative. I paid $100 for the DS, though I think they are cheaper now, and $30 for each of the two brain games.
I hate to sound like a infomercial but it really is based on real life experience and it was one of the key factors in helping me recover from the ABI, especially when the medical community told me that there was nothing that they could do.
Just wanted to put it in there for anyone who is looking for an alternative to buying computer games that is effective.
Health Tips| Boosting your brain, living longer, and why dark chocolate is good for you
Health Tips| Boosting your brain, living longer, and why dark chocolate is good for you
excerpt:
Go ahead and add a little sugar to your coffee. The combination of caffeine and glucose enhances your brain's performance and keeps your memory working smoothly
Gahhhh!!!! I stopped adding sugar to my coffee 40 years ago!
Guess I'll make up for it by indulging in dark chocolate.
Ya for years up to when I was a teenager, I never ate breakfast. I didn't do all that well on quizes or exams in high school either. Then I developed an adult appetite after my first job rolling and sorting pulp wood logs. A winter on the YankCanuck chipping ice off the deck and hatches with a steel bar and eating my head off with p-butter, honey anc cheese sandwiches gave me cartoon size arms. I think I just started feeling more alert in general after that. Our brains need carbs and burn calories, too, apparently.
Gahhhh!!!! I stopped adding sugar to my coffee 40 years ago!
Guess I'll make up for it by indulging in dark chocolate.
I put fluoride in my coffee - works great.
Good luck with those exercises. You're breathing aerosolized aluminum.
What In The World Are They Spraying?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K9rXydMmfw
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179155965432483#!/album.php?aid=2102891&id=1214611747&fbid=1776891261457
I made a mistake and clicked on the wrong button or something, and the program reset my score to zero, so in a fit of anger and frustration I quit doing the program altogether. I'm about to start over, but I'm still quite annoyed at having to start from scratch again. And I can't even remember which wrong button I pressed, in order to avoid doing the same thing again. *sigh*
Some of these brain exercises are simply annoying but they all have to be done in order to move to the next step. And my physician has asked me to cut down on on my computer usage altogether because of my constant headaches.
Ya for years up to when I was a teenager, I never ate breakfast. I didn't do all that well on quizes or exams in high school either. Then I developed an adult appetite after my first job rolling and sorting pulp wood logs. A winter on the YankCanuck chipping ice off the deck and hatches with a steel bar and eating my head off with p-butter, honey anc cheese sandwiches gave me cartoon size arms. I think I just started feeling more alert in general after that. Our brains need carbs and burn calories, too, apparently.
This is a quote from a page trying to sell me something, but still interesting (bolding mine):
"The brain needs a sufficient supply of the proper nutrients, such as B vitamins and amino acids, to function properly. If the blood contains high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, there is a reduction in the amount of blood and nutrients reaching the brain.
Over time the brain becomes malnourished affecting our ability to remember and process information. Brain function also depends on an adequate supply of neurotransmitters and related nutrients that help their development. When memory goes blank, the body may be calling out for nutrients that will support the neurotransmitters that are similar to the electrical connections in the brain.
Free radicals from overexposure to toxins, such as alcohol and drugs, may also cause blackouts and memory lapses. Allergies, candidiasis, stress, thyroid disorders, hypoglycemia and diabetes may also contribute to memory loss.
The aging process itself plays a small factor in memory loss; instead it is the occurrence of other illnesses and poor nutrition that deteriorates our memory over time. Arteriosclerosis is a debilitating disorder that may reduce brain nutrition and therefore memory. Alzheimer's Disease is a most debilitating condition that affects some older people and starts with some defects in memory and behavior, yet most memory lapses have nothing to do with this disease."
Comments? I thought aging was a major factor in memory loss.
I wish they knew. Apparently Jonathan Seckl wants to do some more research on drugs that block the enzyme 11beta-HSD1 thought to contribute to the body's manufacture of hormones harmful to memory as we age. They hope to take it to human trials "within the year." Article is from October 2010.
What are we talking about, again?
ps: sorry, feeling my age tonight.
They could be telling me anything about what causes memory loss, and I wouldn't know one way or the other. Triglycerides and toxins sound pretty scary. I guess all we can do is try not to ingest too many of those at parties and whatnot.
According to naturopaths (and contrary to conventional dogma), an underactive thyroid, hypothryroidism, doesn't always show up on typical thyroid blood tests and can cause or worsen foggy memory, arthritis, heart disease, etc.
One harmless test you can try at home is to take the Wilson's test where you take your early morning underarm temperature to see if you fall in the range for normal thyroid. The book "Solved, The Riddle of Illlness - Your Amazing Thyroid (and How you can work with it to control... various illnesses)", by Stephen E. Langer, M.D and James F. Scheer makes for good reading.
Never heard of the Wilson's test. Will google. But I suspect it could lead to false results especially on a cold day - for instance, I just got out of bed, the house is cold, I'm cold! In the summer, I'd get out of bed and I'd be almost blistery hot sometimes.
Possible new memory enhancing drug in future
I have not gone back and read throught the thread- just BB's opening post.
What I keep hearing is that everything works that challenges your brain. In my experience that is literally true.
The things that have always most engaged my father are nerdy technical and mechanical suff. He has always been a thinkerer. [If youcan call a career high level radio and communications tecnician who decides in retirement to buy a lathe and milling machine a 'tinkerer'.]
He ust keeps going on that.
My mother in law by contrast, getting older has impinged on the things she likes to do that engage the brain. Things like all your friends and siblings dying off. That understandably depressed her, and she didn't compensate with other things that engage her. And her memory is slipping much faster.
Its not what you do. It is that you do it, and keep doing it, and push your mind over something else that engages you if getting old takes the edge off of what you have always most liked.
One thing militating against that is being adaptable. And THAT is a challenge for all of us as we age.
I had a computer problem that eventually resulted in my having to start the Brain Exercises again from the beginning - after I had got about two-thirds of the way through it - and just could not see myself going through that CD again. Maybe next year.
Life experiences are 'brain exercises' - I'm finding that true as I work my way through house renovations, learning through the carpenter I hired how to do things myself. If I had to do this all over again, I wouldn't need the carpenter next time. I didn't even take notes - I've got all the information stored in my brain, and sometimes when I'm asleep I dream about doing the renovations by myself, and I can see myself doing the entire project alone, with someone just holding the ladder for me when necessary, or helping with the more physical work - I have arthritis in both hands, and a heart that I need to be careful with.
I tend to agree with the use it or lose it theory. Similar to KenS' father, my mother read a lot until her last year. Her recollection of history was remarkable into her mid 80s. She kept interested in everything from British and Canadian history to writing her annual short novels on Christmas cards to relatives in England right to the end. There she was on a respirator unable to talk and asking me who won the election in the U.K. She did roll her eyes in disgust. She wanted to become a Catholic in the 1960s to please my father and studied all the catechism materials they gave her. She dropped it cold, though, when our Church priest told her and her fellow candidates for the faith that they could not be both Catholics and socialists at the same time. She had no use for the Pope and Church and only told me so after my father died in 1980. I never argued as she was the greater political influence on me than my father who did his sacraments and nine Fridays before going off to war and deciding after that war is not as glorious as purported to be.
Scientists pinpoint how vitamin D may help clear amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer's
Published in the March 6 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the early findings show that vitamin D3 may activate key genes and cellular signaling networks to help stimulate the immune system to clear the amyloid-beta protein.
When I was in Sept-Iles for hospital appointments last week, I had an opportunity while shopping at Bureau en Gros to buy a computer CD called (I think) "Brain Exercises", supposedly to keep the brain functioning and developing through old age. I wish I brought it!!! Now I'm kicking myself. But I'm also thinking that maybe babblers might have some resources to share along these lines - or might know where to purchase this particular CD online (I'm going to email Bureau en Gros on Monday to ask if it the CD is still in stock).
Aging is starting to be an issue for me - I've had memory problems, and health issues as well. I'd like to keep my brain functioning at least on its current level of sophisication, and even help it grow a bit. What works for you? (I just turned 60 btw).
This is a great thread idea Boom Boom, thank you for raising the issue. It is interesting that you notice the decline - 'they say' over 45 now you get age related cognitive decline. I wouldn't spend a dime on CD for brain work unless it is so fun I can't put it down. Doing stuff is where it's at - renovations, real life problem solving, discussion - Fidel is right about use it or lose it - that's normal science now.
Read all you can while you have your vision, that's what I'm doing before my vision goes. I disconnected cable and satellite. I get TVO sometimes at night using rabbit ears. I do percussion and poetry to keep my mind active, both started since getting sick. Going to a symphony with people is healthier and richer experience than sitting in an easy chair alone with headphones.
Babble is useful helps me keep my mind focused, helps me adjust my awareness away from solitude so I don't turn into a troll. Proper sleep and nourishment for the memory, and if you like the image scripts, pegwords, walk throughs for shopping lists they're great ideas.
I'm not sure a memory enhancing drug is exactly what we need. Memory is state-dependent learning, after all. Ideally, for maximum memory power, you want identical states of mind during encoding and retrieval. So if you study on coffee, write the test on coffee.
About that CD: I was about half way through the series of exercises - a year's work - when it reset back to zero. Then I said the hell with it.
Ack that's too bad - my doctor spoke highly of one of the brands I think it was Neuroactive. But your brain is in fine form Boom Boom - maybe the CD worked - you defy the comfort zone, or old habits, that's got to be good for brains - allowing new experiences. I don't practice as much as I should - drums or memory.
Yeah, mine is Neuroactive. I didn't like it much, the graphics are crappy.
Memory loss with aging not necessarily permanent: Scripps neuroscientists
"In addition, the biochemistry underlying memory formation in fruit flies is remarkably conserved (continues in DNA throughout evolution) with that in humans so that everything we learn about memory formation in flies is likely applicable to human memory and the disorders of human memory."
I thought it was interesting. Apparently all we need to fix memory loss are some new drugs because new research suggests that it's reversible.