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 Keeping the brain alert and active The prefrontal cortex is one of the most crucial parts of the brain. It’s linked with executive function skills, which you use for everyday tasks like decision-making and planning. For example, say you’re driving down a busy road but you’re late for a meeting. The bus-only lane is moving a lot faster, but you’re not supposed to be in that lane. Should you go anyway? If you do, then you’ll get to your meeting on time. You look at the queue and see that the police are ahead. You think that you’ve enough time to get in the bus lane and then get out before you reach the police car. This decision is an executive function skill. Here’s another scenario: the phone rings and it’s someone giving you important information about an event that you’re attending. You’re busy writing all this information down when you hear a beep from your computer alerting you that an email has just come in from your friend. You run over and check your email, but a...

 A lesson from the past: Lobotomising the prefrontal cortex Your knowledge of a lobotomy may be based on Jack Nicolson’s excellent portrayal of a rebellious patient at a mental hospital in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. According to the other patients in the hospital, a lobotomy effectively reduced someone to the same mental state as a shop window mannequin – expressionless and unemotional. The lobotomy procedure consists of cutting the brain connections that go in and out of the prefrontal cortex (see ‘Keeping the brain alert and active’ for informa- tion on the prefrontal cortex). Doctors considered a lobotomy the final step for modifying extreme behaviour when other treatments, such as shock therapy or electrical shock treatment, failed to change a patient’s behaviour. Doctors thought that a lobotomy calmed the patient, reduced aggressive behaviour, and improved the patient’s quality of life. However, scientists now know that this procedure is no longer nec...

 Getting Active for Life An active lifestyle leads to a more efficient brain – one that can respond better to stress, remember information, and be more attentive. From what you eat, to what exercise you do, to how much sleep you get and the amount of caffeine you drink – all these affect your brain. Understanding how your daily decisions in these areas could be making a big difference to how your brain works is important. So before you take another bite of your sand- wich or drink another glass of wine, find out what really is best for your brain. Here is a quick overview of tips and strategies you can find in this book:  ✓ Eat for your brain. Chocolate to boost your brain? Juice to help your memory? Steak to help your attention? Eating the right brain food doesn’t mean that you end up eating lettuce and flavourless food. On the contrary, many delicious and wonderful foods are packed with nutrients that are fantastic for your brain. Read Chapter 12 before you star...

 Developing a Healthy Brain Mental health refers to your state of being. Are you happy? When do you find yourself frustrated? Do you feel stressed out? What makes you feel anxious? These questions are important in deter- mining how well your brain functions. So make sure that you pay attention to your mental health – doing so can make the difference between living a fulfilled life and a frustrated one. Don’t take your passions and hobbies for granted. Discover how these can make your brain more creative. And a more creative brain is a smarter brain. Whether you’re a music lover or a bud- ding writer, you can choose from a range of activities to help your brain. You can choose to be optimistic to make a difference to your mental health. You can easily think that a change in circumstances will change everything for you and make your life better. But this is seldom the case. The cautionary tale of the lottery winner in Chapter 9 demonstrates that – despite winning millions ...

 Where you are matters A diving instructor was puzzled because his divers kept forgetting objects that they’d found underwater, even when he asked the divers about the objects shortly after they were back on dry land. To find out why this was the case, some psycholo- gists conducted an experiment with divers. The psychologists gave one group of underwater divers a list of words to learn underwater and gave another group a list to learn on land. They then tested the divers’ memories of the word list both on land and underwater. The group that learned the list underwater remembered the list much better in the water but struggled to remember it on land. In contrast, the group who learned the list on land had better memories on land but forgot the list when they were underwater. This story is a great example of how remembering where you were when you learned the information can boost your memory.

 Drumming for your Brain You need a friend to help you with this one, but it’s a great activ- ity to do while you’re waiting. Ask your friend to hum a tune in his head. But he can’t tell you what the song is. Next, ask him to tap the tune’s rhythm out on the table. Listen carefully, and then tap the rhythm out as soon as your friend’s finished. See if you can remember the rhythm. Try to get as much of the beat correct. Your memory for rhythm is closely con- nected to your memory for language. By training how well you can remember a particular rhythm, you’re boosting your language skills as well. Read Chapter 8 for the benefits of music for the brain. Read a Challenging Book Don’t just be content with reading your usual newspaper or maga- zine. Why not challenge yourself by picking up something new to read? If you usually read fiction, pick up a historical novel instead. Reading something new is a great way to expand your horizons and get your brain thinking in new ways. ...

 Spend Five Minutes Each Morning in Contemplation Your mental health is crucial to how your brain functioning works (see Chapter 9). So don’t let your problems overwhelm you. Spend each morning preparing for the day by finding a few moments of calm and contemplation. You may need to wake up a little earlier so you can escape the morning madness in your house. But it’s worth doing so. I always find that my day goes a lot better when I’ve had a few moments in the morning to myself before everyone else wakes up. It may be that you just have a cup of coffee or tea and mentally prepare for the day. Or maybe you just like to sit and enjoy the silence. Spend your quiet moments however you choose, but just don’t pass on this one – it can set your mind right for the day. (Check out Mindfulness For Dummies by Shamash Alidina for more tips and advice.) List Three Things You’re Thankful for Before Bed A happy heart makes a healthy brain. Sometimes feeling frazzled at the end of t...

 Write a Film Review Everyone’s a critic! And so you should be too. Writing regularly can help you to preserve your cognitive skills, so try starting with a film review. Think of one thing that you liked and another thing that you didn’t like about the film and write about 100 words explaining your views. Make yourself think carefully about why you’ve chosen certain aspects of the film to focus on. Honing in on one or two ideas is better, because then it becomes more manage- able to talk about the film. Here are some tips to get you started on becoming the next Barry Norman or Roger Ebert:  ✓ Save the yelling. Training yourself to be logical in a review is more beneficial to you than being emotional, so try to avoid ranting in your review. Instead, form your arguments for your review in a careful and considered way. If you can, don’t make generalisations about your views. Be as specific as you can in your arguments. Think of one scene to focus on and use that as a...

 Walk in a Different Park A change of scene can make a big difference to your mental health. You don’t need to make a drastic change – like moving to a new city. But small changes can make a huge difference. For example, if you take the dog for a walk in the same place every day, change your route today! You may not realise this but looking at the same trees or flowers each day may be dragging you down. Finding somewhere new to go for a walk is a quick pick up. You may be surprised at how energised you feel by getting the opportunity to look at new sur- roundings. Think of how refreshed you feel when you return from a holiday – your eyes are sparkling, your worries have rolled away, and you feel that all is right and wonderful in the world. You can recreate the experience to a small degree when you change your physical surroundings. If you usually walk or cycle to work, change your route every so often. If you can leave work earlier one day, take a longer and more sce...

 Logic Puzzles Logic puzzles can take a variety of forms. They may involve words, numbers, or images, and – like all puzzles – can range from being fairly easy to solve to extremely difficult. Preparing to solve logic puzzles isn’t like preparing to do a word search (see Chapter 15) or a Sudoku puzzle (see Chapter 16). You don’t need to understand how the puzzle is constructed or what the rules are. You don’t even have many specific strategies that you need to consider. However, you do need to be prepared to think a little more creatively, so keep the following points in mind:  ✓ As with other puzzle types, each logic puzzle has a unique answer. The puzzle constructor doesn’t intend for you to be able to solve one puzzle in multiple ways.  ✓ In many cases, the person writing the puzzle is intention- ally veiling the answer. The way the puzzle is written may be deceptive to some degree – the degree of deception being one determinant of its level of difficulty. L...

 Being strategic The strategies for approaching word scrambles are pretty straightforward:  ✓ If you’re working on a series of jumbled words, look at each one in turn to see if any words jump out at you. You’ll be amazed by how quickly you can solve some scrambles; the mind seems built for this type of task.  ✓ When an answer doesn’t jump out at you, try writing the let- ters in a different order. Don’t worry about creating a word right away – just putting the letters in a new order may trigger that ‘Aha!’ moment you’re looking for.  ✓ If the ‘Aha!’ remains elusive, try grouping together letters in what seems to be a logical way. Consider how many vowels you have; if you have twice as many consonants as vowels, chances are the word begins with a consonant. Try putting together common groupings such as ing, sh or th.  Keep rearranging letters for as long as it takes to find what you’re looking for. You can even put the letters randomly in a circle to...

 While you were sleeping You may have heard of the amazing story of American Terry Wallis – the man who slept for 19 years. Terry was in a car accident when he was 19 years old and as a result was in a coma. He then moved into a minimally conscious state, in which he remained for almost 20 years! Then one day he woke up. His first question to the nurse was, ‘Who is that?’ He didn’t recognise his mother and still thought he was 19 years old. When asked who the US president was he replied that it was Ronald Reagan, because he was still stuck in 1984, the year of his accident. About half the people who sustain head injuries and end up in a coma are able to recover some awareness and cognitive functioning. However, Terry showed very little improvement in the first year after waking from his coma. Although his parents took him home every other week and talked to him regularly, he didn’t respond. Eventually, the doctors pronounced him to be in a persistent vegetative state with...

 Don’t get up yet, lazy bones Teenagers have a reputation for sleeping in late in the morning, as any parent trying to rush them off to school knows well. And usually, despite your best efforts, they don’t plan on changing anything. Well, now science is on their side. Studies have found that at the onset of puberty teenagers develop a delayed sleep pattern known as a two-hour sleep-wake phase. This simply means that that due to their body’s changing needs they need to go to sleep later at night and need more sleep in the morning. Teenagers still only need about nine hours of sleep each night; they just need it at different times. So how does this different sleep pattern affect the teenage brain? In a recent study one high school decided to delay the start time to allow their students to get extra sleep in the morning. The teenagers were more alert and reported feel- ing less irritated during the day. Their mental health also improved and fewer stu- dents reported feeling d...

 Feeling good from exercise Exercise is also great for your mental health. It doesn’t just leave you feeling good, but it can also improve feelings of depression and anxiety (see Chapter 9 for more on how to improve your mental health). Plasticity or neuroplasticity is the way the brain can change throughout your life by forming new connections between brain cells, which are called neurons. Most of the change occurs during infancy and childhood when the brain is learning and growing the most. But the brain can also change after an injury that’s dam- aged some part of its functioning. More recently, science has also discovered that the brain is ‘plastic’, even in adulthood. Whenever you’re learning something new, your brain changes to adapt to this new information (see Chapter 7 for how this happens with taxi drivers). Exercise also plays a role in brain cell (neuron) growth in the hippocampus of adults. Schizophrenia is associated with smaller brain volume, particu- lar...

 The ADHD solution? ADHD is often characterised by behaviour problems, such as hyperactivity and an inabil- ity to focus on one task at a time. With prevalence rates on the rise, more and more people are looking for alternative ways to manage their symptoms on a daily basis. One way that’s growing in popularity is exercise – in fact, some people have even called it ‘nature’s alternative to methylphenidate’ (the medication used to treat the symptoms of ADHD). You may have heard of Michael Phelps, the Olympian swimmer who won a whopping eight gold medals in a single Olympics, more than any other Olympian. Phelps was diagnosed with ADHD when he was younger, and to help him direct his surplus energy his mother enrolled him in swimming classes. It wasn’t long before his coach spotted his talent and he set his first national (USA) record by the time he was 10. And the rest, as they say, is sporting history. Many people say that Phelps’s ADHD gave him a huge reserve of energy, an...

 The following list offers advice on what the research shows works best:  ✓ Running counts more. Studies have confirmed that aerobic activity leads to more benefits from your brain than activities that focus on concentration or toning, like meditation and yoga (see Chapter 10 for more on these topics). As people grow older, the human brain begins to lose tissue, which results in deterioration of cognitive skills. Aerobic exercise is one clear way to delay and in some cases even reverse the effects that age and injury have on the brain.  ✓ Age matters. Studies have found that exercise in young adults improves memory when learning new things. Exercise acts to consolidate the new and incoming information. As you get older and perhaps exercise less, you supplement physical activities with cognitive ones (see Chapters 15 to 17). But keeping up with exercise as you get older is crucial. You may notice changes to your memory, and exercise is key to pre- serving you...

 Do brain pills exist? And if such a thing as brain pills exists, do they work? The term nootropics refers to smart drugs – drugs thought to enhance memory, attention, motivation, and even intelligence. Smart drugs work by increasing oxygen supply to the brain and stimulating differ- ent neurochemicals for efficient cognitive functioning. However, an important qualifier exists – the long-term effects of nootropics haven’t yet been determined. In other words, although smart drugs may improve your cognitive skills in the short term, no one quite knows the possible damage they may do to the brain in the long term. Here are some examples of prescription medications that increase attention.  ✓ Stimulants. As the name suggests, stimulants work to ‘up’ your brain power. These drugs function to increase alertness, keep you awake and generally increase arousal states in the brain. In this chapter I’ve already talked about the effects of caffeine in the form of coffee and en...

 Calming your brain Stress and anxiety can affect the way the brain works (read more about how to calm your brain in Chapter 10). Although most people do feel anxious about certain things, feeling anxious all the time (chronic anxiety) isn’t the norm. If you’re experiencing symp- toms such as frequent headaches, sweating, or hypertension that manifest in high-pressure situations, see your doctor right away. Follow these tips to keep your brain calm and healthy:  ✓ Avoid sugary and processed foods. In Chapter 12 I discuss how sugar is not brain food. Sugar can also affect your mental health. If you can’t completely cut out processed foods, which contain a lot of sugar, try to limit them as a treat on the week- ends, instead of making sugary foods part of your daily allow- ance. Examples of sugary and processed foods are muffins and chocolate bars. But most foods, including some labelled as ‘health food’, can contain more sugar than your body needs. So just check the l...

 Caffeine tolerance can develop very quickly. All you need is to drink 400 milligrams of coffee three times a day for seven days. Although caffeine can perk you up, it can leave you feeling even more fatigued and drowsy. Your body experiences a drop in sero- tonin, which can cause anxiety, make it difficult to concentrate and resulting in the loss of motivation. Some people refer to these feelings as the caffeine crash. Not only does your brain experience a crash, but your body also experiences withdrawal symptoms like headaches and pains in the joints. Usually, having a cup of coffee is enough to banish these unpleasant effects. Here are some ways in which you can enjoy your caffeine in moderation.  ✓ Make mine a single. If you love your coffee, you may want to think about limiting it to one cup instead of two. Studies have found that cognitive skills improve after just one cup (8 ounces) of coffee. However, those who drank two cups ended up more irritable with ...

 Brain foods in your cupboard If you still have the view that eating healthy is like taking medicine, here are some brain foods that’ll definitely put a smile on your face.  ✓ Black gold. Tea drinkers, it may be time for a change. It’s coffee’s turn to shine. This simple and ubiquitous drink is incredibly rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants – all of which give your brain a boost. In fact, coffee is such a great brain food that studies have shown that people who drink it regularly may actually reduce the risk of mental decline and Alzheimer’s and dementia. Choose freshly ground coffee to get these benefits, rather than powdered coffee. If you can, swap- ping your cappuccino for an espresso is the best way to get your brain food – espresso is pure and full of brain-boosting properties. But do use moderation – too much caffeine has its negative effects (see Chapter 13).  ✓ Sweet tooth. Chocolate is another food that you can smile about. The cacao bean – ...

 Juices also give you your ‘five a day’ in a quick and easy method. Many people have an odd assortment of fruits and vegetables lying around the kitchen, and juicing lets you throw these all together. You can experiment with all sorts of combinations: celery and apple, cabbage and mango, broccoli and raspberry – the list is end- less. You don’t even need any cooking skills! Here’s a list of some fruits that should be at the top of any juicing list:  ✓ Pomegranates. Recently, pomegranate juice has become very popular. Pomegranate juice is very pleasant to drink and stud- ies confirm that unlike most food fads this one really does live up to its hype. For starters, pomegranates are a ‘superfood’, which means that they’re rich in antioxidants, more so than other fruit. Pomegranate juice is great from pregnancy to adulthood. At one end of the lifespan, expectant mothers who drink this juice can help the baby’s brain to resist brain inju- ries resulting from low oxygen s...

 Breakfast first If mornings are rushed at your house and you barely have time to eat anything, think about changing your routine. Numerous scientific studies demonstrate that break- fast really is the most important meal for your brain. One such study showed that students who didn’t eat breakfast or just had a drink struggled on tests of memory and attention. Their performance grew even worse by mid-morning. In contrast, even having cereal helped the students to focus throughout the morning. Another study showed that students who eat breakfast regularly have higher test scores than their classmates who skip breakfast. If you do have time to prepare breakfast for your child before school, consider foods that won’t only give your child the energy she needs until lunchtime, but that also powers her brain. If possible, save the sugary breakfasts, like muffins and pancakes, for the weekend. Oats and bran cereals are a great energy source for the brain, and you can make them m...