How to pump the brain in 1 month. Pump your brain to the maximum balance of the hemispheres. Let's start with simpler things

There are now dozens of online courses and apps that promise to improve your intelligence, but few of them can boast scientific backing of their promises.

The problem is that there is currently no organization that certifies mind training programs. The president of Posit Science, a brain fitness company, Henry Mansk, believes that the existence of such an organization would greatly facilitate the life of an ordinary layman who finds it rather difficult to independently understand the scientific validity of the proposed programs.
Recently, a group of Australian scientists undertook a systematic study of mind training programs on the market to find out which ones have scientific evidence of their effectiveness. Unfortunately, out of 18 computerized programs, only seven were confirmed by at least one published work, and only two by several works. These include the Mansk-led BrainHQ program and its competitor Cognifit, but only BrainHQ is supported by several high-quality scientific studies.
The results of the work of the Australians prove that most brain training programs will only teach you how to solve the exercises proposed in them, but will not affect your productivity and mental sharpness in any way in real life.

The key to the result is neuroplasticity

But there is also good news. According to scientific evidence, some mind training programs do work. Which of them? An Australian study found that the BrainHQ and Cognifit programs bring real benefits. Both focus on improving the speed and accuracy with which the brain processes information. The basis is the training of the visual system. For a small fraction of a second, you are shown an image in the center of the visual field and another one at the edge of peripheral vision. Then you must answer what you saw in the center (for example, a car or a truck) and where the peripheral image was. As you master the tasks, their complexity increases. In this way, you load your visual system, making it work faster and more accurately.

As you perform these specific visual tasks, your brain adapts to them in a process called neuroplasticity (neuro refers to the nervous system and plasticity refers to the ability to make structural changes).
Mansk explains:
“The main purpose of the brain is to solve a problem. He constantly moves from small details to the big picture and back. As the brain works to put the big picture together, it undergoes a neuroplastic transformation.”

So, in the course of plastic transformation, new neural connections are really formed in the brain, which can then be used to solve problems in real life. That is why training sessions that bring about such changes work better than simple games to improve memory. As a result of passing them, you will not only be able to remember where the red car is hidden in the picture, but will become more capable of perceiving important details in everyday life.
But what if you didn't want to spend money on commercial programs? Henry Mansk gave some tips on how you can boost your brain by loading it in everyday life.

Learn new skills outside your comfort zone

Simply repeating the same stimulating tasks will not lead to the desired result. If you have been solving crossword puzzles for 10 years - do something new, strikingly different, and devote at least 2-3 hours a week to a new activity, even if it seems difficult. According to Mansk, his mother began taking harp lessons and practiced a lot.
“It was incredibly beneficial for her brain: the speed and accuracy of her hearing and the movement of her fingers are a good form of brain exercise – and besides, everyone in the house could enjoy the music.”

Take a detour and pay attention to every detail

Don't want to give up on your hobby by learning a new musical instrument? No problem, take a trip. Traveling is a great way to load the brain with changes and learning new things, because on a trip everything is different from everyday life.
If you don’t have money for a trip to Italy, just lay out fresh routes in the neighborhood from home. Find a new way to the grocery store or a detour to your favorite park. Try to notice all the new landmarks, pay attention to sounds and smells, and put together a more detailed mental picture of the surroundings.
When this path becomes familiar, find another one, and do this every few days. This engages the hippocampus, the basis of memory and learning.

Be active and eat right

Don't forget about the body too. According to Mansk, it will be harder for the body to maintain sharpness of mind if it has to spend resources on dealing with problems in the body, such as high blood pressure. So limit your salt intake and go for a run, or you can combine exercise with brain training by changing your running route every few days.

Beware of Mind Training Programs That Make Too Pretty Promises

Mansk believes that we are at the beginning of a journey of changing scientific understanding of how the brain works. This process will be accompanied by flashy headlines about breakthroughs in cognition, followed a month later by other flashy headlines that say exactly the opposite. In fact, we see a reflection of how scientists are trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Some of the thinking training programs that are offered have shown their effectiveness over and over again, while others enter the market only for the purpose of making a profit. Choose programs designed by real experts and backed by scientific papers, and be wary of those that spend more money on advertising than on research.

How to “pump up” your brain and learn how to use it to its full potential? And most importantly, without making any special efforts. The Mozart effect, coconuts and a solarium will help you with this.

Exercises

Charging activates our body, helps it "wake up" and work at full strength. There are also exercises for the brain. They say that a person uses only 10% of all his abilities. Neuroscientist Barry Gordon refutes this claim. However, he agrees that some brain functions can (and should) be improved.

First you need to relax and literally “throw out of your head” all the problems. To free your mind, you can try making a list of what is bothering you at the moment on a piece of paper. Reduce the resulting list to the most important things for you. State them as concisely as possible. This will allow you to clear the brain of excess garbage.

The next exercise that will help you focus only on the really important things is concentration training. All you need to get started is a chair, a table, and a clock with a second hand. Sit comfortably, put your watch in front of you, and, without looking up, look at the second hand. Try to focus on the very tip. At first, you will have to make an effort to keep your attention under control for at least two minutes. When you get past that milestone, try doing the same with distractions: people around, TV on.

You won’t even notice how these two simple exercises will allow your brain to work much more efficiently without being distracted by extraneous factors.

Solarium for the brain

Everyone knows perfectly well that there are substances that stimulate the brain. But do not think that all these substances are prohibited by law or harm our body.

First of all, vitamins will help to gain strength for your brain. American researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health have proven the amazing effectiveness of vitamin D.

This miracle vitamin accelerates the growth of nerve tissue in the brain (and they also say that nerve cells do not regenerate!). In addition, vitamin D has a positive effect on those parts of the brain that are responsible for memory, as well as the processing and analysis of information.

Unfortunately, tests have proven that most adults today lack vitamin D. Meanwhile, getting the right dose is not so difficult: vitamin D is produced by our body when exposed to sunlight. In extreme cases, a solarium is also suitable. So, walk more in the fresh air, get the vitamins you need and improve your memory!

Mozart effect

Once, scientists conducted an experiment: they grew some plants to classical music, others grew in a normal environment. The result was amazing: music undoubtedly influenced the plants in the most positive way, they grew and developed better than their non-musical counterparts.

Not surprisingly, music also has a beneficial effect on the human brain. Any music activates the auditory centers of the brain, but only the works of Mozart make almost the entire cerebral cortex “work”. This phenomenon is called the Mozart effect.

First, the amazing effect was tested on rats. Animals that listened to the sonata in C major for 12 hours a day became much smarter and went through the maze 27% faster than their counterparts. The Mozart Effect was also tested on humans. The test subjects were divided into two groups, and they were given a test. After that, the first group sat in silence while the second listened to Mozart's music. Then they were asked to write the test again, and the first group improved their scores by 11% and the second by 62%. But Mozart's music has a particularly positive effect on children; it's not for nothing that some mothers start listening to classical music even during pregnancy.

The secret of the "Mozart Effect" is still not fully disclosed. Scientists believe that the rhythm of his works most closely matches the biorhythms of our brain. So take The Magic Flute every day for two hours, and soon you will feel an extraordinary effect on yourself.

Coconuts to the rescue

Our brain needs food, just like the rest of the body. First of all, it needs glucose to function. It gives the brain the energy it needs to work.

But sometimes the brain starts to starve. This happens in two cases: when glucose does not enter the body, and when insulin is not produced to break it down and process it. In these cases, part of the brain begins to "starve" and finally atrophies. This happens, for example, with Alzheimer's patients - they gradually lose their memory, experience problems with speech and movements.

Even if your body has problems processing glucose, do not despair. Energy is also released during the breakdown of fats. To do this, our body needs ketones - special organic substances. Especially a lot of ketones are found in coconut oil.

Dr. Mary Newport has researched the therapeutic effect of coconut oil and proved that just two tablespoons of coconut oil per day provides a person with the substances necessary to resist neurological diseases. You can take them preventively, then the brain receives an additional source of energy, you can “feed” an already affected brain, and then coconut oil serves as an excellent medicine.

Do not immediately take magic oil in bottles - start with a small dose and choose the volume you need yourself.

In a healthy body healthy mind

Not only mental exercise positively affects our neurons. Even the ancient Greeks knew: in a healthy body - a healthy mind. So do not forget about exercise: it affects the number of neurons, neural connections, and also protects brain cells from damage.

Experiments reported in the 2010 journal Neuroscience show a surprising result: monkeys that exercised memorized new tasks and completed them twice as fast as monkeys that did not exercise.

The amount of exercise you need is strictly individual and depends on the characteristics of your body. Dr. Mercola claims that a person needs only 3 minutes of intense training per day to improve insulin perception.
He recommends doing the exercises in the following order. To begin with, a warm-up and some intense exercises, such as running on a track, and the exercises should be performed with short breaks for rest.

Further, the doctor recommends several strength exercises (simulators, dumbbells). This should be followed by exercises that strengthen the back muscles, such as elements of yoga or Pilates. Finally, end your workout with a stretch.

Sleep is the best medicine

Sleep not only gives peace to our body, it also allows the brain to “reboot”, take a fresh look at the tasks facing it. Scientists from Harvard University proved that after sleep, people solved their tasks 33% more efficiently, it was easier to find connections between objects or phenomena.

And finally, scientists have proven the benefits of daytime sleep. Of course, it is most obvious for children: those babies who sleep between performing various exercises do them better and faster than those who were deprived of rest. But for adults, daytime sleep remains useful and relevant.

Our brains work thanks to neurons and synapses. The first perceive and process information from the outside world, transmit it to internal organs. The latter provide communication between neurons.

How developed our brain is depends on the number and variety of synapses.

Until about age 25, the number of synapses in the human brain increases, and cognitive functions reach their peak. This is followed by gradual degradation. This is normal: over time, not only the body, but also the brain ages.

Nevertheless, we monitor our figure by regularly visiting the gym, we use anti-aging creams, but we forget about the aging of the brain. And in vain: memory, attention, thinking can be trained, developed and kept in good shape just like the body.

This is confirmed by modern scientific research. Scientists from the Center for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain at Oxford University in 2009 proved A positive-negative mode of population covariation links brain connectivity, demographics and behavior . that new synapses are formed in our brain throughout life, and also revealed the relationship between the number of neural connections and the quality of human life.

People with a large number of neurons and synapses, as a rule, had a high standard of living, higher education, tried to lead a healthy lifestyle and were generally satisfied with it.

How to train your brain

There are different ways to train the brain: you can learn poetry, solve crossword puzzles, read books. Even playing Tetris develops cognitive abilities, but only up to a certain level. However, recent research by neuropsychologists shows that the most effective way to develop the brain is through cognitive training - simple exercises that pump attention, memory and thinking.

Based on scientific research in the field of neuropsychology, an online brain simulator has been created - Wikium. It offers simple tasks for attentiveness, memory and reaction speed.

Exercises have a playful form to make the useful and enjoyable. Games are pleasurable, and what is pleasurable requires the person to repeat the action.

Quests on the Wikium seem to be elementary, but as you progress through the levels, the difficulty increases. Thus, we gradually pump the brain, without making much effort.

What workouts look like

Before training, you need to pass an introductory test. It evaluates your current level of cognitive abilities and selects a personalized training program.

The workout lasts approximately 15 minutes and consists of a warm-up and basic exercises.

Trainers are grouped in pairs to pump specific brain abilities. For example, memory training includes 7 exercises: a warm-up (to "turn on" your attention) and games to develop the volume, speed and accuracy of memorization. Each game complements the previous one and occupies a strictly defined place - for the best effect from the exercises.

This is what the “Find the Object” attention training looks like. You need to find the item that you see in the frame on the shelves and click on it. In 60 seconds you must score the maximum number of points.

Another memory development exercise is “Signal Lights”. You need to remember and reproduce the sequence in which the light bulbs light up.

The service works on a freemium model: 9 simulators are available for free - 2 for memory, 4 for thinking and 3 for attention. Premium account holders get access to all exercises. There are 41 exercises on the site in total.

You can view statistics of your progress and compete with other users (for example, with friends). In addition to the usual exercises, there are special courses: a course on goal-setting, on the development of attention, creative thinking.

You can study both from a computer and from a smartphone - the service supports adaptive layout of the web version for mobile devices.

Many of us have heard or read on social networks the thought of the famous Russian writer A.P. Chekhov that everything in a person should be beautiful: face, clothes, soul, and thoughts. Most often, we search the Internet, modern magazines for information about body training, body nutrition and the like, which is related to physical development and improvement.

But in modern society, when physical beauty is at the forefront, for someone the development of the inner world of a person is still relevant, namely, spiritual qualities, mind and intellect, which the human brain combines. A person is not a set of individual body parts that need to be developed separately, but a kind of “ecosystem” in which all its parts are closely interconnected. Developing only one thing, it is impossible to achieve harmony and idyll. Even any experienced doctor will say that any disease of the human body cannot be cured without taking into account all factors - both physical and psychological. Why was all this said? It's simple - to present reasonable arguments that training for the brain is just as necessary as it is for the body.

First of all, do not believe in such statements that “nerve cells do not regenerate”, and that as a person ages, irreversible degenerative changes occur in the brain. By developing your brain, you will be able to fully restore your cognitive abilities that you had back in school, and even significantly increase your level of intelligence - intelligence quotient - IQ (intelligence quotient). By what methods can we “pump” our brain convolutions?

Daily game tasks.

On the vast expanses of the Internet, you can easily find hundreds of game exercises for the development of logic, spatial thinking, linguistic knowledge, and so on. You can choose such tasks depending on your initial level, and then, as in sports, increase the complexity. There is no need to justify the high cost of various developing courses - the World Wide Web provides opportunities to develop for people with completely different financial capabilities. The main thing is the pursuit of perfection!

Surprise the brain every day and every second.

By changing your habits drastically, doing everyday activities differently, you force your brain to create new connections, new electrical circuits for transmitting signals. For example, if you are right-handed, try to do absolutely any daily task - brush your teeth, open the door, pour water into a glass, cook food, put it on a plate and eat - with your left hand. And the same thing, only in reverse, for lefties. Change the usual rhythm of life in every possible way: go different ways to work and to all the usual places.

Read books, listen to audio books.

Reading develops visual memory, increases the overall intellectual level, replenishes vocabulary, which also develops certain parts of the brain and can, in turn, be useful in life. Fashionable in modern times, audio books contribute to the development of auditory memory, introduce speech clichés into our everyday life, with which you do not have to “reach into your pocket for a word”. Try to choose books with a plot that would capture you, and, therefore, positively “shocked” the brain.

Go in for sports.

Yes, don't be surprised! Sport affects not only our physical development, it increases the speed of all metabolic processes in the body, including brain tissue. After all, as mentioned earlier, our body is not a set of separate parts, but an integral interconnected system.

Feed your brain.

Try, at least occasionally, to eat what is most conducive to improving brain activity. The best product is the nut in all its manifestations. For example, walnut kernels are not in vain similar in structure to the cerebral convolutions, they contain, in addition to vitamins and proteins in an easily digestible form, the most useful substance for the brain, lecithin, which has a positive effect on memory. Also indispensable for our convolutions, substances can be gleaned from cocoa, seafood, fatty fish containing omega-3 fatty acids, seeds, especially pumpkin and other natural products.