Brain Training Exercises

Brain Training

Brain Training is the conscious act of exercising the brain.  In the same way that we understand the benefits of exercising the body, neuroscience is now discovering how important it is to actively challenge the brain.  Brain Training can take many forms and consists essentially of undertaking novel activities that challenge the brain to think.  When completing novel activities, the brain forms new connections between the brain cells [neural connections] and can grow new brain cells.  This process of growing new cells and connections is known as neuroplasticity.  Up until recently, it was believed that the number of brain cells that each person had was a fixed number, however research is demonstrating that at all ages we are able to develop the brain.  There is strong scientific evidence to support the statement ‘use it or lose it’ as the brain is a great housekeeper and prunes away connections that are not actively used.

Research that came out of Japan found that completing simple activities such as basic mathematical questions, reading aloud and working quickly activates a large number of areas of the brain -

moreso than simply completing them in your head. 

The purpose of these more simple activities is to encourage blood and oxygen flow through different regions of the brain with the premise of reducing the likelihood of these brain cells being pruned from underuse.  More challenging brain training activities such as mental rotation, the Tower of Hanoi and the Stroop Effect exercise different regions of your brain and your working memory.  These activities are based on the principles of neurogenesis and neural reserve.

Working memory refers to your ability to hold multiple pieces of information in your mind                                

at once and to work with these - like repeating information in your mind to remember a phone number or a person’s name.  The term neurogenesis essentially means that we are able to grow new connections between brain cells when completing challenging and or novel activities.  

Furthermore, although there is some debate around the concept of neural reserve, there exists a body of research which suggests that the greater the number of neural connections, the less likely we are to develop diseases such as Alzheimer's.  The neural reserve therefore is the amount of connections we have and again works with the common philosophy ‘use it or lose it’.  A better way of thinking about  this now may be to ‘use it and keep it’

The purpose of the brain training provided by Brainy [coming soon via email] - 2 to 5 minute activities each day - is to give people the opportunity to complete a range of activities including creative thinking, emotional mastery, language & math based challenges, mental rotation tasks as well as challenges such as the Stroop effect and the Tower of Hanoi.  These activities are designed to encourage positive changes in the brain [new brain connections, exercising current connections, an increase in cerebral oxygen flow & blood flow].

Keywords: Brain Training, neuroplasticity, neurogenesis, neural reserve, working memory.