A recent article in the New York Times highlighted new studies directed at figuring out how long-time married couples can keep their romance alive. The answer was very simple. Do something different.
In one ten-week study, researchers worked with 53 couples. They instructed one third of them to spend 90 minutes per week doing familiar but enjoyable activities, like going to dinner or a movie. Researchers instructed another third to spend 90 minutes doing something exciting that they both enjoyed. This group spent time doing new things or things they didn't do very often. The final group received no specific instructions.
After the study was over, researchers interviewed the couples to rate the quality of their relationships. The couples that spent time doing new things scored higher than the other two groups.
This may all be common sense. The more exciting stuff you do together, the stronger your relationship can get. But it's interesting to look at the underlying brain science, because it has implications for your overall brain fitness as well.
The brain enjoys new things. New experiences crank up the brain's reward system, driven largely by the 'pleasure' signal, dopamine. This same circuit is very active early in the intensely romantic part of a relationship. So, the theory goes that doing new, exciting stuff together, may literally help rekindle the brain circuits that drive romance.
We have been promoting interjecting variety into your daily routines, as good for your brain fitness, for some time now. Beyond variety improving your relationships, it also helps you make new brain connections that are good for all kinds of brain functions.
Your brain is a web of about 100 trillion connections between 100 billion neurons. When we do new things and learn new stuff, the level of connectivity increases, and not just in your pleasure circuits but in other parts of your brain as well.
Increasing the connectivity between neurons in parts of the brain responsible for memory, decision making and creative thinking, is very beneficial to your long-term brain fitness. The more connectivity you create, the more defenses you have against cognitive decline as you age.
Think of an old tree with many branches. This is sort of what neurons look like. The more you learn by experiencing new things, the bushier the neuron gets and the more connections it can make. In fact, neuroscientists use the term 'arborization', meaning a tree-like appearance, to define the amount of branches a neuron has.
The degree of arborization is an indicator of a neurons health, especially in brain regions associated with learning and memory. Although we can't directly measure arborization in people, studies in rodents show that those exposed to new environments on a regular basis have more arborization in neurons involved in memory.
What we can do in people is use new brain scanning technology to determine the level of activity in brain regions, which has some correlation with the level of connectivity and neuronal arborization in animal studies.
These brain-scanning technologies show that people in long-term, high quality relationships have greater brain activity in their pleasure centers when shown a picture of their spouse. Researchers believe that interjecting new experiences into marriage is one thing that helps maintain these connections.
So this Valentine's Day, instead of visiting your favorite restaurant, try a new one. Or get out and do something you both enjoy but don't get the opportunity to do very often. It will be good for parts of your brain that will help keep your mind and your relationship young.
For all these years, about 5.5 decades, I have been putting words into my head from lots of books, and that was the brain fitness kit I was instructed to use as a kid.
I ate some fruit and vegetables and slept reasonably well, but did not ever worry about things like omega 3's. Actually I do not care for fish, so I will have to take some supplements for my omega 3's.
But technology has begun to reveal what happens in the synapses of my brain, and it appears there are actually ways to enhance the working memory circuits and fluid intelligence circuits or loops, among others, which might just enhance what I have already got, or protect what I have left of my brain.
What are those tools? There are many useful, new options that I have tried.
But first, I want to let you know about some of the tools I have used.
Over the years I have used the David sound and light machines, Hemi-Sync binaural beat tapes, Transcendental Meditation, daily prayer and meditation, Open Focus, EEG Biofeedback brainwave biofeedback, HeartMath heart rate variability biofeedback, and the Wild Divine heart rate variability biofeedback and galvanic skin response biofeedback, and I have studied Chi Gong for the last eight and 1/2 years.
I am using the Chi Gong and HeartMath the most of those tools, because I have learned them and can feel the change in my physiology when I cue those visual images and/or breathing techniques.
But now there are computerized programs, like the Posit Science Brain Fitness program, based on the research of Michael Mezernich and his team, which is designed to work with the auditory processing system in my brain. Sounds called phonemes challenge the auditory processing loop to function more coherently. (Neurons that fire together wire together). When those neurons relearn to fire closely together, then the noise in my brain is reduced, and I can function with more confidence.
Brain fitness tools leave me feeling more confident, relaxed, focused.
I am also using three other brain fitness programs in my brain fitness kit.
They are Lumosity, Brain Builder 3.0, and Mind Evolve.
Lumosity is a quick hitting online series of exercises designed to work your working memory, spatial memory, processing speed, attention, cognitive control, and name recognition. You can sign-up online, and log in and use the tool at your convenience. As you progress, you move into more difficult challenges.
Daily practice on those tools is reassuring for the Boomer Dad.
This program emphasizes the 'dual n back' task and it has some excellent research to read, if you are so inclined.
What is very reasssuring for me as a consumer is to read the endorsement of other professionals like Simon Evans, Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt, Ph.D. for the dual n back task and research. Dr. Evans also reports that he likes the Lumosity program, which gives me a sense that my hunch was valid.
Any good brain fitness kit is going to include regular exercise, good sleep, and novel challenge using brain fitness programs.
Both Simon Evans & Michael Logan are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Simon Evans has sinced written about articles on various topics from Brain, Fishing and Fitness. Learn to control stress, improve your metabolism and boost your intelligence with the four cornerstones of Brain Fitness. Visit .. Simon Evans's top article generates over 6120000 views. to your Favourites.
Michael Logan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Brain, Brain Power and Brain. Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose. Michael Logan's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.