Train the Brain



Currently attention in "training the brain" is centered on the older adult. No target group is more diverse in terms of psychological and physical function, and has the most to gain (by offsetting age and inactivity-related decline).

Key concerns include brain alertness and memory.

Exercise helps generate new brain cells, even in the aging brain. Starting an exercise program early in life is an effective way to lower the risk of developing Parkinson's disease later in life.

As little as three hours a week of brisk walking has been shown to halt, and even reverse, the brain shrinkage that starts in a person's 40s, especially in the regions responsible for memory and higher cognition.

Exercise improves learning through increased blood supply and growth hormones. Exercise is an anti-depressant by reducing stress and promoting neurogenesis. Enrichment initiated at any age can significantly improve memory function, but is most beneficial when started young.

Evolving from "use it or lose it" to "use it and improve it"

Conversely, science is also discovering that "mental workouts" are the key to expanding your neural systems and making them more communicative. This means you can alter the physical makeup of your brain by training it. Every time we learn a new skill, concept or fact, we change the physical composition of our brains (its "neuroplasticity").

The more "cognitively fit" you are, the better equipped you are to make decisions, solve problems, and deal with stress and change.

By regarding the brain's alertness as the result of cognitive fitness, it can be seen that cognition (thinking + performance) is really a set of skills that we can train systematically.

Effectively, we can cultivate our own neuronal networks.

Individuals who lead mentally stimulating lives, through education, occupation and leisure activities, have reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's symptoms.

So if expertise is developed through practice, the practice that has the best results is repetition with increased difficulty.

Maintaining brain fitness then requires a change from our normal and mostly automatic ways of doing things.

It becomes a challenging and lifelong process of nurturing new brain cells and neural networks. Our experiences literally shape our brains, and vice versa.

Given too that wisdom strengthens with age (attentional control is one of the last cognitive abilities to develop in normal brain development), cognitive fitness could change the way society views ageing and what it means to be "old".

Whilst metal stimulation is a good thing, too much may not be!

Studies suggest that neurons are adversely affected by stress as well as a lack of stimulation. Neurotoxins may be hampered in their ability to form new patterns of connectivity and may lose synaptic connections. This reduction in new cell creation, due to chronic stress, affects brain effectiveness.

Hence reducing stress, and the stress hormones, in your system is critical to your brain fitness and overall wellbeing. Prolonged exposure to the adrenal steroid hormones like cortisol, released during the stress response, can damage the brain by blocking the formation of new neurons.

Older neurons can be regenerated with learning and environmental stimulation, but while short-term stress may improve attention and memory, chronic stress leads indirectly to cell death and hampers our ability to make changes and be creative enough to even think of possible changes to reduce the stress.

Notice today how creativity is shrivelling and mistakes are multiplying? To inoculate yourself against this epidemic, regularly replenish your personal energy through restorative rituals and brief breaks throughout your day.

Relaxation classes through meditation, tai chi, yoga, or other techniques can lower blood pressure, slow respiration, slow metabolism, and release muscle tension.

Plus the human brain is a social brain. We are born into a social system, learn in social systems, and age in social systems.

Socially-orientated classes and networks can help foster trust, support, and relaxation, which are important for both mental stimulation and stress reduction.

"It's never too late" and "never too early"

Cognitive fitness is not only about seniors or about memory. The race is now on to discover mental and physical disciplines that can help busy executives sustain their ability to lead despite increasing demands on their time and energy.

People of all ages can benefit from a variety of regular brain exercises. Clearly exercising our brains systematically is as important as exercising our bodies.

Plus there's a ripple effect. Whilst attention is currently being placed on seniors for memory and mental agility etc, what is being learned also has relevance for stressed-out executives, gameboy-addicted kids, and the mentally ill.

Ironically, in maximising the physical and mental agility of kids through to executives, the benefits get passed upwards as these same individuals transform into more able functioning "seniors" than their inactive "dogmatic" peers.

To sum up, the astute amongst you will have recognised XX1C fitness as 21st Century Fitness, where mind + body exercise really comes of age.