New Toys + New Playmates = Better Brain

Written by Susan Dunn, MA, Emotional Intelligence Coach


Continued from page 1

REALITY: According to Arnold Scheibel, head of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute,repparttar brain’s axons and dendrites (which send and receive messages) grow fastest with new material. “The important thing is to be actively involved in areas unfamiliar to you,” say Golden and Tsiaras, in “Building a Better Brain.” “Anything that is intellectually challenging can probably serve as a kind of stimulus for dendritic growth, which means it adds torepparttar 126137 computational reserves in your brain.” Sounds to me like building new hard drive, yes?

7. MYTH: Watchingrepparttar 126138 Discovery Channel suffices for stimulation.

REALITY: Dr. Robert Friedland reports that adults over age 70 with brain-stimulating hobbies were two and a half times less likely to suffer fromrepparttar 126139 effects of Alzheimer’s later in life than were those whose main leisure activity was watching TV.

8. MYTH: In order to stimulate and growrepparttar 126140 brain, you must engage in formal schooling.

REALITY: According to Warner, traditional academic subjects aren’trepparttar 126141 only answer. The key is to find something both new and challenging to you. Therefore, if you’re an engineering professor, for instance, you’re better off learning how to grow roses, write poetry, or fly a plane.

9. MYTH: I can ignore it for a while and it will still be there when I get back.

REALITY: According to neurologist Oliver Sacks, our body’s economy dictates that if neurons dedicated to perform a given skill are not being used, they’ll either atrophy or be co-opted to some other function.

10. MYTH: Intellectual stimulation is enough.

REALITY: Aerobic exercise may be especially beneficial to brain function in aging people, because it tends to keep blood vessels in better shape (Marion Diamond). Mice that exercised regularly on a running wheel grew twice as many new brain cells (inrepparttar 126142 hippocampus) (Salk study).

So there you have it! Jog on out for those new toys and new playmates and get a better brain and a better life! And it’s never too late unless you don’t start now.

Susan helps people enhance their brains and develop their emotional intelligence. Visit her on the web at http://www.susandunn.cc. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for Free ezine; put "ezine" for subject line. Coaching, ebooks, teleclasses. Susan trains and certifies EQ coaches. Email for info on affordable, fast, no-residency program.


Enhancing Your Brain As You Age

Written by Susan Dunn, MA, Emotional Intelligence Coach & Consultant


Continued from page 1

MYTH No. 5: What you’ve got, is all you’ll ever get.

REALITY: According to Paul Tallal, Rutgers University neuroscientist, “You create your brain fromrepparttar input you get.” By this, she means intellectual stimulation strengthsrepparttar 126136 brain because inrepparttar 126137 normal course of living, our brains constantly reorganize themselves, which is called “neuroplasticity.” And neuroplasticity speeds up withrepparttar 126138 amount and complexity ofrepparttar 126139 new information our brains receive.

MYTH No. 6: As you age, it’s too hard to learn new things, so stick with what you already know.

REALITY: According to Arnold Scheibel, head of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute,repparttar 126140 brain’s axons and dendrites (which send and receive messages) grow fastest with new material. “The important thing is to be actively involved in areas unfamiliar to you,” say Golden and Tsiaras, in “Building a Better Brain.” “Anything that is intellectually challenging can probably serve as a kind of stimulus for dendritic growth, which means it adds torepparttar 126141 computational reserves in your brain.” Sounds to me like building new hard drive, yes?

MYTH No. 7: Watchingrepparttar 126142 Discovery Channel suffices for stimulation.

REALITY: Dr. Robert Friedland reports that adults over age 70 with brain-stimulating hobbies were two and a half times less likely to suffer fromrepparttar 126143 effects of Alzheimer’s later in life than were those whose main leisure activity was watching TV.

MYTH No. 8: In order to stimulate and growrepparttar 126144 brain, you must engage in formal schooling.

REALITY: According to Warner, traditional academic subjects aren’trepparttar 126145 only answer. The key is to find something both new and challenging to you. “Thus a Latin professor,” writes Warner, “might do better to learn how to prune fruit trees, line her car’s brakes or even solve difficult jigsaw puzzles than to write a scholarly essay parsing Cicero’s rhetoric.”

MYTH No. 9: I can ignore it for a while and it will still be there when I get back.

REALITY: Not! According to neurologist Oliver Sacks,repparttar 126146 brain uses a lot of energy and blood, something we can’t “afford” to no purpose. If neurons dedicated to perform a given skill are not being used, they’ll either atrophy or be co-opted to some other function.

Myth No. 10: Intellectual stimulation is enough.

REALITY: According to Marion Diamond, aerobic exercise, such as swimming and jogging, may be especially beneficial to brain function in aging people, because it tends to keep blood vessels in better shape. And according torepparttar 126147 Salk Institute study, mice that exercised regularly on a running wheel grew twice as many new brain cells (again, inrepparttar 126148 hippocampus) as other mice.

So there you have it! Jog on out for those new toys and new playmates and get a better brain and a better life! And it’s never too late unless you don’t start now.

©Susan Dunn, MA, Emotional Intelligence Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc . Coaching, internet courses, teleclasses and ebooks on Emotional Intelligence. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for free ezine (put “ezine” for subject line). I train and certify EQ coaches. Email me for info on this fast, affordable, no-residency program.


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