The Brain Gym

Get more from your grey matter!

You look after your body. You are interested in emotional wellbeing, otherwise you would not have come to this website. But did you know that just like training our bodies, we can also do a lot to keep our minds and brains fit and healthy into old age? Read on to get the most from your grey matter.

Week 4: Play - It's good for you!

When was the last time you played? In fact, when was the last time, your child played?


While we take it for granted that children play, it is only recently that science caught on to just how crucial play is for both children and adults:

Stopping children from playing stops them from growing into happy, well-adjusted adults as they don not get the opportunity for normal social, emotional and cognitive developement. Crucially studies highlight that it is unstructured, free-flowing play that awards these benefits: structured play such as music lessons or sports don't have the same benefit that free play such as mock fights, rolling in the mud or imaginative role-play has.

The serious need for play is however not confined to childhood: adults benefit from play with increased emotional health and better stress coping. Adults who don't play are more likely to end up exhausted, dissatisfied and burned-out research has found. However, as we get older we just don't find it so easy to play anymore.

Here's how to bring some play back into your life:
Stuart Brown, psychiatrist at the National Institute for Play in California suggests three options:
  • Be social: from small talk to verbal jousting, join other people in a social activity 'just for fun', without a purpose.
  • Become creative: build, draw or otherwise create something you enjoy. Really, just for fun, no purpose!
  • Get moving: become active, move your body, without any pressure or purpose: for example going for a run counts, as long as there's no goal such as weight loss attached to it!

    • The main point to remember is to do something that has no aim or purpose. Then pretty much anything can become play. Thinking back to what you loved doing as a child can also be a great starting point!

    Week 3: Food for thought - diet for the brain and nervous system

    There might be a reason for Homer Simpsons lack of - shall we say: brain power. Donuts and beer just simply don't provide much fuel for the grey matter: saturated fats are not only clog the body, they also make you lose your mind: while rats underperfom in memory and learning tests, human seem to be on an increased risk of depression and dementia if they're on a long-term diet high in saturated fats.
    While the occassional donut will not make or break your mind it is worth knowing however that the brain is actually not a muscle, but mostly fat and hence requires fatty acids. Omega-3's are eternal favorits! Omega-3's are also valuable depression, dementia and Alzheimer's fighters and may also help with schizophrenia, as all these disorders are associated with low levels of Omega-3 fatty acids.

    Omega-3's can be found in oily fish, such as salmon or mackerel. Accompany your fish ideally with anti-oxidant rich vegetables such as spinach, tomatoes, leafy greens and broccoli. Blueberries, avocados, sage and blackcurrants are also brain superfoods and particularly seeds and walnuts often get mentioned, too. Anti-oxidants keep your brain sharp by limiting damage to brain cells. Anit-oxidants also seem to be able to reduce brain damage caused by strokes.

    However, before you happily indulge; there is also research that shows that calorie-restricted diets - anything from 25 to 50 less than normal- seems to improve brain function. Rodents on this type of diet also seem to be more resistant to Alzheimer's, Huntingdon's and Parkinson. And perform better in test relating to learning, coordination and memory. They live longer, too, though probably not very happily considering their starvation diet...

    In essence: avoid processed food with saturated fats, eat your 5-a-day and make sure you get your Omega 3's
    Next week: Fun, fun, fun - play to boost your brain

    Week 2: Play that funky music - your mind and music

    What is your favourite piece of music? Do you love the soothing sounds of Mozart or find yourself upbeat for no reason when listening to Queen's Greatest Hits? Music and mood have long been linked to a host of health benefits: it is proven to lower blood pressure, sooth dementia patients, treat insomnia and anxiety disorders and - increase the milk yield of dairy cows!

    The main effect of listening to music comes from the activation of your brain's rewards centres whilst depressing activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that drives emotions such as anxiety or anger. Will it necessarily make you smarter? Well, unfortunately any intellectual gain seems to be only marginal and short-lived.

    While you can enjoy benefits by just listening to music, actually playing an instrument can do even more for you: the motor cortex, cerebellum and corpus callosum, which links right brain with left brain hemisphere, are all bigger in musicians than in non-musicians. Children who grow up playing an instrument seem to have increased sensitivity to human speech and better spatial abilities. Last but not least: if a violin (or any instrument with strings) is your instrument of choice, you will also have more sensitive touch, as more sensory cortices are devoted to your fingers! So tune in to your favourite music and care for your mind and mood!

    For more info on music and the mind find related articles here:

    Scientific American Mind Hearing the music
    Scientific American Why music moves us
    Next week: Food for thought - diet for brain and nervous system

    Week 1: Exercise and the brain: Move to keep the wheels spinning

    True to the title of this blog let's start off with exercise and your brain. Exercise can improve brain functionality, for example organising skills, planning, multitasking or learning. Exercise is also a fantastic mood-booster and people who keep up exercise or even those who pick it up in their later years are less likely to suffer from dementia! The reasons for this might be manifold:

    Exercise improves sleep quality, which in turn can help learning. It also increases the blood flow to the brain, bringing with it nutrients and oxygen, desperately required by this hard-working grey matter. Exercise also increases a substance called BDNF ( brain-derived neurotrophic factor ), which encourages growth, communication and life span of neurons.

    The good news is that you can reap the benefits of exercise even if you have spent most of your life sedentary. It is never too late! Then again, the sooner you get going, the better.

    Speaking of getting going: as little as 30 minutes walking per day can do the trick! You don&apostrophe;t even have to do it all in one go. Activities such as gardening and even vacuuming count as well, but then again, the benefits of real exercise might be even greater: increased social life, better hand-eye coordination, a general better connection with your body and an increased sense of wellbeing! It might even be fun!

    Next week: Play that funky music: Music and the brain