Category: Brain Fitness
Readers of this blog may already know that I’m very interested in self-efficacy as a factor in how well people perform on cognitive tasks. Study after study has shown that what you think about your cognitive functioning may actually make your cognitive function better.
Getting enough sleep may help prevent cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s. A study reported in December shows that higher levels of leptin are associated with decreased risk for cognitive decline. Leptin levels are positively associated with sleep: when you get enough, your body’s leptin levels are higher.
Aerobic exercise has been shown many times to improve cognitive function, but a recent study shows that strength training can improve executive functions. Executive functions are important because they are a mental ability that helps us make decisions and do several things at once (like driving).
Being bored can increase your risk of death from cardiovascular disease according to a recent report. If brain fitness means keeping interested in life and mentally active, then an active brain fitness program may help you avoid the risk associated with boredom.
As interest increases in brain fitness training, the question comes up: Do you need a brain fitness trainer? In sports, it’s a common question. In brain fitness training, do you need some outside advice, or are you ready to follow your own program? What are the advantages of having a brain fitness trainer?
Latest
- Brain Fitness and The Mind of a Monk
- Brain Fitness Tip: Training Without a Computer
I saw an interesting blog post yesterday evening on the site of the Huffington Post about the potential benefits of meditation – or at least about what one woman thinks might be the benefits. (more…)
Although many people are excited about the potential for using computers to train their brains, we shouldn’t forget that other techniques have been used to the train the brain for many centuries. I’m thinking about the large number of techniques for meditation. While free computer software still requires an investment in a computer, meditation only asks you to sit or lie quietly and focus your mind.
A recently-published study shows parts of the brain in long-term meditators are larger than the same parts of the brain in people who don’t meditate. The article by Eileen Luders and her colleagues appeared in a recent issue of the journal Neuroimage (Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 672-678, April 15, 2009). The study showed that portions of the orbitofrontal cortex and the hippocampus were larger in persons who had been regular meditators for 5 or more years. The study is interesting because the parts of the brain that were larger are often thought to be important in helping people keep themselves emotionally balanced.
A number of strategies are likely to be helpful for meditators. There has been a great deal of interest over the last several years in mindfulness meditation. Researchers have studied how it can be used in reducing anxiety and depression. Mindfulness is based on Buddhist meditation (for a brief article, click here) but you don’t have to be a Buddhist to practice meditation. In fact, one of the most important persons who has promoted mindfulness is Jon Kabat-Zinn, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts. You can see a video presentation by him on YouTube by clicking here.