Brain power: How to improve your brain health
As you learned in the last lesson, our brains are constantly responding to how we interact with the world. If we want to give our brains the best chance to continue growing and forming new connections, we need to find ways to continually enrich our own worlds, stay active, meet new people, try new things, and always keep learning.
To help you enrich your brain, here are six simple “brain hacks,” most of which take less than four minutes a day. Each has the potential to enrich a different part of your brain in amazing ways.
1. Motor Cortex Brain Hack
Go to YouTube and watch a video to learn a new physical skill. Learn a new dance move, the perfect golf swing, how to juggle—anything that strikes your fancy. And then practice!
Go to YouTube and watch a video to learn a new physical skill. Learn a new dance move, the perfect golf swing, how to juggle—anything that strikes your fancy. And then practice!
2. Taste Cortex Brain Hack
Try going out (or better yet, preparing) a cuisine you’ve never had. Korean, Laotian, Ethiopian—you name it. Take your taste buds (and taste cortex) on a cultural adventure.
Try going out (or better yet, preparing) a cuisine you’ve never had. Korean, Laotian, Ethiopian—you name it. Take your taste buds (and taste cortex) on a cultural adventure.
Or for added fun, try eating a meal in complete darkness and see how the lack of visual input affects your sense of taste. You might be surprised.
3. Cognitive Brain Hack
Learn more about how the brain works and what you can do to make yours work better. Take Brain Power, a new course from Life Re-imagined, taught by Dr. Wendy Suzuki. It’s free. It’s fun. And it might just change your brain for the better. Sign up today.
Learn more about how the brain works and what you can do to make yours work better. Take Brain Power, a new course from Life Re-imagined, taught by Dr. Wendy Suzuki. It’s free. It’s fun. And it might just change your brain for the better. Sign up today.
4. Visual Cortex Brain Hack
Go to a local museum and pick a piece of artwork you’ve never seen before. Then sit quietly in front of it and let yourself get lost.
Go to a local museum and pick a piece of artwork you’ve never seen before. Then sit quietly in front of it and let yourself get lost.
5. Auditory Cortex Brain Hack
Go to your preferred music streaming service and search music from a genre you’ve never listened to before. As you listen, reflect. What do you notice about the music? Do you like it and want to learn more? Do you dislike it? Why? Does the music bring back any memories?
Go to your preferred music streaming service and search music from a genre you’ve never listened to before. As you listen, reflect. What do you notice about the music? Do you like it and want to learn more? Do you dislike it? Why? Does the music bring back any memories?
6. Olfactory Cortex Brain Hack
Take a few minutes to sit and smell your meals before you eat them. If you have eggs and toast for breakfast, just let their smells waft into your nose before you eat. Breathe in the steam of your coffee before you drink. Learn to appreciate and describe the different smells of your food and you might learn to appreciate them even more.
Take a few minutes to sit and smell your meals before you eat them. If you have eggs and toast for breakfast, just let their smells waft into your nose before you eat. Breathe in the steam of your coffee before you drink. Learn to appreciate and describe the different smells of your food and you might learn to appreciate them even more.
Tomorrow, we’ll learn why certain memories stick better than others.
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