How To Exploit Your Brain's Unlimited Power

Our brain is a very 1. Introduction

powerful tool. In fact,
for its size, it can work 2. The Brain And Its Functions
faster than a regular
computer. It has 10 3. Dangers To Your Brain
billion neurons and 100
4. How to Train Your Brain
billion supporting cells.
That’s more than what
5. Health And Your Brain
your computer has for
its memory. 6. Boomer And the Brain
But sadly, not all of the 7. Train Your Child’s Brain
brain cells are used
properly. Some are just 8. You And Your IQ
stashed in your brain,
consuming space but 9. Conclusion
not empowered. The
brain cells should be
stimulated to be useful.

Optimizing your brain’s

maximum potential will
enable you to easily
learn and remember
facts, figures, data, and
information. You will
have greater accuracy
in solving mental
problems like never
before. Plus, your
creativity will be
enhanced, allowing you
to find new solutions to
any problem at hand.
Introduction
Inside the human brain’s three-pound package are ten billion nerve
cells and almost one hundred billion smaller supporting cells. That’s
more power, in a smaller package, than a computer.

If you added all the telephone connections in the entire world and
multiplied that number by 1, 349, you would have the total number
of brain connections of which your brain is capable.

A common misconception is that the human brain is firm and grey

in color, hence the expression “using your grey matter.” In truth,
the human brain is soft and jelly-like and of a deep red color.
Chemicals or resins that the scientists use to preserve the brain are
what cause the grey color and firm texture.

Another common misconception is that we humans use only about

ten percent of our brains. This is a misunderstanding of the
research gathered back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was
noted then that only about ten percent of the brain’s neurons
actually are firing at any given time. We know now that the brain
has many functions, that every part of the brain has a different
purpose, and that all the neurons are busy working all the time.
What everyone could improve upon is the cognitive potential of their
brains; that is by reading and studying, learning to solve problems,
and increasing their brain’s power.

As each decade passes, doctors and researchers learn more and

more about the brain - its functions, the dangers it faces and ways
to protect it. They are even experimenting with ways to make the
brain more retentive and thereby smarter. Whether or not they ever
concoct a “smart pill,” there are ways you can train your brain to be
more efficient, right now. You can protect your brain from
dangerous outside influences. You can learn to feed and stimulate
your brain so you not only live to a healthy old age, but you retain
all your cognitive faculties. You can increase your brainpower and in
the following report, we’ll show you how. Don’t wait for that “smart
pill.” You can start right now to eliminate confusion in your thoughts
and learn to think better and more clearly, no matter what your
age.

Solving problems is easier when you’re thinking clearly. By taking

care of your brain and protecting it from danger, you can learn to
make decisions quickly and easily.

Do you need to:

 Learn new information easily and with greater accuracy than ever
before?

 Be more creative about finding solutions to problems?

 Reduce your mental and physical stress?

Whether it’s learning a new language, studying for classes, or just

memorizing a speech, clear thinking is more conducive to
productive, high quality work. Any man, woman or child, with the
proper training, can learn to think more clearly and thereby learn to
be more productive. The only thing keeping you from a highly
attuned mental capacity is a failure to understand what good, clear
thinking is all about and how to attain it.

“I have a theory about the human mind. A brain is a lot like a

computer. It will only take so many facts, and then it will go on
overload and blow up.” - Erma Bombeck

The Brain And Its Functions

“The brain is a monstrous, beautiful mess. Its billions of nerve cells-

called neurons-lie in a tangled web that displays cognitive powers
far exceeding any of the silicon machines we have built to mimic
it.” - William F. Allman

Your brain is the anterior or front part of your central nervous

system, and is the primary control center for the peripheral nervous
system. It controls involuntary activities such as the heartbeat,
respiration, and digestion. These are also called autonomic functions
and encompass sensation and movement. However, that’s not all of
which your brain is capable, of course; it also controls thought,
reasoning, and even abstraction. All of these are known as
conscious activities. The human brain is capable of perception,
imagination, memories, and the ability to interpret information.

What makes the human brain truly unique is its ability to make
synaptic connections, creating an intricate and extremely densely
connected neural network. Our mental abilities are separated into
the cerebral hemispheres, right and left. Some functions, such as
language and speech, are localized in specific areas in only one
hemisphere. Your brain is resilient in that if one hemisphere is
injured, at an early age, the functions can be recovered by the other
hemisphere, sometimes only in part, sometimes in full. Both
hemispheres can control memory and reasoning, as well as motor
control.

Thanks to a process called neurogenesis, new neurons can grow,

even in the mature adult brain. That means you can learn and
develop your brain throughout your life.

The neocortex, which helps us in many aspects of our thinking

process, contains billions of neurons, arranged in layers on the
brain’s outer surface. There are two halves of the brain, the right
and left side, and each half of the brain is divided into four sections
or lobes, and each lobe has a special function or purpose. These
lobes are the frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes.

 Frontal Lobe: This controls planning and reasoning, as well as

activating our muscles.

 Parietal Lobe: This controls physical sensation, such as heat, cold,

pressure or pain.

 Occipital Lobe: Also called the visual cortex, this processes and
interprets sensory information.

 Temporal Lobe: This controls hearing, speech perception and some

kinds of memory. If you’re one of the ninety percent of right-handed
 people, or one of the ten percent of left-handed people, the left
temporal lobe contains the center for spoken language.

All these functions actually, only take up a small space in each of

the lobes, the rest of the space is for putting together the
association of experiences and ideas. Simply put, it’s for thinking.
We are able to consider consciously what’s going on, weigh our
options and decide on the best choice for us to make.

The cerebellum is the part of our brain that helps control our
posture and balance, even coordination. This is why once you have
learned to ride a bike or drive a car, you never forget how. It
requires effort to learn at first; but after that, practice makes it
automatic.

The limbic system cooperates with the brain stem and regulates the
body’s temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar. It’s
also the center of human emotion. The thalamus is essentially the
brain’s relay station. It channels impulses from all the senses,
except smell, to the cerebral cortex and sorts out the important
information from the insignificant; and together with the
hippocampus, it plays a role in memory.

The hypothalamus regulates the body’s temperature, as well as

hunger and thirst. It also signals the pineal gland concerning sleep.
The pineal gland receives nerve impulses from the eyes and
regulates the body’s internal clock and daily circadian rhythms.
When it receives a message from the hypothalamus, it also secretes
the hormone melatonin, which has to do with sleep and
wakefulness. The amygdale is what integrates the senses and is
essential to forming memories.

Knowing how the brain is set up and how it works will help us learn
to protect, enhance and keep those brains in tip-top shape, honed
and sharp, all of our lives.

So, what is your brain’s potential and how can you attain it? Read
on.
“If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so
simple we couldn’t.” - Lyall Watson

Dangers To Your Brain

“Whatever any man does he first must do in his mind, whose

machinery is the brain. The mind can do only what the brain is
equipped to do, and so man must find out what kind of brain he has
before he can understand his own behavior.” - Gay Gaer Luce &
Julius Segal

It’s common knowledge that you must always protect your head
from physical danger. You wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle,
skating, or playing sports. However, there are other dangers out
there that you must also protect your brain against.

Studies have shown that the brain is an awesome learning device,

but it can be influenced as much by negative perceptions as by
positive ones. These negative influences can actually affect how the
brain functions. If you limit your intellectual growth, that is, if you
continuously tell yourself that you’re not smart enough, your brain
can never operate at peak efficiency. Self-image is how you feel
about yourself and has a direct impact on your brain’s efficiency, at
least where intellectual activities are concerned.

So, what can you do to save your brain? You can’t change your
genes, but you can change your environment and your lifestyle.

Stress and Your Brain

At the first signs of stress, the adrenaline kicks in, setting off a
burst of activity in your nervous system. This is turn, speeds up
your heart and changes the size of the blood vessels. Besides
getting you ready for fight or flight, it also helps you to remember
those frightening events of your life. Therefore, this adrenaline
surge also helps to plant emotional memories of the event in your
life.

After the surge of adrenaline, comes the second stage of the stress
response. The adrenal cortex begins to pump out cortisol,
hydrocortisone and corticosterone. These are called glucocorticoids
or GCs. These GCs are helpful in dealing with emergencies. Besides
boosting glucose production and constricting blood vessels, they
also go straight up to the brain to help regulate stress signaling. It
tells your brain whether to calm down or boost the stress level,
depending on what’s best for you at the moment. These GCs can
exert pressure on the temporal lobe to help you remember those
emotional events.

Some stress is emergency induced and some is chronic. Chronic

stress can be very dangerous to your brain, since it constantly
sends GCs from the adrenal glands straight to the brain. That’s why
stressed out brains are at risk for damage.

The glucocorticoids go straight to the brain, to the memory system,

most especially the hippocampus. It tells your memories that the
event has survival value to you and you need to remember it.
Unfortunately, the GCs are not always beneficial. These hormones
are very powerful and sometimes stress can raise the levels of these
hormones beyond what the brain’s neurons can handle. This can
result in damage to the parts of the brain that relate to memory.
Long periods of severe, prolonged stress can actually lead to the
death of neurons. If you feel you’re at the mercy of your
circumstances, it can actually intensify the danger to your brain.

Different people react differently to stress. Some who go through

traumatic events will go on to suffer some lasting effects, actually
becoming psychologically overwhelmed. Others work through the
event and come out virtually unscathed and with memories intact.

Knowing whether your stress is acute or chronic is key to figuring

out why some brains are more susceptible to stress related damage.
Each person possesses his/her own strengths and weaknesses when
it comes to handling stress and knowing what to do about it. Those
who are more vulnerable to anger, anxiety, low self-esteem,
depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are more likely to
suffer brain damage.

Keep in mind that everyone has moments of depression or “the

blues” as some people call them. These normally do not last long
and you shouldn’t worry about them. You will encounter these
moments of sadness and grief or indulge in little “pity parties” many
times in the course of your life.

Major depression is something different altogether and requires

serious professional assistance. This is considered one of the biggest
stresses for anyone and is immensely painful and ultimately
dangerous for your brain. It is possible to recover from major
depression, but what does it do to the brain? Doctors report that
fifty percent of the people who undergo major depression possess
high cortisol levels. A high cortisol level over a long period of time
can bring about some degree of brain damage.

They’ve shown that the first neurons damaged in this way are in the
memory center. The Washington University School of Medicine in St.
Louis, in a study, discovered that people who had once been
depressed, even several years before, showed twelve to fifteen
percent atrophy of their hippocampi. That means the loss of millions
of memory cells. Most people who have been depressed are more
likely to have recurrent episodes of depression.

What else can cause our stress levels to rise to unhealthy levels?
Anger, anxiety and low self-esteem can contribute to the problem.
Here, we’re not talking about slight anxiety or the occasional
feelings of anger towards a situation or an individual. Where the
brain and its susceptibility to damage are concerned, we’re talking
about severe anxiety of long duration. Someone who feels anger
constantly and for years without respite, is not only a candidate for
brain damage, but for a heart attack or stroke as well.

As for low self-esteem, studies have proven that success and feeling
good about oneself is definitely beneficial to your health. The
opposite is also true, of course. Someone who has a chronically
depressed personality is doing damage to his or her brains.

In this day and age, we are not running from wild beasts and our
lives are not necessarily in constant danger, but we experience our
own type of stress nevertheless. With deadlines and pressures at
work, rush hour traffic, family problems, the ever present need to
handle money and bills, it’s no wonder we experience chronic
stress. We are constantly feeling the adrenaline rush of our
predecessors, but without the relief of fight or flight that they had.
Dr. Jeff Victoroff, in his book, “Saving Your Brain,” says that the
cultural evolution has outpaced the evolution of the brain. We are
developing frayed nerves, quite literally. Only by relaxing and
slowing down can we help to save our brains.

So, what’s the best way to reduce that stress, lower the hormone
levels, relax and save your brain? Aerobic exercise! That’s right-it’s
so simple! We have all that nervous energy stored up, and
practically leaking out our ears and what do we do? We go and sit
on the couch and watch television, but that’s not enough to relieve
the stress of our days. We need to throw ourselves literally into
some form of physical activity, in order to relieve the pressure.
Strenuous physical activity will reduce the stress, the anger, and
the anxiety. The endorphins produced by this physical activity make
our bodies and minds feel good; and then we feel better about
ourselves, boosting our self-esteem. Emotionally happy and healthy
people have brains that are happy and healthy too.

How wonderful would it be if that were all we had to do to relieve

stress and thereby save our brain cells? In some cases, that works
beautifully well. In others, not so much. No matter how much they
exercise, stress still gets to them, threatening their physical and
emotional health with high blood pressure, which can lead to
strokes, which in turn destroys brain cells.

On the Job Stress

How is your job affecting your brain? Overly demanding work can
create too much stress, releasing hormones that can quite literally
kill brain cells. However, work that demands no thought, thereby
not sufficiently engaging the brain is just as bad. Boring, mind-
numbing work may actually be just as hard on your brain as
unrelieved stress. Work that doesn’t challenge your brain can cause
it to actually degenerate or atrophy.

Therefore, you must avoid excessively demanding work as well as

insufficiently demanding work and strike a happy medium
somewhere. To be happy and healthy, physically, emotionally, and
mentally, you need to feel a sense of purpose and a feeling of
having mastered at least a part of your job, but still have enough of
a challenge to be stimulated. That will allow you to have a healthy
brain.

What are the hazards in your workplace? While there have always
been occupational related hazards on the job, such as painters in
danger of inhaling fumes from the materials they handle on a daily
basis, the current era has probably produced more toxic dangers
than ever before in history. The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the
Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA), all have tried to
make our lives safer and healthier, testing virtually everything we
could be exposed to in the performance of our jobs.

What keeps these organizations from being totally successful in

protecting our bodies and our brains? It’s the sheer volume of
compounds they have to test every year. Thousands of compounds
and toxins are synthesized every year and there’s just no way to
get them all tested.

When it comes to your job, how hard is too hard? We’ve left the
pre-industrial society with it’s “it takes a village” philosophy and
unfortunately, entered the competitive “work, work, work” society,
with its risk of identity loss.

Back in 1979, Americans worked an average of thirty-eight and a

half hours per week, as compared to the forty-two hours per week
in 1999. Most don’t have a lunch “hour” anymore; it’s more like
thirty minutes. Once upon a time, workers could actually go home
for lunch, but now there is simply not enough time for such
luxuries, especially since most people now work so far from their
homes.

Job stress is not necessarily the number of hours you put into the
job, but the type of work you do too. An emergency room nurse has
more stress than the receptionist does at a bank. The working mom
may put in a forty hour week, but how about the extra fifty hours
she puts in after she gets home, taking care of her children?
Stress at work can mean high levels of glucocorticoids assaulting
your brain. Those with special stress such as doctors and surgeons
or soldiers in battle are even more at risk. However, there are other
mitigating circumstances that cause stress, such as:

 Changing jobs

 Working exceptionally long hours

 Conflicts on the job

 High noise levels during the workday

 Unfair compensation for work done

 Constantly changing hours

 Abusive conditions in the workplace

All these things can cause high levels of GCs to flood into the
bloodstream, showing that job related stress could damage brain
cells.

Ask yourself these questions about your job.

 Do you find your heart pounding from excitement about your job, or
from stress?

 Do you find yourself sweating from exertion or frustration?

 Do you have a chance to pat yourself on the back for a job well done
or do you feel frustrated at not being able to get everything done each
day?

 Are you appreciated by your peers and supervisor, or is every job

criticized, so you cease to care about the job you do?

 Do you work well under pressure or does a deadline throw you into a
panic?

 Do you have trouble focusing on the key points of a problem you are
trying to solve?
  Do you become anxious and confused when faced with a problem and
a deadline for solving it?

 Do you begin to feel that you’re incapable of solving the problem?

If you enjoy your job, feel real satisfaction in doing it, and are made
to feel you’re an invaluable member of the team, you will
experience much less stress in your life, and that’s another way you
can save your brain.

As long as we’re discussing how work can impact your brain, let’s
also add another topic that could be adding to your stress levels.
While technology has enabled us to make remarkable strides in the
fields of medicine and communications, it has also brought with it a
new form of stress—that of Information Overload! Information can
bombard you from every direction now. Just one issue of the New
York Times contains more information than the average person from
the 17th century encountered in an entire lifetime.

Not to mention that bad news seems to dominate the information

flowing towards you. Unfortunately, bad news sells better than good
news. There you go—more stress coming at you. Besides the
newspapers, there are thousands of magazines, television, radio,
email and snail mail bombarding you every day.

The good news is that the field of communication has taken giant
leaps in our society too. The bad news is that everyone seems to
feel the need for a cell phone, a pager, a blackberry, and a laptop
computer. Why do we feel the need to be connected every minute
of the day? Unless you’re a doctor, is it really necessary? Are we
really just trying to impress others with our seeming productivity?
At what cost? More and more people are experiencing burnout,
chronic fatigue, and nervousness. All because they can never
escape this information overload.

How can you handle this overload and not let it control you? That’s
going to mean leaving the computer at work, turning off the pager
and the blackberry. Avoid the email once in a while. Take a break
from technology and give yourself a much-needed vacation from the
overload. Reduce the stress and learn to relax and your brain will
thank you.

“The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you

get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the
office.”- Robert Frost

How to Train Your Brain

“You know you’ve got to exercise your brain just
like your muscles.” - Will Rogers
The average human brain, while it works all the time, functions at a very low
level, unless stimulated and trained. Training your brain to operate at peak
efficiency increases your productivity, aids your ability to learn new
information, and even stirs the creative juices. While it is a myth that people
use only ten percent of their brain capacity, it is true that most people’s
brains are not functioning at peak efficiency. However, you can change that
and train your brain to be more retentive, more creative, and more
productive.

Too often, people, when faced with a problem, slip into confusion and
frustration. Once they learn how to train their brains, the ability to switch to
logic and clarity becomes second nature. Your brain is capable of intense
concentration; you simply need to hone the ability to focus on a problem.
The great thinkers of our society have learned this secret. Once learned, you
will not fall into the emotional trap of confusion and frustration anymore,
and you’ll know how to focus instantly on the problem and the solution you
need.

Thanks to research, scientists have discovered that it is possible for you to

learn to rewire your brain, simply by changing your thoughts and emotions.
They found that certain types of meditation made it possible to increase the
activity of the prefrontal cortex. They found a way to increase mental
activity without necessarily increasing adrenaline and stress. Their research
found that focusing on positive thoughts and emotions gave the greatest
increase in brain activity.

This doesn’t mean you need to chant a mantra or go to your happy place
while meditating. The researchers discovered that just thinking happy,
loving thoughts makes your brain go into overtime, making mental
connections and being productive and creative. Whether you’ve been trained
in meditation techniques or not, you can learn to increase your brain’s
activity, without stress.

For starters, give yourself just ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes
in the evening to focus on happy, loving thoughts. Changing the way you
think and behave is up to you. Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a
thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Find a comfortable place to
sit, relax and take a deep breath through your nose. Close your eyes and
concentrate first on your breathing. Then focus on thinking about being
joyful. Push aside the worries and concentrate on nothing by joy, happiness
and love.

You can change the way your brain works, but it takes discipline,
determination and practice. If you want to be smarter, you must choose to
do so, by controlling your thoughts and emotions - by choosing to be happy,
grateful, and appreciative. By choosing to be emotionally happy, you are
changing the way your brain works, making new connections, in fact
rewiring your brain to be more productive, more creative and smarter.

I know you’re asking, why just making yourself feel happy could possibly
have anything to do with getting smarter. It’s simple. When your body feels
good, blood circulates through the brain freely. This helps you to focus and
lets your brain be as creative as it needs to be for the task at hand.
Happiness releases hormones and body chemicals that will produce the
greatest mental activity. Depression and unhappiness clog up the works,
making your mental activity slow to a crawl and creating a sluggishness in
the blood flow and thought processes. This is no way to work or live!

There’s enough mental confusion being thrown at you from all directions,
the last thing you need is to be bombarded by negative thoughts and
emotions. All the worries and upsets, disappointments and anxieties just
obliterates the learning process. When you’re upset and confused, it’s
difficult to remember things, or even think straight. Even your observational
skills are impaired by negativity and emotional upheaval. You can’t enhance
your brain while under the onslaught of worries and anxiety.

That’s why the ten-minute twice a day are so important to your brain.
During those times, you must not let any negativity into your consciousness.
Allow your brain to relax with positive, kind, loving, happy thoughts. Think
about all that you’re grateful for in your life, everything that makes you
happy. Push aside any worries and upsets, at least for that twenty minutes a
day. It’s especially important to start your day feeling happy and relaxed, to
get through your workday; and it’s equally important to end the day with
those happy emotions to help you sleep soundly, unperturbed by the day’s
events, whether good or bad.

Feeling happy reduces the confusion in your mind, relaxing your brain and
your body and allowing creativity and mental clarity to keep you on the
path. This helps the mental connections in your brain to stay clear and
logical.

Because of the fight or flight hormones flooding our system, we tend to

make choices based on fear. Instead of facing the fears and working through
them, we make choices to help us avoid pain and confusion. Unfortunately,
that works against us, rather than for us. Our brains tell us to avoid
anything that could harm us. That includes not just physical harm, but
humiliation, embarrassment, loss of respect and credibility by peers, even
loss of love. Therefore, in fear, we make wrong choices, delay changes that
would help us, and try to avoid any risk at all.

Basing decisions on fear never works in your favor. It merely keeps you
from fully living life, and in fact can stifle the learning and growing process
that keeps us alive and keeps our brains healthy.

After you master the ability to teach your brain to work for you, rather than
against you, it’s time to start getting that brain in shape. You exercise your
body, why not your brain too? You know that exercising your body makes
you feel good and improves your life and increases longevity. Therefore, it’s
time to give your brain a good workout.

Believe it or not, one of the ways you can stretch your brain’s muscles is by
playing video games. That’s right, I said video games. Playing the games
actually does give your brain a pretty good workout. It allows you to
develop your peripheral vision, something extremely useful in the real world
too. It also teaches you to recognize repeating patterns and to remember
details, also useful in the real world. You’re also learning with each game
you master.
For those who think playing video games is just for nerds and geeks, there
is actually a large community of people who enjoy the challenge of these
games and are intent on mastering the skills. Many are games of strategy
and very useful for teaching your brain. In many of the games, working your
way through the various levels is much like working your way through the
levels of real life, learning as you go.

Those who oppose the idea of video games being educational argue that the
games are violent, that they are addictive and time consuming, and that
young people especially are wasting their time. As with anything in life,
perhaps moderation needs to be applied. On the plus side, playing the
games enables us to learn and overcome challenges; and that is a good
thing. Never stop learning, growing and being creative. It’s good for your
brain.

Another way to stretch your brain is to expose it to new ideas. Explore new
areas of understanding. Just because you’ve never agreed with an idea,
doesn’t mean you can’t give it some thought. Stretch it a little to include
some new facts. Avoid getting into a rut and becoming set in your ways.

Have a particular interest in your life, something that gives you great
pleasure. Find a group of like-minded individuals, a club, if you will. It can
be in your local neighborhood or online. The point is to have some
interesting discussions, some give and take, exchanging information and
ideas. That will stretch your brain and make you feel good and your mind
stimulated. Try joining a book club to discuss some good fiction. A good
story will catch your interest, pull you in and let you get to know the
characters. Can’t find a book club? Start one!

Another way to relax and allow your brain to stretch is by listening to music.
Researchers say that music can actually help you think better and boost
your brainpower. At UC Irvine’s Center for Neurobiology of Learning and
Memory, a study was done on music and how it impacts the brain. Thirty-six
students were given the standard spatial tests found in I.Q. tests. Before the
test, they listened to Mozart’s sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, for ten
minutes. They listened to relaxation tapes just before the second test and
simply sat in silence before the third test. All the students did remarkably
better after listening to Mozart. In fact, they averaged nine I.Q. points
higher after listening to the music. The music put the students into a more
receptive state for the tests, so they did in fact have better access to the
resources in their brains. Those involved with music on a regular basis, are
actually much better at solving problems and when tested, scored eighty
percent higher than those not in a musical program. If problem solving is
part of your everyday life, and of course that is true for all of us, then let the
music play on.

Your Conscious & Your Subconscious

When it comes to brainpower, your conscious mind is only one-sixth of your

brain’s thinking ability. However, your subconscious represents five-sixths of
that ability. That means that put together, your whole mind has enough
power to solve any problem that comes your way. Your conscious mind can
only hold seven pieces of information in the short-term memory, but your
subconscious mind stores every bit of knowledge you have ever learned. It
contains everything you’ve ever heard, thought, read, or even imagined. In
fact, you are much smarter than you think you are, thanks to the
remarkable memory of your subconscious mind. It’s from the subconscious
mind that writers and artists get their inspiration. “The intellect has little to
do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it
intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you, and you don’t
know how or why,” said Albert Einstein. This is obviously the work of your
subconscious.

The best part about your subconscious is that you can program it to work on
whatever problem you’re facing and it will work nonstop, day and night,
even while you’re sleeping. Whatever you’re dealing with, if accompanied by
strong emotions, and whether it’s positive or negative, makes a deep
impression on your subconscious.

Brainstorming is the most common solution when a problem arises. Another

approach to the problem solving is lateral thinking. The first impulse when a
problem arises is to go straight to the heart of the matter for a solution.
That doesn’t always work, however. Sometimes, there doesn’t seem to be a
straightforward approach to the solution. That’s where lateral thinking
comes in. Let’s say for example, that you have a very important client that
you need to meet with ASAP. You invite him to your office, but he says he
can’t make it. What do you do? Sit down and begin listing as many ideas as
you can to make it possible for the two of you to somehow meet and discuss
business. There is a notation used in lateral thinking called Po. This stands
for ‘Provocative operation.’ This is used to propose an idea which in and of
itself may not always be a good solution, but helps to move your thinking to
a new place, where you can explore some new ideas, roll them around and
see how they might provide the solution to the problem.

Therefore, that client does not want to come to you. What’s next?

 Po: Do you go to him?

 Po: How about a video conference?
 Po: Could you send someone else in your place?
 Po: How about trying to make a deal with him? Ask him what it would
take to get him to come.
 Po: You could just wait until he changes his mind.

I think you get the idea about lateral thinking. It’s okay to come up with
what might seem to be outrageous ideas, ideas you know will not work. It
could very well lead to ideas that will, and that’s what you’re aiming for. And
it does work; many large corporations have used this method of
brainstorming to great advantage and great profits.

Right-Brain/Left-Brain

Have you ever wondered whether you were right-brained or left-brained?

That’s actually very difficult to pin down and perhaps very limiting in terms
of your brainpower. Pigeonholing yourself is not a good idea anyway. By
telling yourself that because you are methodical about certain things, you
must be an analytical thinker, you are limiting your own possibilities. You
might be very good at something creative, but will never realize it if you’re
too limiting. Just because you like being creative, doesn’t mean you can’t
handle numbers like an accountant, if you choose to. Try not to limit your
brain’s abilities.

When it comes to processing information, both halves of your brain can do

it, just in different ways. The dominant side is normally used to process
information, but the learning can be enhanced if both sides are used in
balance. This means you’ll need to pump up your less dominant side,
exercise it a bit. Knowing how each half of your brain works will help you to
understand how to create a balance between the two sides.

The Left Side:

 Processes information in a linear style. That means that it takes pieces

 of information, lines them up and then puts them in a logical
sequence, then comes up with a conclusion. List making is what left-
brained people love to do. They love daily planning schedules, and
they take great satisfaction in checking each item off the list as they
accomplish it.
 Has no problem when it comes to symbols such as words, letters, and
math notations. The left-brain person is at home with linguistic and
mathematical problems.
 Verbal thinking. Has no trouble with self-expression. The left brained
person can explain a problem in detail, giving a step-by-step solution.
 Deals with reality more easily and adapts to different situations with
more ease. Whatever their environment throws at them, they can
adjust to it more easily.

The Right Side:

 Processes more randomly, skipping from item to item, jumping from

topic to topic; more of a leapfrog approach.
 Needs things to be more concrete. They need to see and touch an
object, rather than just discuss it.
 Non-verbal thinking. Has more difficulty expressing themselves in
words and needs everything in writing.
 Not easily adaptable to their environment. Rather than adjust, they’d
sooner change the environment.

No one has quite figured out exactly why, but the right hemisphere or right
brain controls the left side of our bodies, processing what we see with our
left eye; and conversely, the left hemisphere or left-brain controls the right
side of our bodies and processes what we see with our right eye. Many think
that this is what determines whether you are left-handed or right-handed,
but scientists tell us it is not related at all. Yet, no one can explain why more
artists have been left-handed. If you are right-handed, rest assured it
doesn’t mean you can’t be artistic, if you choose to be.

Once again, don’t narrow your vision concerning yourself, telling yourself
you are limited due to the dominant side of your brain. Learn to balance and
use both sides to best advantage. It will take some practice, but you can
learn to process information on both sides of your brain. The artistic types
can learn to be more linear and the logical types can learn to be more
random.

You will also experience four different brain wave states. These are Beta,
Alpha, Theta, and Delta. When your brain is in the Beta state, you are wide-
awake and very alert. This is when your brain performs at its best, but not
creatively.

The Alpha state is a slower brain wave state and your creativity starts to
flow. Solutions begin to present themselves during this state.

In the Theta state, you are completely relaxed and are focused more on
what’s happening within you. You’ll find this is very similar to a meditative
state and you may even discover that the solution to a problem becomes
very clear; you can actually see the ‘big picture.’

When your brain is in the Delta state, you are sound asleep and it’s time for
your brain to recharge, to get you ready for another day and more problems
and the need for creativity.

Though you are asleep, your brain is still working, indeed, it never stops,
but it does slow down enough that the chatter stops. While you’re awake,
your brain is making connections across the neural network, in a constant
flow of data. While you’re asleep, however, your brain loses those
connections, it does in fact, shut down for recharging. That’s while you’re in
a deep sleep, when the brain is dreaming, the connections are still careening
around in your mind, much like it does when you’re awake. Scientists think
that the deep sleep cycle allows the cortical circuits to shut out the noise of
the constant connections, to allow your brain to rest and recuperate for the
next day.

Health And Your Brain

“Our mental and emotional diets determine our overall energy levels, health
and well-being more than we realize. Every thought and feeling, no matter
how big or small, impacts our inner energy reserves.” - Doc Childre

So, you’ve learned how to exercise your brain, stimulate your brain to be
more retentive, and how to avoid stress that can affect your brain’s health.
But there’s one more thing you can do to assure a healthy brain that will
stay sharp for a long time. Believe it or not, you must take special care of
your physical health in order to insure a healthy brain.

Learning to keep your brain healthy begins with your diet. That’s right, you
need brain food. A starved brain will not get you far. Giving your brains the
right foods provides the nutrients and chemicals you need to help develop
your brain. Those brain cells need protection to resist damage.

The first nutrient you should consider adding to your diet, is Choline, a B-
vitamin that will nourish the cells. It promotes brain health and can boost
your memory. The best foods in which to find this nutrient are eggs, nuts
and meat. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are components of brain cell
membranes, need to be replenished regularly with foods such as sardines,
salmon, mackerel, and trout. You can also supplement your diet with fish oil
tablets. This nutrient is especially important, since when you’re learning
anything new, it creates new connections between cells in your brain, and
that requires new membranes to cover them. So, enjoy that fresh fish as
often as possible.

Making the news today is the information about antioxidants, especially

those found in vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene. These are necessary
to protect healthy cells from the damage caused by free radicals, which
attack cells at a molecular level. The best source for vitamin C is in any of
the citrus fruits, as well as strawberries, cantaloupe, spinach, green
peppers, and broccoli. For a good supply of vitamin E, eat whole grains,
nuts, apricots, fish, and vegetable oils. As for beta-carotene, try milk,
peaches, and egg yolks. Stock up on the strawberries, blueberries, and
spinach, which contain phytochemicals and will help boost your memory.

Basically, by eating a lot of dark-skinned fruits and vegetables, you’re giving

yourself the highest levels of naturally occurring antioxidants.

Watching your diet and getting out to exercise several times a week will help
keep your cholesterol down. This is important since studies have shown that
high cholesterol can lead to unhealthy levels of beta-amyloid, a toxic
substance that doctors have discovered which builds up in the brains of
Alzheimer’s patients, and which kills healthy brain cells. The good news is
that HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol can help protect your brain cells. Using olive
oil to cook your food, instead of mono and polyunsaturated fats will help
your body and your brain. Baking or grilling your food rather than frying is
another way to build up your HDL levels and lower your LDL levels.

Equally important to your brain is carefully watching your blood pressure.

Doctors found that those who had high blood pressure in their middle years
were six times more likely to develop some form of dementia later in life
than their healthier counter-parts. Seeing your doctor and treating that high
blood pressure is essential for good memory, and to help prevent dementia
later on in life.

Eating properly and reducing your consumption of high fat and cholesterol
foods, plus adding some form of exercise to your life, even if it’s just
walking each day, will help you manage your body weight. Obesity is not
just bad for your overall physical health, but it is also damaging to your
brain. Once again, the doctors have discovered that adults who are
overweight in their middle years were twice as likely to develop dementia
later in life.

In order to have a healthy brain, it’s important to have a healthy body.

Illness not only slows the body, but can bring about depression, which
affects the brain. Physical fatigue can cause mental fatigue as well. You’ve
heard people say, “I’m so tired, I just can’t think straight.” And it’s true, you
need to be well rested and rejuvenated in order to be at the top of your
game, physically and mentally. And remember, exercise also stimulates your
brain. When you exercise, endorphins pump through your system, affecting
your brain and making you feel good.

It’s simple, without a healthy body, you can’t hope to save your brain, your
memory and your cognitive functions.

“Brains well prepared are the monuments where knowledge is most surely
engraved.” - Jean Jacques Rousseau

Boomer And the Brain

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his

life simply by altering his attitude of mind.” - William James

Scientists say we could look forward to living to one hundred years

old or more. It’s a great possibility that this could be the century of
the centenarians. Doctors with their miracle cures and modern
technology, are helping us to live longer, healthier lives. But what
about our minds? Is it worth living to one hundred if we aren’t in full
possession of our faculties? How can we keep our brains as healthy
as our bodies? It’s predicted that by 2020, more than 200,000
Americans will be one hundred years old or more.

What doctors and scientist alike have discovered is that there is a

great difference between aging and growing old. Believe it or not,
most of it exists in the mind. Cardinal Spellman said, “The three
ages of man are youth, middle age and ‘You’re looking wonderful.’ ”

For those who are aging gracefully, they are able to:

 Maintain an interest in life.

 Believe that it’s never too late to learn something new or change their
attitude.

 Believe that life matters and can be fun.

 Set goals for themselves and see them through.

 Never allow boredom in their lives.

Are you looking forward to your future? Humans are the only
creatures that can see the big picture and plan their futures. That’s
due to the frontal lobe of the brain. It’s that difference that enables
humans to live longer, since we’re able to make choices that
prolong our lives and our brains. Simple choices like wearing a
helmet while riding that motorcycle, choosing not to smoke or use
drugs, all of which will help to save our lives and our brains.

While the brain does change fairly predictably, from your childhood
and your youth to adulthood, age is not all that causes the change;
it is also due to the experiences you encounter along the way. Some
people will undergo a change in their brain that can be disabling,
while others have little or no problems. As for why our brains
change as we get older, the only explanation is evolution. That’s the
only way to explain why our brains have flourished, but are
vulnerable to change as well as our environment.
The biggest difference in the way our human brains have evolved
through the ages from that of animals is our ability to make
intelligent choices. We don’t have to wait and see what will happen
next to impact our lives and minds. We can make the decisions,
what we want to do, and what we want from our futures. And it’s all
thanks to our fully developed frontal lobes. It gives us the ability to
take bits of information and mold it into a complete idea, then act
on that idea, completely aware of the consequences of our actions.
Our ability to see beyond current troubles to the future, enables us
to get through those troubles and know the end results can be
different and to our advantage.

The younger brain does have an advantage when it comes to “fluid

intelligence,” or the ability to gather and use new information. As
you age, there is a decrease in this ‘fluid intelligence’ due to loss of
cells in the sub cortical nuclei. That’s what gives us the get up and
go kind of energy and enthusiasm for new things. Unfortunately,
aging and loss of these vital cells causes a decrease in attention and
concentration, the ability to focus; you may find you are easily
distracted and it’s more difficult to stick with a project.

You can compensate for this decrease in several ways. Go easy with
the caffeine products such as coffee and sodas. If you’re attempting
to learn new skills, break up the learning sessions into smaller
chunks of time. The good news is that “crystallized intelligence,” or
specific, acquired knowledge, doesn’t seem to be affected by the
aging process. You’ll be glad to know that as far as problem-solving
skills are concerned, this actually improves with age, because of
your experience. So the function of a mature brain is neither better
nor worse than a younger one, just different.

Want to keep your mind limber and your mental faculties sharp?
Scientists agree the very best way to keep your brain nourished
even into your nineties and beyond is education. It doesn’t
necessarily mean just obtaining degrees, or even formal schooling
at all. It means constantly adding to your storehouse of knowledge.
Reading, discussions and debates, anything that makes you think
and keeps the mental juices flowing will keep you sharp into your
later years. What do you need to keep learning, now and for your
whole life? Curiosity; that need to know more. Let yourself be
constantly intrigued and amazed by new knowledge. Most
excitingly, it really doesn’t matter what you are learning, the whole
point is in the doing, the studying, the adding of knowledge.

The enthusiasm to add to your knowledge base helps nourish your

brain. And you needn’t decide ahead of time what you will study
and learn about; as you go through life, your interests will just
naturally change, grow and evolve, making you an amazing
repository of knowledge. Remember, people who are interested in
everything are just more interesting people.

Look around your community at all the possibilities for gaining new
knowledge. In any metropolitan area, you’ll find colleges and
universities. Recreation centers offer classes in everything from
language and business classes to basket weaving and banjo lessons,
and everything in between. Ever had the urge to tread upon the
stage? Most every community has a theater group with workshops
and it doesn’t matter if it’s Shakespeare or the local playwright.
Continued mental activity is absolutely key to keeping your brain
alert and alive.

Life isn’t necessarily going to be what you thought it would or go

the way you think it should, despite your best plans. The important
thing is to stay open to the possibilities, the opportunities and the
challenges that come along throughout your life. If you retire at the
age of sixty-five and take up rocking on the porch, you could be
dooming yourself to a gradual loss of mental faculties. In order to
keep your brain flexible, you have to exercise it, keep it honed and
sharp. That means stimulation on a daily basis. Start small if you
wish. Work crossword puzzles for starters. Then move on to other
types of brainteaser puzzles, maybe even the newest rage- Sudoku
puzzles.

Baby Boomers have another challenge, one that many are

attempting to avoid. Mastery of this particular challenge could not
only provide you with mental stimulation, but also fun, friendship
and new skills. I’m talking about computers and the Internet, the
World Wide Web! Cyberspace is out there for all to use and you’re
never too old to learn how to communicate via email, how to
research and learn new facts. The old saying is wrong-you can teach
an old dog new tricks!

For those starting out on a new career, or a home business,

learning to use the computer and the internet could mean the
difference between success and failure. A definite advantage to
learning the computer and how to find your way around the
internet, is the ability to work at a job from your home.
Telecommuting is the newest trend in our society and is becoming
more and more popular every day. Age is also becoming less of an
issue where telecommuting is concerned.

Boomers possess a great deal of knowledge already learned

(crystallized intelligence). And by keeping their brains sharp and
stimulated on a constant basis, it’s easier to grab hold of the new
technology and skills (fluid intelligence). Learning is not just for the
young anymore. Anyone can and should learn every day.

Many organizations have already discovered the advantages of

having a Boomer on Board. They already possess so much
knowledge to help bring success to those companies; they are most
definitely assets.

Several studies done around the world all show that the higher the
level of mental stimulation, the lower the risk of developing
Alzheimer ’s disease. Higher mental stimulation in your job means
you need a higher education level. The studies also showed that
farmers, domestic workers and blue-collar workers had two to three
times the risk of poor memory when they grew older than did those
whose jobs were more managerial or professional.

The biggest misconception in our world today is the idea that the
brain grows older as we do. Stereotypes get in the way of mental
function. We’re told that aging means loss of memory. Too many of
the elderly begin to believe that falsehood. If they continue to allow
this falsehood to influence their mental function, they will indeed
find memories failing. This throws them into a mental rut. If their
lives remain without stimulation, they will begin to lose more and
more memories. But, it’s not too late. Mental stimulation can still be
the key to greater cognitive function. As pointed out before, just as
you would exercise to keep your body in shape, so should you also
exercise your brain to keep it in shape.

Getting older doesn’t mean you’re doomed to be absent minded.

Studies have proved that age has nothing to do with lowered mental
function. Not only can the brain be kept in shape, but absent-
mindedness can actually be reversed.

Maintaining a network of friends and relatives that you enjoy being

with, and who stimulate your mind and heart, is a great way to
combat the aging stereotypes. Good friends can help relieve the
stress that we find in life. Better to find support with good friends
and family than to begin altering your conscious mind with outside
influences such as drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Good friends or
abusive substances? Here’s a perfect example of proactive choice.
What choice will you make?

Memories Are Made of This

The memory is where we store all the ideas, thoughts and

experiences in our brain, so we don’t lose them. We are bombarded
all day, every day by sights and sounds. But where are these
memories stored exactly? Once recorded, a memory is then stored
close to the same part of the brain where it entered in the first
place. For example, memory of a song will be stored close to the
auditory cortex. Memory of a burn, a broken bone or other pain will
be stored near the sensory cortex. For multiple types of sensations,
such as the birth of a child (for women), where emotions and
physiological experiences are involved, the memories are distributed
across multiple cortical areas.

One of the most serious dangers to our brains and memories in

particular is Alzheimer’s disease. This begins with short-term
memory loss, with simple symptoms like constantly losing your car
keys or mislaying your eyeglasses. Patients of Alzheimer’s may find
themselves forgetting even a loved one’s name, or forgetting words
for ordinary objects. Sad to say, it can become even more serious
and life threatening if not treated.
Have you ever experienced the temporary loss of a vital piece of
information-information you know you possess? But, what
happened, where did it go? Baby Boomers simply laugh and refer to
it as a ‘senior moment.’ Many of us suffer from these ‘senior
moments.’ These momentary lapses are not to be confused with
Alzheimer’s. A word or a name just escapes you for a moment and
usually returns a little while later. You should not worry unduly
about these temporary lapses, everyone experiences them at one
time or another.

You’ve probably heard people use expressions like, “my memory is

like a sieve.” Or, maybe they lament that “my memory must be
failing.” This attitude that the memory is hopeless only perpetrates
the misunderstanding about aging and memory loss. No matter
what your age, you can attain any intellectual goal you care to set
for yourself and improve your memory. You simply must exercise
your brain. You wouldn’t attempt to run a marathon without
advanced physical training; why would you expect your brain to
perform feats of intellect without advanced mental training?
Remember the old saying that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.

So, you have all these wonderful memories stored within this
marvelous machine, just waiting for you to tap into them, or access
the files, to use a computer analogy. That’s what your brain actually
is, an amazing memory bank of information. But how, you ask, can
we do that?

In the late 1950s, Dr. Wilder Penfield, at the Montreal Neurological

Institute was trying to cure epileptics by applying electrical
stimulation to certain areas of his patients’ brains. The slight current
the doctor used brought out very precise, very vivid memories. His
patients were able to relate certain memories, in great detail. The
memory evoked depended on the part of the cortex, or the outer
layer of brain cells being stimulated.

Another method of stimulating these deeply buried memories is

hypnosis. Hypnosis allows the subject to recall in minute detail
every aspect of an experience. Sometimes, a person can recall
conversations, recall a scent or sound connected to that experience.
Think those old memories are forgotten, lost forever? They’re not
lost, just mislaid, filed away in that marvelous machine in your
head.

And Now For Something Completely Different!

Estrogen!

Estrogen, a hormone produced by females and that influence sexual

behavior-what could that have to do with the brain? How about
making us smarter?

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a male or a female. Every ‘body’

makes estrogen. It’s just that women make more than men. But,
estrogen is not just a sex related hormone and doctors are working
to determine whether estrogen and other hormones of this type
could actually save human brains from strokes, memory loss and
maybe even Alzheimer’s. Most importantly, what they’re trying to
determine is can hormones keep you smart?

An experiment as early as 1952, showed the connection between

estrogen and memory, but, was ignored for more than thirty years.
Today doctors have learned that not only does miracle hormone
affect memory, but it can also nourish, modify, protect, and yes,
even heal brain cells. We’ll surely be hearing more on that front in
the future.

Until we do, it’s a good bet that taking simple precautions, like
eating smart, exercising (your body and your brain), making
intelligent choices, and continuing to learn all through our lives, will
prolong our bodies and in turn, keep our brains honed and sharp.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.

Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is
to keep your mind young.” - Henry Ford

Train Your Child’s Brain

“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.”- Dr. Seuss

Helping your child develop his/her brain starts in the womb. The
baby’s body is not the only thing growing and developing in the
womb, the brain is working away as well. That’s why special care
must be taken from day one, to ensure that the child is born
healthy, both physically and mentally. The mother needs to choose
carefully her diet and her lifestyle, in order to give her baby the best
chance in life.

The mother will tell you how tired she sometimes feels while she’s
pregnant. This is because the baby’s brain is making a quarter of a
million new neurons every minute, as well as new connections
between those neurons. Now you know what hard work goes into
making sure that the baby is healthy, mentally and physically.

Doctors have determined that newborn babies can recognize their

mother’s voice, which shows that their memory was developing
before their birth. Their little brain is only about one-fourth
developed when they’re born. Their skulls and their brains will
continue to grow until they reach adulthood. By the time the child is
ten years old, his brains will have formed billions of new
connections.

Is there a difference between boys’ brains, and girls’ brains? A male

brain develops from the back to the front, which is developing the
“doing” part before the “thinking” part. A female brain develops the
other way around. The “thinking and language” part develops first,
then the “doing” part.

Any parent will tell you how quickly a child grows in the first year of
life. Every aspect of the child is involved - their behavior,
understanding, and the way they interact with others in their family.
At this point, the brain of that child may look like any adult’s brain,
but the changes have only just begun. By the time that child is
three years old, that little brain has made a thousand trillion
connections—twice as many as an adult. That’s just the tip of the
iceberg in their development. Their social, emotional, and
intellectual development will undergo a mind-boggling surge of
activity from this age to the age of ten. Believe it or not, their brain
activity during this time is twice that of a grown adult.
The reason for so much activity? A child experiences more in a short
time than an adult. They learn to crawl, walk, run and explore.
Reasoning and behavior come next, as well as memory; and of
course, the biggest experience of all that separates us from the
animals - language!

The difference in the brains of children and adults has to do with the
acquisition of language. An adult brain processes language in the
left hemisphere of the brain. However, scientists have discovered
that, until a year old, babies can respond to language with their
entire brain. Then, as they grow older, it shifts to the left
hemisphere.

Language is the area that parents, teachers, and child-care

providers have always understood to be of primary importance in
the first years of life. It encompasses more than just reading. It also
involves story telling and singing, and even just the common
everyday exchange between the adult and the child. Children love
to converse with the adults in their lives, and the give and take
conversations can have an enormous impact on the child’s language
skills.

Working on the child’s language skills helps with more than just
improving their intellect. It also helps the child with social and
emotional skills. As the child begins to develop his/her brain as an
infant, reading becomes the biggest and most important way to
help wire your child’s brain for continued learning.

We’ve already determined that a child’s brain is a place of rapid

activity to the age of ten, forming connections or synapses
constantly. What causes their little brains to form these
connections? Is it in their genes, or is it mostly environmental?
Scientists have determined that genes have some control over this
process, but what is crucial in the development of the brain’s ability
to form connections has to do with the experiences they encounter
in life. It’s true that having an adult read to the child, and other
positive stimulations of this sort, have a profound impact on the
child’s brain development. This helps to create new neural
pathways, as well as fortifying existing pathways.
As the child moves on towards adulthood, the pathways that are
used repeatedly become stronger, but those that are not used often
enough are discarded. This happens at a rapid rate once the child
enters adolescence. Don’t let this worry you as a parent; it’s all
completely natural. It’s more of a pruning process, and is in fact
advantageous to the human brain. By discarding unnecessary
connections, the ones that remain can grow stronger and healthier.
It actually creates space for the more useful and favorable synapses
and makes the brain function more efficiently.

So, there’s a new way of thinking and training the brain of children.
We know now that it’s not only the genes you’re born with that have
to do with the brain’s development, but also the experiences you
gather along the way. Scientists also know now that early childhood
experiences have a huge impact on the brain’s development and
your capacities as an adult.

The relationship between the child and the early childhood

caregiver, that is besides the parents, the teachers, the babysitters,
etc., have an enormous impact on the way that child’s brain
becomes wired for learning. Scientists have also learned that it’s not
just a steady flow of development from infancy to adulthood, but
that there are prime times in the life of the child that’s best for
them to acquire different kinds of knowledge and skills.

So, the good news is that while it’s no easy task to help your
children develop their brains, there are many, many ways you can
help them. Keep them stimulated, keep those synapses firing back
and forth; and to do that, you must read to them, talk to them, and
tell them stories and jokes. Positive interaction is essential to their
intellectual growth.

That brings us to the bad news about training the brains of children.
Studies show that at least one in four children under the age of six
are growing up in impoverished situations. The nutrition or lack
thereof for the expectant mothers, as well as that of the children,
medical care, even the safety of the environments they have to live
in, affect those tiny brains. Poverty can affect the stress levels of
their parents, and constant working prevents those parents from
the necessary interaction with the children. If all they do is work,
they have no time to read and interact with the children.

Children raised in poverty situations have an increased chance of

exposure to drugs, alcohol, violence and abuse. These conditions
are not limited to only economically disadvantaged children, but are
simply more likely to occur in those situations.

Researchers have noted more developmental delays and learning

difficulties in such kids than in the more advantaged children, and
that’s because these early negative experiences have a huge impact
on brain development. They are proving conclusively that poverty
definitely influences these early childhood experiences.

Given the right circumstances, how smart can we make our

children? Scientists have determined that a mere ten minutes a day
of brain stimulation can create a brain with a standard I.Q or
Intelligence Quotient. What if we added more stimulation to a child’s
day? Would an extra hour or two make a big difference? Could we,
in effect, create children with super mental powers?

A prime example of the possibilities of this scenario would be the

amazing life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His father, Leopold, was
one of Europe’s leading musical teachers and was Wolfgang’s only
teacher in the early years of his life. The result was that the young
Mozart began learning to play the organ, violin, and the clavier
when he was only three years old and was composing when he was
five!

Prodigies, like Mozart, are not necessarily born smart or talented,

but can be created by the parents and other caregivers. Stimulation
every day causes the child to think more, thus producing more brain
growth. Left on their own, children will find lots to do to entertain
themselves, but more structured stimulation will produce more
desired results. Young brains have been compared to small
sponges, soaking up information all the time from all around them.
Give them the desired information to produce the desired result.

How early is too early to learn to read? If the child is able to handle
the spoken language, it’s a good time to start teaching him/her to
read. A child’s brain is so ready and willing to tackle new skills, so
able to handle all the new connections, that reading is actually
amazingly easy for the young brain.

The parents are actually the ideal people to teach their children to
read. It requires love, patience and determination, things parents
already possess in abundance. They needn’t have a college degree
to be qualified to teach their children this skill.

“If I appear to see further than others it is because I sit on the

shoulders of giants,” said Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz

We can help our children stand on our shoulders and attain

everything they want in life. Then we need to teach them to boost
up their own children, and be the shoulders they stand upon.

You And Your IQ

“The difference between intelligence and an education is this-that

intelligence will make you a good living.” - Charles Franklin
Kettering

Before you can understand how your I.Q. affects your brain and
your life, you must understand what it is, how it works, and how to
interpret the scores. Let me emphasize right off the bat that your
I.Q. score has nothing to do with your value as a person. The tests
should not necessarily be considered an absolute measure of
intelligence. It should only give you an idea of your range of
intelligence. It often happens that a person of above average
intelligence scores low. It could be as simple as having an off day.
The test scores should not be looked at as the be-all and end-all of
measuring an individual’s intelligence.

The I.Q. tests are made up of a set of standardized tests developed

to measure your cognitive abilities, in relation to your age group.
The WISC-III test contains ten types of problems, rated by difficulty
and skill type and is the most common I.Q. test administered. The
online I.Q. test is very popular right now, easy to take and costs
nothing. The disadvantages, however, are that the online versions
have no experts to certify them; they have fewer questions and no
time limit. But, they can measure a general capacity for solving
verbal and mathematical problems.

The average I.Q. score is 100 and the standard deviation of the
scores is 15. What this means is that:

 50% of the people have scores somewhere between 90 and 110.

 2.5% of the people are considered superior in intelligence and have

scores over 130.

 2.5% of the people are considered mentally deficient or impaired and

have scores under 70.

 0.5% of the people have near genius scores of over 140.

What does this all mean to you? If you score 100 on the I.Q. test, it
means that half the population scored higher than you and half
scored lower than you.

The tests themselves are made to evaluate your skill in several

areas.

 Verbal - This measures your mastery of vocabulary and your ability to

use language to express yourself, as well as to comprehend stories
and understand other people.

 Mathematical - This measures your mastery of numerical skills, the

ability to use numbers and calculate computations. This also shows
your mastery of shapes and equations.

 Spatial - This measures your ability to deal with visualization and

manipulating 3D objects by flipping and rotating them.

 Logic - This measures your ability to make deductions that will lead to
rational conclusions, as well as your understanding of cause and effect.

 Pattern Recognition - This measures your ability to see order in a

chaotic environment. Patterns are found throughout nature and in
everyday symbols, words, and images.
  Visualization - This measures how well you perceive visual patterns
and extract the information you need for problem solving.

 Classification - This measures your ability to find similarities and

differences between selected items.

Studies have shown that those people who are careful about their
health and safety have a higher I.Q. They also discovered that
conditions such as post-traumatic disorder, severe depression, and
schizophrenia show up less often in those with a higher I.Q. On the
reverse side, there was a much higher incident of OCD (Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder) in those with a higher I.Q. score.

There is a controversy surrounding the administering of the I.Q.

tests. Some insist that the Symbolic Logic, which is used as a
means of scoring on these tests, does not necessarily denote
intelligence. There are some too, who wonder exactly what is being
measured with these tests. It’s felt that some could show an
amazing amount of emotional intelligence and yet not be able to
comprehend the information necessary to do well on the tests. Many
feel that other tests should be added to the existing I.Q.
standardized tests. There are still those who debate whether income
level, nutrition, race and gender have a definite impact on these
tests, and thereby question their validity.

There is also the question of whether nature or nurture actually

influences the development of the human brain, and can be argued
on both sides.

Scientists are also reeling over the data gathered that shows a large
jump in the average I.Q. score, presenting the question of whether
this new generation is really smarter than all the previous ones. In a
study done in 1998, it showed that it was indeed an increase of
three I.Q. points per decade in the United States.

Part of the answer was in the early neurological development of the

children; they are being stimulated at an earlier age than ever
before. They also credit better education, better nutrition, more
money, the fact that families are smaller these days than before, as
well as television and video games. As a side note, it was
determined that because they taught the children to manipulate
objects through a 3-dimensional space, certain video games actually
increased their I.Q.

Many of the scientists agreed that we must become smarter if we

hope to survive. The world has become more complex and our
intelligence must keep pace.

Despite whether or not the I.Q. tests are valuable, or a waste of

time, they will continue to be administered, in the hopes of
determining where a person’s skills are strongest and weakest. Yet
another reason to continue to learn and grow, and keep our brains
honed and sharp.

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason
why so few engage in it.” - Henry Ford

Conclusion

“There are three different kinds of brains, the one understands

things unassisted, the other understands things when shown by
others, and the third understands neither alone nor with the
explanations of others. The first kind is most excellent, the second
kind also excellent, but the third useless.” - Niccolo Machiavelli

Tests or no tests, the point is to enhance your intelligence, build up

your mind, and train your brain. So, perhaps your I.Q. score is not
that important; it’s real life intelligence that matters. Some will say
it’s more important to be book smart (get an education), while
others will say it’s street smarts (experience) that will serve you
best in life. How about if we combine those two? Get the best
education you can and learn from every experience in your life. In
other words use everything at your disposal. That’s the best way to
train your brain.

We’ve been talking about how your brain is like a computer. It is in

fact a three-pound computer. No computer in the world has so
much packed into so small a space. The human brain is an amazing
machine, capable of more than you ever dreamed possible. It’s all in
the way you look at things, how you treat that marvelous machine,
how you feed it and train it. And remember, there are no limits to
how much you can learn and how far you can take that human brain
of yours.

You have the power to make all your dreams come true. You
possess everything you need in the way of brainpower to get you
where you want to go, no matter how far that might be.

So stop making excuses, stop the laziness, stop the defeating self-
talk. But do ask yourself the tough questions. How smart do you
want to be? Start now, today, training your brain. Feed it foods that
help build it up, take good care of it, learn something new every
day, stimulate your brain constantly, and make good choices. Try
new things, develop new skills and talents, and think new thoughts.
Keep that red matter constantly churning out new connections, and
keep those neurons firing.

We’ve made great strides with our regular computers. They are
almost smart enough to do without us. But, they are more than
mere storage devices. Nowadays, we use them for everything. It’s
the same with your brain--your three-pound internal computer. It’s
capable of so much more than you realize. Now’s the time to start
finding out just how marvelous a machine you possess, there
between your ears.

“I said in Dorian Gray that the great sins of the world take place in
the brain; but it is in the brain that everything takes place…It is in
the brain that the poppy is red, that the apple is odorous, that the
skylark sings.” - Oscar Wilde