Smarter by September

Get Your Brain in Shape

Summer's almost here and it's time for the ultimate hot weather shape-up: a total workout for your beautiful mind, not your body. This plan gives new meaning to the concept of summer school—you don't have to go near a classroom, but each day, you dedicate at least 30 to 60 minutes to toning up your flabby memory and adding speed and agility to your cognitive skills. The goal: to be sharper by September, no matter what your stage of life.

by Sheree Crute

Illustration by David Ridley

Now, even if you think your old gray matter just ain't what it used to be, cast aside your doubts and embrace your brilliant future. "Scientists have let go of the idea that brain power peaks at age 5," says Paul Nussbaum, a neuropsychologist at the University of Pittsburgh and author of Brain Health and Wellness. Nussbaum is referring to the once common notion that we maxed out our intellectual potential by the time we were potty trained. "The brain is very flexible,"  Nussbaum asserts. "We're able to learn throughout our entire life span."

"The basic idea," says Lawrence Katz, a professor of neurobiology at Duke University, "is that your brain has many untapped pathways." By stimulating those pathways in new ways, you can increase the number and size of the brain's synaptic connections—its key electrical circuits. "An enriched environment," Nussbaum explains, contributes to ongoing neurogenesis (the growth of new brain cells or neurons) in adults and strengthens many of the brain's supportive structures. Added benefits include staving off dementia and the foggy thinking many see as an unavoidable part of old age.

Best of all, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to learn to think clearer and faster. All it takes is a willingness to change, a little work, and some common sense. The steps here will teach you how to create your own enriched environment—a world in which you can easily improve your mind every day. Lots of these tips can also be adapted to the classroom because young minds respond to the same stimuli. Improvement will be gradual but definite. Come fall, you just may find yourself whizzing through complex tasks with ease!

1. Rediscover your inner toddler.

   This is an important reminder for adults who simply forget how to play, says John J. Ratey, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard and author of The User's Guide to the Brain. If you have a friend who teaches kindergarten, visit, get down on the floor, and play with the kids. "Go out with friends," says Ratey, "but do something you never do." Challenge the dog to Frisbee; dig the board games out of the closet. Make humor and laughter a part of your life. Your mind thrives on positive, happy experiences.

2. Turn off the computer.

Yes, computer games are engaging, but the mind hates isolation. "The most novel stimulus for the brain is other people," says Katz. "Our highly automated society reduces this interaction." The solution? Talk to the corner grocer, chat with the dry cleaner, go to lunch with a crowd, or find other activities that bring you into contact with a wide variety of folks.

3. Mix it up

   After examining the latest neurobiology research, Katz created Neurobics. "These are activities that use the natural world and your five senses to keep your brain agile, help your information-processing speed keep up as you age, and improve your overall cognitive function," explains Katz, author of Neurobics: Keep Your Brain Alive. To begin, write down what you do every day, suggests Nussbaum. Then look at each activity and ask: Is this novel, challenging, or complex? If not, figure out how you can make it that way.

4. Play Beethoven…badly.

   Or learn the violin at 60. "Do something you stink at," suggests Nussbaum. Your sour notes may drive the dog under the bed, but you'll actually be building neuro-circuits as you squeak and plunk along.

5. Talk with your hands.

   Learning a new language is a great way to stimulate the mind, but learning sign language is the best stimulus of all. Try learning a few signs each day.

6. Become ambidextrous.

   Shave, brush your teeth, style your hair, even apply make-up with your non-dominant hand a few mornings a week. Take up knitting or salsa. Basically, activities that use both sides of the body make your mind work harder.

7. Switch senses.

   Close your eyes and find your keys with your sense of touch, rather than sight. Shower with your eyes closed and find the tap or soap by touch only.

8. Stop and smell the peppermint.

   Place a small jar of aromatic herbs—mint, thyme, lavender—near the phone. Sniff it when you dial a new number. See if another whiff helps you remember the number.

9. Be a road warrior.

   When traveling abroad, rent a car, figure out roads, and explore small towns where you don't speak the language. At home, change your route to work often.

10. Explore.

    If you teach math, spend the summer studying the Middle East or Shakespeare. Just make sure it's something you know little or nothing about.

11. Work the body/mind connection.

    Research has found that aerobic exercise is "miracle grow" for the brain. Try to get at least one hour a day. Exercise not only affects blood flow (25 percent of the blood from every heart beat goes to the brain), it also causes the release of neurotransmitters. Also good for the brain: karate, tai chi, and yoga.

12. Add muscle to your memory.

    Practice memorizing lists of unrelated words, or visualize things, then try to recall the image and name later in the day.

13. And repeat.

    Repetition actually strengthens brain connections.

14. Train your brain.

    No mental fitness program would be complete without exercises designed to stimulate specific cognitive skills. The exercises below were created by Scientific Brain Training and can be found at www.HappyNeuron.com, a Web site where some of the best experts in the business put you through  a rigorous brain training program for a graduated fee.

Brain Games

Want to find out whether you're firing on all cylinders? Challenge your brain with these two fun exercises. The first is designed to test your visual sharpness, while the second tests your reasoning, concentration, and abstraction skills.

Characters You have 30 seconds to find which characters are on the right side of the picture, but not on the left.
Basketball in New York Mentally move the balls from position A so they exactly match position B. You may only move one ball at a time and only above the basket. Also, there cannot be more than three balls in a basket. How many moves are needed?