NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS
According to Octavius Black, who runs the Mind Gym, people often confuse being well informed with mental fitness. “It’s not just about how many facts you know. Intelligence is about being mentally alert in order to make good decisions and seize the best opportunities as they arise.” He points out that many people think that watching current-affairs programmes makes them smarter than those who watch soaps. “That’s not accurate. News is an essentially passive viewing experience. The brain works at its best when it is filling in missing information and making connections. Information-based programmes either confirm or challenge our world-view, but unless you are the type to lie awake wondering about Berlusconi and the EU, they don’t get you thinking.” He suggests that soap operas give the mind a better workout. “Wondering what is going to happen next is a great way of exercising the brain.”
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YOU THINK WHAT YOU EAT
Latest findings have established a link between excessive salt intake and decreased brain power. Salt raises blood pressure, and there’s a direct relationship between this and cognitive function. Humans need only half a gram of salt a day, but the average Briton eats a whopping 12g (men) or 10g (women). The research shows that raised blood pressure resulting from high salt levels may harm memory, reasoning and attention span. Foods containing trans fats, found in processed products including margarine, are also known brain-drainers. Trans fats disrupt the messages between neural pathways and have been linked with attention deficit disorder and dyslexia. They are called “hydrogenated vegetable oils” on food labels. Good brain foods include lentils, beans, peas and eggs, which are high in choline (often referred to as vitamin B) and protein. Foods containing protein enhance the brain’s production of dopamine, a natural chemical that helps you feel alert. Oily fish, high in omega-3, is also beneficial.
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STAYING IN THE COMFORT ZONE
“Use it or lose it,” says Joel Levy, the author of Boost Your Brain Power. “Many people stick to what they know they can do, and parts of their brain atrophy.” Left-brained people are good at maths and verbal reasoning, and process information in an analytical, logical way. Right-brained people tend to solve problems based on insights, perceptions and intuition. They tend to be more artistic and think in pictures. “There’s a fear factor at work,” says Levy of this divide. “If you think you can’t do mental arithmetic, then you stop trying to add things up in the supermarket — a classic right-brained approach.” He advises people to think outside the box and give their brains a chance.
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MULTITASKING
Do you chat on the phone while cooking, or read that report for your boss while watching Wife Swap? Well, you shouldn’t. When you do two or more things at once, brain power does not increase to meet demand; in fact, it decreases, so you perform each task less effectively. A study by the Centre for Cognitive Brain Imaging, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, used MRI scans to compare brain activity in people performing single complex tasks with those carrying out more than one task. It appears that the more we concentrate on a single task, the more effective we are. The research shows that the brain is actually less active when doing two things at once than when it is doing only one, even when the tasks use different parts of the brain, such as the language and spatial/visual centres. Another study examined drivers’ skills while talking on a mobile phone. The results showed that drivers talking on the phone (whether hands-free or not) braked later at red traffic lights.
MUSIC AND MOTION
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Music stimulates the brain by causing it to look for patterns and a sense of order in any given song or composition. Typically, when you listen to music, your mind is scanning what it hears and deciding if the melodies, pitch and rhythm are different or the same. Dance music is too repetitive to keep the brain engaged. The optimum music for memory and problem-solving has a strong 4/4 rhythm, and this type of music is widely used in the rehabilitation of stroke patients. For that reason, reggae and salsa are both good brain-boosters. Dance music is highly rhythmic, but it relies on syncopation — where a beat comes just before expectation — which ruins the positive effect. Most modern jazz is too meandering and unpredictable to be beneficial, but, surprisingly, rap music has been given the thumbs up by no less an authority than Don Campbell, author of the bestselling book The Mozart Effect. He likens rap to the sacred chanting of religious orders, and urges everyone to chant their own rap music, because speaking in time to the rhythm harmonises right and left brain.
CHILLING OUT
If you think chilling out is the best way to prime the brain for tomorrow morning’s meeting, think again. Keeping your mind active is the best way to prepare for any situation in which you need to be at your mental peak. Scrabble, chess or even the humble pub quiz can all provide a satisfying brain workout. Octavius Black identifies four zones of brain activity: the chill zone, where our thinking is not being challenged; the thrill zone, where we are at our mental peak; the spill zone, where we start to get too mentally agitated to think effectively; and the kill zone, where we are so pressurised that we become distressed. “Without any stress, you won’t think at all productively,” he says.
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Boost Your Brain Power by Joel Levy is published on Tuesday (Cico Books £12.99). For advice on how to improve your mind, visit www.themindgym.com