Tricks For Keeping Your Brain In Tip-Top Condition

It’s summer holidays in Australia and many of us are enjoying long lazy days at the beach, barbeques with friends and even a bit of cricket with the kids. According to neural brain experts, our minds should be functioning brilliantly. ‘What?’ you may ask, ‘in holiday mode, our brains function better?’ Well, yes according to the experts. The one variable that hinders brain function is stress, so the less stress we have the better our minds work. I just read a fascinating article on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website about brain function, in particular our ability to remember names.

The story was called, ‘What happens when your brain draws a blank and forgets people's names?’ According to Dr Fiona Kerry from the University of Adelaide our brains ‘decouple from the task’ when we forget someone’s name. She says our ability to remember is shaped by two factors, emotion and repetition. If you have a strong emotional connection to someone you will be able to remember their name.

Your brain empties out your short-term memory bin

If we don’t have that strong emotional connection our brain just files the name away in our short-term memory and our brain tends to empty that storage area frequently, hence we forget the names of people we rarely see and feel no connection to.

If you want to remember a name try repeating it several times, or Dr Kerr says make up a funny riddle that will cause the name to stick in your memory. Just don’t repeat that riddle about the name to the person you’ve just met!

The best ways to keep your brain sharp is to relax

Dr Kerr says one of the best ways to keep your brain sharp is to relax. She explained that 60 percent of the brain’s work arrives through what we see, so if we reduce our visual stimulation then the word-processing and creative functions of the brain have extra resources to improve. To unplug from visual stimulation, you need to disconnect from the world. You need to have a nap, close your eyes and think of nothing or just look out the window and watch clouds.

It’s funny, but my youngest daughter is almost a teenager and I’m forever telling her to put away her mobile phone and stop looking at a screen. I want to encourage her to interact with the world and not just an electronic device. If you know any young people you will know that their devices are almost an extension of their arms, it’s part of them. On long car trips I tell my daughter to put her phone away and look out the window. “That’s so boring,” she says, but now I will be able to explain that being bored is the point. In the future I will tell her that she is unplugging, because 60 percent of the brain’s activity arrives through visual stimuli and if she wants her brain to become more creative and better at crafting words she needs to ‘decouple’ from flashing light on a screen and just watch some clouds, or cows chewing grass in a field. Maybe she can just watch the white line on the road roll past. Isn’t that what we all did as kids? I’ll tell her straight that Dr Fiona Kerr says if you are over-stimulated you are underproductive.

Try doing some domestic chores to sharpen your mind

I remember once getting stuck on a section of a book I was writing. I just couldn’t find what I needed to say. My publisher advised me to leave my writing alone. She said I should just do some boring everyday domestic activities and my mind would sort out the writing problems I was having. So for three days I did not do any writing. I cleaned the house and went shopping, when I returned to my manuscript I had no more problems.

Talking to people stimulates our brains

Another tip from the good doctor on brain health is go talk to people. More great advice for my youngest daughter! “You get spindle neurons going off, mirror neurons going off, we have all sorts of oxytocin loops, dopamine, endorphins, dynamic resonance. They create chemicals that allow our brains to be more nimble,” Dr Kerr told the ABC. Dr Kerr said no electronic technology, not even the screens of mobile phones, cause these chemicals to react. That means it is much healthier for your brain to talk to someone face-to-face rather than text someone. How many teenagers are aware of that?

Nana-naps are great for the brain

Dr Kerr says nana-naps are great for the brain. She says a power nap of about 20 minutes stops the stimuli overload and clears out the brain. 60 to 90 minutes of sleep is a full REM cycle which can help us fully process and access all long-term memories. When companies in the Silicon Valley began installing sleep pods for workers, the rest of the world laughed but they were actually improving their workers’ brain function.

Finally, if your memory can’t recall a name or fact do not get stressed because stress produces the steroid hormone, cortisol. “Cortisol puts a blanket between your working memory and your mid and long-term memory and stops you getting at it,” Dr Kerr said. Cortisol causes your brain to pay attention to the immediate surroundings and any threats. It pushes past memories into the back of your mind. Dr Kerr’s advice is: relax! “As soon as you go away and leave that part of your brain to check what you were trying to do, it knows where it is.”

Going by the findings of Dr Kerr your brain should be in tip-top shape if you’ve had a lovely relaxing holiday. Perhaps now is the time to do start a new project. Write the first chapter of a novel, start a new painting, get into some word work because your brain is now primed and ready for action.