Look at this picture for five seconds, then close your eyes and recall as many colors as possible.

• How many can you recall?
• Can you visualize the picture in detail?

Let's find out how good your brain really is?

Before you launch into brain fitness exersizes, there are a few things you need to know about exercising your brain - How your brain works:

1. Your brain is a muscle and just like other muscles of your body, the more you exercise it the better it will get.

However unlike other cells in your body, your brain cells keep growing throughout your life time. You need to take special care and create the right conditions for proper growth of your brain cells. To understand more about your brain health care, you may read the article: How to tap into your brain power How to tap into brain power

2. Your brain thinks by association, hence what you focus on tends to grow.

Because as your brain thinks about a single idea new neural networks start getting created. and as your brain associates this idea with other concepts and ideas in its memory banks, more new neural networks, connections and pathways are being created making your brain grow.

Hence learning to focus and concentrate on a single thought, idea or problem should be an important part of your brain fitness exercise.

3. Your brain loves variety, and can get sluggish with 'sameness'.

Since your brain thinks by association with other concepts and ideas, you constantly need to feed it newer experiences, ideas and concepts to help your neurons to grow and flourish.

Hence if you keep doing the same things over and over again everyday of your life with no change of pace, rhythm or schedule, you will not be helping your brain to form new neural pathways. And the sameness of your life will kind of 'drug your brain', resulting in its slowing down.

Hence you constantly need to do new things. Experience new things. See new things. Bring variety into your life. Thus if you have been doing the same old - same old brain fitness exersize for long , you need to change. Experience something new.

4. You need to keep challenging your brain with problem solving and new learning activities.

For instance you could take up simple puzzles. Learn a new language, this is a very powerful way to 'tune your brain'. Or you could pick up a math grade 4 book and start solving the math problems in it. This will keep your brain challenged for hours on end. But what if you already are a math or techy geek... in this case go and take up painting or drawing or calligraphy. Tend towards things you are not already tuned into.

5. Brain exercising tip:

Knittting endlessly is a very good brain enhancer. Because while your motor skills and conscious brain is engaged in the knitting process, your subconscious mind is 'wondering in a dream state' or 'daydreaming', thinking of a variety of things and solving problems in the background. This is similar to driving on the highway on a very long trip - where you are automatically driving , yet your mind is far away.

6. Another way of training your brain for fitness and health

is by learning to Speed Read . Then if you use speed reading, it is not only going to exercise your photographic memory, but also increase your knowledge at a very fast pace, helping in building new neural networks in your brain.

The brain fitness exersizes on this page are created using the above basic concepts of how a brain works.

You will be doing exercises that will enhance your focus, concentration, powers of observation, memory and visualization, as well as cognitive thinking and basic problem solving skills. Keep a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil handy as they may be required for some of these exercises.

Brain fitness exercise 1:

Memory Training

1. Look at the picture on the right for 5 seconds, then close your eyes and recall as many colors as possible. Also try to recall as many fruits as you can recognize in this picture.

2. Look at the picture on the right for five seconds and then look away, take a sheet of paper and write down as many fruits and vegetables as you can remember seeing in this picture.

Look at the three shapes below, which one does not belong in this group.

Memory Skills Training

Look at the picture below, then close your eyes and visualize its shape as closely as you can... follow the curves and strokes in your minds eye. Repeat the same for the other picture.

Look at this picture for 5 seconds, then close your eyes and try to visualize the shape. How many circles, triangles or points did you see?

Playing with Words - Brain training with lists and groups

1. Look at the list of words for five seconds:

• Rose
• Daisy
• Clover
• Bluebells
• Cocoa
• Chrysanthemums

a. Close your eyes and try to recall as many items on that list as possible.

b. Which of the words does not fit in with the group above?

2. You are going shopping, and you forget the shopping list at home. Can you look at the list below for 5 seconds and then look away and write down as many things as you can recall. When you are done. comeback and compare your list with this list to see how many items you missed. List:

• bread
• apples
• butter
• eggs
• cucumber
• onions
• carrots
• oranges
• flour
• brown sugar
• maple syrup
• baking powder
• chocolate chips
• cornflakes
• tomato paste
• tooth paste
• beauty soap
• detergent
• washing powder
• sardines can

3. Recite the alphabet backwards (Z to A) without stopping.

4. Consider the 3 words Crab / sauce / pine, if you were to add the word apple to each of them, this would create the following 3 compound words: Crab Apple, Apple Sauce, Pine Apple. Create compound words by adding a single word to the following group of words:

• board / widow / hawk
• cub / den / share
• nest / egg / feather

Brain Fitness Exercises 3 - Brain Training Exercises using Math Skills

1. Look at the series of numbers, it follows a pattern. Can you complete it.

a. 3, 7, 15, , , 127

b. 10, , , 40, 50, , , 70

c. 2, 6, 14, , 62 , , ,

2. Use the numbers 1 to 9 to create 100, each number should not be repeated more than once.

for example: 123 + 45 - 67 + 8 - 9 = 100. Create as many combinations as you can.

3. Count backwards from 100 to 0.

4. Recite the multiplication tables for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or even more. For instance you could start with 2x1=2... upto 2x12=24. Then keep reciting for 3, 4, 5 etc. Doing mental math is a great way for brain improvment.

5. How about doing some reverse multiplication or division mentally... For instance: instead of 2x1=2, mentally rehearse 2/2=1, 4/2=2, 6/2=3,8/2=4... essentially reverse the multiplication tables and recite them. Works great for brain training. Will help your brain in creating new neural patterns.

Brain Improvement Exercises - Brain fitness exersizes 4.

These exercises are designed to work on your brain muscle physically.

1. Stare straight ahead in front of you. Then without turning your head, move your eyes to the extreme right. What do you see in the periphery. Bring your eyes back to the center, and still without turning your head, move your eyes to the extreme left, what do you see there? Repeat 2 or 3 times.

2. Keeping your head straight and your eyes focused right in front of you. Then without turning your head, slowly start rolling your eyes and complete the full circle of 360 degrees first in one direction and then in the other.

3. Keep your head straight, then while holding your neck straight, tilt your head backwards as far as it will go, bend your head forwards, then slowly start rotating your head for the full circle in one direction. Repeat in the other direction. This may cause some dizziness. So make sure you are sitting down while you do this head/neck exercise.

Release Your mighty memory Now!

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