A good memory, a sharp mind is not an innate human talent, but a skill that can be developed and taught by both children and adults. For this, there is a set of special exercises and methods aimed at improving brain function and synchronizing the brain hemispheres.
Training the human brain and memory
Like the body, the brain needs exercise. Many tasks used to create new neural connections eventually become habitual, reducing the brain's ability to focus and concentrate on new things. The reason for this is the violation of interhemispheric interaction and the lack of their equivalent development.
A person's desire to learn new things, which creates new neural connections, helps to normalize the functioning of the brain. But "malnutrition" of the brain slows down the learning process due to impaired memory, lack of quick reactions and creative thinking.
An effective way to restore and improve mental and cognitive abilities is to perform specific brain training exercises. Daily exercise can help improve brain activity and therefore a person's cognitive abilities, which include thinking, memory, speech, perception, imagination and attention.
Benefit
What are the benefits of gymnastics for the brain:
- concentration and reaction speed increase;
- improves memory;
- emotional resistance to negative factors increases;
- coordination of movements improves;
- have more energy for daily tasks;
- hidden abilities of the brain are revealed;
- sleep quality improves.
Brain gymnastics is often prescribed by psychotherapists to treat neuroses, depression and emotional exhaustion. Exercise can help you get rid of negative thoughts, distractions, and restore a person's productivity.
Features
Your brain needs to be trained throughout your life, from infancy to adulthood. In its principle, gymnastics for improving memory and brain activity is the same for both children and adults, but it has a number of features.
In adults
Anyone over the age of 20 will experience forgetfulness, poor spatial orientation, and a general decline in performance. Common causes include bad habits, poor sleep, and an irregular work schedule that overloads the brain with too much information. To normalize the functioning of the brain and restore the sharpness of your intellect, you need to revise your lifestyle, be physically active, relax, and devote 5 minutes a day to thematic exercises.
Also, adults should not forget about ways to develop children's brain - fine motor exercises, reading poetry, retelling, etc. b.
In children
The degree of development of interhemispheric connections determines the child's academic achievements, proper coordination of movements, communication with peers, speech quality and emotional intelligence. The development of new neurons should begin at the age of 2-3 years, when a child's brain absorbs much more energy than an adult's brain.
The main and popular way to develop children's brain is educational games that combine activities to improve hand-eye coordination, concentration and motor skills. In addition, it has a favorable effect on the equal development of the cerebral hemispheres:
- finger gymnastics;
- breathing exercises;
- logarithmic;
- listen to music;
- to dance;
- reading and retelling;
- creativity: modeling, drawing, knitting, etc. b. ;
- self-massage;
- kinesiological exercises;
- didactic games: comparing objects, predicting an object by description, etc. b.
All of this helps to improve interhemispheric interaction, which affects the formation of healthy self-esteem and the success of the child. And the desire to learn new things can become a useful habit for a child that will help him throughout his life.
How to develop memory
Memory is closely related to other cognitive abilities that also require development. Therefore, it is necessary to take a comprehensive approach to its development, perform special exercises and change daily life in other interesting ways, which we will consider later.
The best exercises
Lessons should take place in a quiet environment. Duration of training is from 5 to 20 minutes. It is also important to increase the number of repetitions of exercises, to complicate them by adding additional gestures, movements, and sounds.
For the brain
The following set of neurogymnastic exercises was developed by American psychologists Paul and Gail Dennison based on educational kinesiology.
Exercise 1. "Brain Buttons"
Exercise helps the brain to "fire up" and get used to working.
- Stand up straight, back straight.
- One hand massages the hollows between the first and second ribs on the left and right under the collarbones. The other hand is placed on the navel, which allows you to focus on the center of gravity.
Exercise 2. "Hooks"
- Take any comfortable starting position: standing, sitting or lying down with your legs crossed.
- Extend your arms in front of you, with your palms crossed and your fingers interlaced.
- Turn your arms inward at chest level, elbows pointing down.
- Return to the original position. Repeat 8-10 times.
Exercise 3. "Knee-elbow"
- Starting position: standing.
- Lift and bend your left leg at the knee.
- Touch the elbow of your right hand to the knee of your left leg. Then repeat the movement with your right leg and left arm. Do 8-10 repetitions.
Exercise 4. "Elephant"
- Starting position: standing in a comfortable position. The knee is slightly bent.
- Lean your head over your shoulder. From this shoulder, extend your arm forward like a trunk and draw a horizontal figure eight, starting from the center of your field of vision, up and counterclockwise. Important: the eyes follow the movement of the finger.
Perform the exercise by pressing your left hand to your left ear 3-5 times slowly, and pressing your right hand to your right ear as many times.
Exercise 5. "Mirror drawing"
- Grab a marker or pen in both hands.
- The mirror symmetrically uses both hands to write numbers, letters, etc. on paper at the same time. b.
Additional exercises for maximum involvement of the brain:
- "Fist palm". Extend both arms in front of you. Clench the fingers of your left hand into a fist and straighten your right. Then, gradually speed up your movement and change the position of your fingers in sequence.
- "The winner". The fingers of one hand make a "V" gesture and the other makes an "OK" gesture. Gradually increase the speed.
- "Horns and Feet. "One hand shows the horn, the other the foot (thumb, index and middle fingers). Gradually increase the speed.
- On one hand, join the thumb with all the other fingers sequentially, starting with the index. Do the same with the other hand, but start with the little finger. Do the exercises with both arms at the same time.
- "Others". On the one hand, bend all the fingers except the index and middle fingers, and on the other - except the ring and little fingers. Put them together like puzzles. Gradually speed up the movements and switch hands.
For memory
Simple and effective exercises to improve memory:
- Map of the route.Draw a map of your route to work. Try to remember everything in detail: names of streets, metro stations, stops, shops you meet on the way.
- Alphabet.Quickly come up with words for each letter of the alphabet.
- magician.For this exercise you will need a deck of playing cards. Shuffle it and remember the sequence of the first 3-5 cards from the deck. Shuffle the deck and find these cards.
- Carbon copy.Find any picture or get a banknote online. Study the picture for a minute and draw what you see from your mind on a piece of paper. Then compare the drawing to the original to identify any missing details.
- Memorize the school song or learn your favorite songs. It's also great for memory training.
- Before going to bed, remember the people and things around you. If you have attended a lecture, try to recall all the material in your head.
- Take something. Look at the details for a minute. Then go off topic and try to write a detailed review and describe it.
Other methods
In addition to specific exercises, there are other useful ways to activate the brain and improve memory:
- Always learn new things.Minimal load on the brain and lack of new information leads to deterioration of memory and other cognitive abilities. Also, diverting your attention to something unrelated to your work can help you develop resilience to stress. The best options are learning foreign languages, online courses, crafts, etc. b.
- Play mind games, solving crosswords, riddles. It helps clear your mind and broaden your perspective.
- Get out of your comfort zone.For example, take a different route to work, take up a hobby you dread, actively meet and communicate with people in real life.
- Pull at the same timetwo hemispheres of the brain. Brush your teeth, eat, open the door, hold the handle with your non-dominant hand.
- Reading, handwriting.Reading trains memory, activates imagination and creative thinking. And handwriting is a great way to develop motor skills.
Equally important is having access to rest. Avoid sleep and learn to meditate. The brain needs rest and relaxation.
Products for memory and brain development
Keeping your diet in check is important to keep your brain active. A healthy daily diet should include proteins, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. You can also include the following brain-boosting foods in your diet:
- Oily fish.A source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, it affects the active saturation of brain cells with oxygen and nutrients.
- Bitter chocolate.Chocolate containing 70% cocoa can slow down age-related cognitive decline and prevent cognitive impairment.
- An egg. Egg yolks contain choline, which is used by the body to create the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is responsible for memory and mood.
- Whole grains and breads.Thanks to vitamin B6 contained in cereals, it improves metabolism, fills with energy and improves blood circulation in the brain.
- A tomato.A source of melatonin, which prevents aging of brain cells and improves the condition of blood vessels.
Also, it is important to maintain fluid balance by drinking enough water every day to keep the brain active.
Prevention
It is important for a clear mind, good memory and active functioning of the brain:
- Get rid of bad habits.Smoking, alcohol and taking psychotropic substances impair blood circulation in the brain, leading to oxygen starvation and death of neurons.
- Walking.A daily walk oxygenates the brain and helps improve concentration and memory.
- Play sports.Physical activity improves blood circulation, improves memory, coordination of movements and improves health.
- Give it to the brainuniform loadand don't forget about rest.
- Maintain good sleep hygiene.Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. Sleep is necessary for the brain to rest, strengthen the necessary ones, and eliminate unnecessary neural connections.
The most important thing is to practice every day. Only regular exercise will give you the desired result.