A good memory and a sharp mind are not innate human talents, but skills that can be developed and trained by both children and adults. For this, there are sets of special exercises and methods aimed at improving brain activity and synchronizing the function of the cerebral hemispheres.
Training the human brain and memory
Like the body, the brain needs exercise. Many tasks that used to create new neural connections eventually become routine and reduce the brain's ability to focus and concentrate on new things. The reason for this is a violation of interhemispheric interaction and the lack of their corresponding development.
A person's desire to learn new things, which forms new neural connections, helps to normalize brain function. But the lack of "feeding" to the brain slows down the learning process, due to memory deterioration, lack of quick reaction and the ability to think creatively.
An effective way to restore and improve mental and cognitive abilities is to perform special exercises to train the brain. Daily exercise helps improve brain activity and thus a person's cognitive abilities, which include thinking, memory, speech, perception, imagination and attention.
Advantage
What are the benefits of gymnastics for the brain:
- concentration and reaction rate increase;
- memory improves;
- emotional resistance to negative factors increases;
- coordination of movements improves;
- have more energy to perform daily tasks;
- hidden abilities of the brain are revealed;
- sleep quality improves.
Brain exercises are often prescribed by psychotherapists to treat neuroses, depression and emotional burnout. Exercise helps shift from negative thoughts, distract yourself and restore a person's productivity.
Properties
You must train your brain throughout your life, beginning in childhood and continuing into adulthood. Gymnastics for improving memory and brain activity is basically the same for both children and adults, but has a number of functions.
In adults
Forgetfulness, poor spatial orientation and a general decline in performance can be observed in any person over the age of 20. Common causes include bad habits, poor sleep and irregular working hours, which overload the brain with an abundance of information. To normalize brain function and regain the sharpness of your intellect, you need to rethink your lifestyle, be physically active, be able to rest and spend 5 minutes a day on thematic exercises.
Adults should also not forget about brain development methods for children - fine motor exercises, studying poetry, retelling, etc.
In children
The degree of development of interhemispheric connections determines the child's academic performance, correct coordination of movements, communication with peers, speech quality and emotional intelligence. The development of new neural nodes should begin at the age of 2-3 years, when a child's brain absorbs much more energy than an adult's brain.
The most important and popular way to develop children's brains is through educational games that combine activities to improve hand-eye coordination, concentration and motor skills. In addition, the equal development of the cerebral hemispheres is positively influenced by:
- finger gymnastics;
- breathing exercises;
- logorhythmic;
- listening to music;
- dance;
- read and retell what has been read;
- creativity: modeling, drawing, weaving, etc. ;
- self-massage;
- kinesiology exercises;
- didactic games: compare objects, guess an object by description, etc.
All this helps to improve interhemispheric interaction, which affects the formation of healthy self-esteem and the child's success. 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 need development. Therefore, its development should be approached comprehensively, perform special exercises and change your daily life using other interesting ways that we will consider later.
Best exercises
The teaching must take place in a quiet environment. The duration of the training is from 5 to 20 minutes. It is also important to complicate the exercises by increasing the number of repetitions, adding additional gestures, movements and sounds.
For the brain
The following set of neurogymnastics exercises were developed by the American psychologists Paul and Gail Dennison on the basis of educational kinesiology.
Exercise 1. "Brain Buttons"
Exercise helps to "start" the brain and prepare for work.
- Stand straight, back straight.
- One hand massages the depressions between the first and second ribs in the area to the left and right below 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, cross your ankles.
- Stretch your arms forward, cross your palms together and squeeze your fingers.
- Turn your arms inward at chest height so that your elbows point down.
- Return to starting position. Repeat 8-10 times.
Exercise 3. "Knee-elbow"
- Starting position: standing.
- Lift and bend your left leg at the knee.
- With the elbow of your right hand, touch the knee of your left leg. Then repeat the movement with the right leg and left arm. Do 8-10 repetitions.
Exercise 4. "Elephant"
- Starting position: standing, in a relaxed position. Knees slightly bent.
- Tilt your head towards your shoulder. From this shoulder, extend your arm forward, like a suitcase, and draw a horizontal figure eight, starting from the center of the field of vision, upwards and counter-clockwise. Important: the eyes follow the movement of the fingertips.
Perform the exercise slowly 3-5 times with the left hand pressed against the left ear and the same number of times with the right hand pressed against the right ear.
Exercise 5. "Mirror drawing"
- Take markers or a pen in both hands.
- Draw numbers, letters, etc. mirror-symmetrically on a piece of paper with both hands at the same time.
Additional exercises to maximize the involvement of the brain in work:
- "Fist-palm. "Extend both arms in front of you. Clench the fingers of your left hand into a fist, straighten your right hand. Then you need to consistently change the position of your fingers, gradually accelerating your movements.
- "Winner". The fingers of one hand show the "V" motion, the other "OK". Change hands, gradually increasing speed.
- "Horns and legs. "One hand shows the horns, the other shows the legs (thumb, index and middle finger). Change hands, gradually increasing speed.
- On one side, sequentially connect the thumb with all other fingers, starting with the index. Do the same with the other hand, but start with the little finger. Do the exercise with both hands at the same time.
- "puzzles". On the one hand, bend all fingers except the index and middle fingers, on the other - except the ring and little fingers. Connect them like a puzzle. Change hands, gradually speed up the movements.
For memory
Simple and effective exercises to improve memory:
- Route map.Draw a map of the route you take to work. Try to remember everything down to the smallest detail: names of streets, subway stations, bus stops, shops you met along 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 order of the first 3-5 cards from the deck. Shuffle the deck and find these cards.
- A carbon copy.Find any image on the Internet or take a banknote. Study the picture for a minute and draw what you see on a piece of paper from memory. Then check the drawing against the original to identify any missing details.
- Memorize a school poem or learn your favorite songs. It is also great for memory training.
- Before going to bed, remember the people and objects that surrounded you. If you attended a lecture, try to reconstruct all the material in your head.
- Take an object. Look at it in detail for a minute. Then turn away from the topic and try to describe it by writing a detailed review.
Other methods
In addition to special 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. Shifting your attention to something unrelated to your work also helps develop stress resistance. The best options are learning foreign languages, online courses, crafts, etc.
- Play mind games, crossword puzzles, riddles. This will help keep your mind clear and broaden your horizons.
- Step out of your comfort zone.For example, take a different route to work, take up a hobby that you were afraid of, meet and actively communicate with people in real life.
- Engage simultaneouslyboth hemispheres of the brain. Brush your teeth, eat, open the door, hold the handle with your non-dominant hand.
- Read, write by hand.Reading trains memory, activates imagination and creative thinking. And handwriting is a great way to develop motor skills.
It is equally important to be able to rest. Avoid sleep deprivation and learn to meditate. The brain needs relaxation and rest.
Products for memory and brain development
To keep your brain active, it is important to watch your diet. A healthy daily diet should contain proteins, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. You can also include the following products in your menu that support brain activity:
- Fat fish.A source of Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which affect the active saturation of brain cells with oxygen and nutrients.
- Bitter chocolate.Chocolate with 70% cocoa slows down age-related mental decline and prevents cognitive impairment.
- Egg. Egg yolks contain choline, which is used by the body to create the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is responsible for memory and mood.
- Wholemeal bread and cereals.Cereal products improve metabolism, fill you with energy and improve blood circulation in the brain thanks to their vitamin B6 content.
- Tomatoes.A source of melatonin, which prevents the aging of brain cells and improves the condition of blood vessels.
Also for active brain activity, it is important to maintain fluid balance by drinking enough drinking water every day.
Prevention
For a clear mind, good memory and active brain function, it is important:
- Get rid of bad habits.Smoking, alcohol and consumption of psychotropic substances impair blood circulation in the brain, leading to oxygen starvation and the death of neurons.
- Go.Daily walks saturate the brain with oxygen and help develop concentration and memory.
- Exercise.Physical activity improves blood circulation, helps improve memory, coordination of movements and improves health.
- Give to the brainuniform loadand don't forget to rest.
- Maintain good sleep hygiene.Sleep at least 7-8 hours. Sleep is necessary for the brain to rest, strengthen necessary and destroy unnecessary neural connections.
The most important thing is to exercise daily. Only regular exercise will give the desired result.