Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobic Exercises to Help Prevent Memory Loss and Increase Mental Fitness by Lawrence C. Katz, Manning Rubin, Manning Rubin, David Suter (Illustrator), Manning Rubin

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Most of us find that as we get older, we tend to develop routines that we rarely deviate from. We get up at the same time, shower the same way, eat the same thing for breakfast, get to work via the same route, and so on throughout the day, the week, the month. But as neurobiologist Lawrence Katz and coauthor Manning Rubin write in Keep Your Brain Alive , sticking to routines we never vary can be literally brain-deadening — tasks that are so familiar can be done at an almost subconscious level, and the brain never needs to form new associations and connections. Katz and Rubin write that new advances in neurobiology have let us understand that the mental decline that sometimes accompanies aging is often a result of the thinning out of the connections between brain cells; we also know under which conditions the brain is prone to strengthening connections and forming new ones. Katz and Rubin have conceived a set of simple mental exercises they call Neurobics that are designed to give the brain a workout that stimulates the senses to form new connections and can lead to a stronger ability to learn new things and retrieve what we already know from memory. They contend that daily life is rich with opportunities to activate our senses and work our brains in extraordinary ways — we just need to learn how to spot them and take advantage of them. Some are so simple they sound silly: Try showering with your eyes closed, for instance, and you'll wake up your brain by stimulating your tactile senses. Or shake up your ingrained associations by having family members switchtheiraccustomed seats at the dinner table. Some exercises help you introduce novelty into your life, such as shopping at a farmers' market instead of the produce aisle at your regular supermarket; others help stimulate memory, such as associating smells with a specific task. None of the exercises are particularly onerous — some can be downright fun. Keep Your Brain Alive will show you how to shake up your routines and stimulate your senses to keep you mentally fit for years to come.

From the Publisher

OVER 40? GETTING FORGETFUL? TROUBLE LEARNING NEW TRICKS?

Introducing Neurobics, a unique brain exercise program based on the latest neuroscience research. These deceptively simple exercises help stimulate the production of nutrients that grow brain cells to keep the brain younger and stronger. Neurobics uses the five senses in unexpected ways and shakes up everyday routines. The exercises are offbeat, fun, and can be done anywhere, anytime. The result: a mind fit to meet any challenge-whether it's remembering a name, mastering a new computer program, or staying creative in your work.

Lawrence C. Katz, Ph.D., is the James B. Duke Professor of Neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center. His research focuses on brain development.

Manning Rubin is a Senior Creative Supervisor at K2 Design in New York City, and the author of 60 Ways to Relieve Stress in 60 Seconds.

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Table of Contents

Read an Excerpt

Although new and therefore not yet proved by large body of tests, Neurobics is based on solid scientific ground; it is an exciting synthesis of substantial findings about the brain that provides a concrete strategy for keeping the brain fit and flexible as you grow older.

From Theory to Practice

Jane reached into her pocketbook and fished inside for the keys to her apartment. Usually they were in the outside flap but not today. "Did I forget them?! No...here they are." She felt their shapes to figure out which one would open the top lock. It took her two tries until she heard the welcome click of the lock opening. Inside the door she reached to the left for the light switch...but why bother? Her husband would do that later. Touching the wall lightly with her fingertips, she moved to the closet on the right, found it, and hung up her coat. She turned slowly and visualized in her mind the location of the table holding her telephone and answering machine. Carefully she headed in that direction, guided by the feel of the leather armchair and the scent of a vase of birthday roses, anxious to avoid the sharp edge of the coffee table and hoping to have some messages from her family waiting.

The table. The answering machine. She reached out and brushed her fingers across what she believed to be the play button. "What if I push the delete button?" she thought, and again checked to make sure she was right. Yesterday it was so easy. She could have done all this simply by looking around. Today was different. She could see nothing.

But Jane had not suddenly gone blind. At age 50, she was introducing a lifestyle strategy called Neurobics into her daily activities. Based on recent discoveries in brain science, Neurobics is a new form of brain exercise designed to help keep the brain agile and healthy. By breaking her usual homecoming routine, Jane had placed her brain's attentional circuits in high gear. With her eyes closed, she had to rely on her senses of touch, smell, hearing, and spatial memory to do something they rarely did - navigate through her apartment. And she was involving her emotional sense by feeling the stresses of not being able to see. All these actions created new and different patterns of neuron activity in her brain - which is how Neurobics works.

This book will explain the principles behind Neurobics and how the exercises enhance the overall health of your brain as you grow older.

BRUSHING ROULETTE

Brush your teeth with your nondominant hand (including opening the tube and applying toothpaste). You can substitute any morning activity - styling your hair, shaving, applying makeup, buttoning clothes, putting in cuff links, eating or using the TV remote.

* This exercise requires you to use the opposite side of your brain instead of the side you normally use. Consequentially, all those circuits, connections, and brain areas involved in using your dominant hand are inactive, while their counterparts on the other side of your brain are suddenly required to direct a set of behavior in which they usually don't participate. Research has shown that this type of exercise can result in a rapid and substantial expansion of circuits in the parts of the cortex that control and process tactile information from the hand.

Variation

Use only one hand to do tasks like buttoning a shirt, tying a shoe, or getting dressed. For a real workout, try using just your nondominant hand.

Another exercise that associates unusual sensory and motor pathways in your cortex with a routine activity is to use your feet to put your socks and underwear in the laundry basket or pick out your shoes for the day.

Excerpted from How to Keep Your Brain Alive. Copyright (c) 1999 by Lawrence C. Katz and Manning Rubin. Reprinted with permission by Workman Publishing.