I found an interesting site with free info on the brain, called Brain Rules. It’s by John Medina, and is basically promoting his DVD/Book of the same name. Medina is a developmental molecular biologist who has put together this product based on research into the brain and how it works.
It’s meant to be both interesting and practical, with an explanation of how the brain works and also useful tips on how to improve memory, cognitive function, and basically get your brain working efficiently.
I haven’t seen/read the full product, so I can’t really comment on that, but I’m mentioning this because there’s a free series of videos on the Brain Rules site, which are pretty interesting.
They cover the 12 ‘Brain Rules’ for getting the most of the brain, and what’s cool is they appear to use the research they discuss in making the video. For example, some of the rules are based on how the brain learns and retains information, and this seems to have been applied to the videos they’ve made.
Here are a few highlights:
- Exercise – There’s a direct link between exercise and brain function, and exercise halves the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and the general cognitive impairment associated with ageing.
- Multi-tasking is bad! – you make more errors and things take longer – it’s impossible for the brain to multi-task, as far as attention is concerned.
- Memory – your immediate memory lasts about 30 seconds, the neurons wait for a repeat of the same signal (they wait for you to repeat the thing you’re trying to remember). If the signal doesn’t come, they reset and you forget.
- Sleep is good! – When we sleep, our brain repeats things we’ve learned that day – over and over and over. It’s possible that we use sleep to learn. Taking a nap through the day (when you’re in the ‘nap zone’) can improve performance in a range of brain functions.
- Senses – When several senses are used, the brain remembers more of what’s going on. For example if the smell of popcorn comes through the room while you’re watching a film, you remember 10-15% more of it.
You can see the full set of videos on the brain rules site. They are very short (some are under 15 seconds), so it’s only a quick watch.
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