with thanks to The week:
http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentType=EDITORIAL§ionName=COVER%20STORY&programId=1073755753&BV_ID=@@@&contentId=2061897
I decided to paste the article here instead of just giving the link because I found this to be very useful and did not want our folks miss it in case the article gets archived. In case this can be stored as a downloadable file or a better way then let me know.
Push and prod the brain a wee bit every day to stay smart. And also to steer clear of dementia, which is on the rise in the country
Sit cross-legged on the floor, shut your eyes to the world without, focus on your breath and slowly, very slowly, enter a deep state of nothingness. This process has occupied the 8-8.30 p.m. slot on Vishnuraj Rao Kunjur's daily planner for the past two and a half years. He claims the half an hour journey within has made a world of difference to his think-on-your-feet job as senior manager, research, at Infosys, Bangalore. "It helps me in thinking," says Vishnuraj, 32. "I manage my expectation levels better and respond rather than react."
Equally demanding is retail guru Raghu Pillai's job as president and chief executive of Reliance Retail. "I like swimming as a mindsport to keep the brain agile," says Pillai, whose weeks are packed with 14-hour work days and travelling almost every other day. "I have started yoga. I hope this combo helps."
Be it swimming, yoga or meditation, if it keeps the brain racing, go for it, say experts. There is mounting scientific proof that this 1,400gm bundle of soft tissue, which makes us human and the most complex beings on earth, is after all capable of change.
Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, recently proved that meditation could physically alter the brain. The part of the brain responsible for attention and processing sensory inputs was thicker in experienced meditators though that area of the cortex-outer layer of cerebrum-usually gets thinner with age. This throws up the possibility that with regular meditation one could think and reason with as much clarity at 80 as at 30. "We used to think that everything became static once you grew up," says Prof. Sumantra Chattarji, neuroscientist at National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore. "On the contrary the brain is highly plastic and changing all the time."
Sample this landmark study on Knowledge-the London drivers' test that City & Guilds, Britain's leading vocational examination board-recently endorsed. The test involves remembering every street within six miles of London's Charing Cross. Since 1856 when it was introduced, all drivers of the city's traditional black cabs had to gain this knowledge for a licence. Three-quarters of the aspirants drop out of the three-year rigour. But those who do stay behind the wheel, Dr Eleanor Maguire of University College of London found, had bigger mid-posterior hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with navigation.
The longer they were in the driver's seat, the more developed their posterior hippocampus was. With this study, the scientific world proclaimed that a healthy brain could change structurally. Year before last, neuroscientist Richard Davidson of University of Wisconsin in a study on Tibetan monks found that meditation intensified activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area just behind the left forehead and responsible for happiness and positive thoughts and emotions. The study reiterated that the brain could be trained to physically modify itself.
While there is so much more to be explored in this "three-pound universe", as Chattarji fondly refers to his subject of study, all neuroscientists are unanimous on this: use it, or lose it. And that a trained brain is healthier. The more challenging the activity, the better. So, skip the easy crosswords. Go for the not-so-easy sudoku, and keep pushing. Make it a lifestyle and feel the brain sprout fresh synapses-connections between brain cells which are responsible for communication using chemicals called neurotransmitters.
The idea is to never stop learning. "We all have certain abilities and those of us who keep acquiring new forms of knowledge use the abilities most," says Dr E.S. Krishnamoorthy, neurologist and neuropsychiatrist in Chennai. "It can be a new hobby or a vocation, or a new set of skills that you require in your new job." Get started as early in life as possible, though it is never too late.
Pooja Chabria of Chennai picked up a few tricks at a one-day programme held by Aspire Superkidz, which trains young mothers to sharpen the mental abilities of their infants using visual and audio inputs. With training, Shiv, her year-and-a-half-old son, differentiates the card with eight dots from the card with nine dots when Pooja flashes them and says, eight. Though he is yet to speak coherently, he recognises animals and flowers, too, when shown pictures. "Just as we do exercises to flex muscles and build them, we have to flex our brain, too," says N. Madhumathi, director of Aspire Superkidz. "The education system is left brain-oriented, we try to sharpen the right brain of the children."
The most active phase of knowledge acquisition is from ages 2 to 13. "Early life experience is crucial. That's when the brain has the greatest capacity to grow," says Chattarji. "It will grow because it is genetically meant to do that. But what you do with that empty building is up to you; you can decorate it or keep it barren. That is nurturing. A very stimulating early life, with exposure to music, paintings, greater social interactions and a lot of opportunity and playtime, produce more electrical inputs. An enriched environment can enrich your brain."
Shanti and Aneesh Bhanot, who are media consultants in Chandigarh, make their 12-year-old son, Hari, solve sudoku puzzles every day. They had also put him on abacus classes at Universal Concept Mental Arithmetic System. "He is quick with responses not only in the classroom but even when we are, say, shopping," says Shanti. "We now plan to send him for Vedic mathematics classes."
Before choosing the activity, however, it is important to identify the orientation of the child. "A kinesthetically oriented child learns and thinks of concepts better by touching physical models," says Major Satyanarayanan, neurolinguistic and behavioural trainer in Chennai. "Auditorily inclined children do better when the concept is read out while visually oriented children learn by taking mental snapshots of the concept, be it a phone number or a complex formula."
The theory of multiple intelligences as propounded by Howard Gardner says that people have seven intelligences-linguistic, musical, mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal-but each one is better in some than others. Strive to be good at one and the other areas improve as well. "Stimulating the brain in the strong area will help strengthen all areas," says Dr R. Karthikeyan, director of Gemba Management Consulting, Chennai. "Story-telling and games, which are otherwise never a part of analytical reasoning, stimulate the right brain and help in drawing an analogy."
It is never too early to introduce mental gymnastics. Based on the understanding that the foetus's ears develop by the fourth week, Mumbai-based paediatric surgeon Dr Snehlata Deshmukh has been prescribing music to pregnant women. "I recommend music, classical music preferably played on the santoor or sitar which are identifiable with the heart beat," says Deshmukh, who has been practising music therapy for the last 12 years. "It is better to play the same music all through. Music stimulates the left and right lobes of the brain." Deshmukh measures the effect of music on the babies using ultrasound. "When music is played, foetuses either join their hands, and if twins, they come closer," she says.
To study the effect of music on foetal growth, Dr T. Mythily, music therapist and behaviourist at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, made 200 pregnant women listen to instrumental classical music for 20 minutes at the same time every day from the nineteenth week of pregnancy. "Music stimulates the prefrontal lobes which are responsible for planning, cognition, perception and aesthetics," says Mythily. "In about five weeks, it becomes a habit for the foetus, which starts kicking hard if the music is not played at that time. Take this music to the labour room and childbirth becomes very easy because the foetus recognises the music." Music as subtle vibrations ups the serotonin levels in the brain. (A neurotransmitter, serotonin plays a role in regulating emotions, mood, sleep and appetite.) Such babies learn faster than other babies, she says.
http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentType=EDITORIAL§ionName=COVER%20STORY&programId=1073755753&BV_ID=@@@&contentId=2061897
I decided to paste the article here instead of just giving the link because I found this to be very useful and did not want our folks miss it in case the article gets archived. In case this can be stored as a downloadable file or a better way then let me know.
Push and prod the brain a wee bit every day to stay smart. And also to steer clear of dementia, which is on the rise in the country
Sit cross-legged on the floor, shut your eyes to the world without, focus on your breath and slowly, very slowly, enter a deep state of nothingness. This process has occupied the 8-8.30 p.m. slot on Vishnuraj Rao Kunjur's daily planner for the past two and a half years. He claims the half an hour journey within has made a world of difference to his think-on-your-feet job as senior manager, research, at Infosys, Bangalore. "It helps me in thinking," says Vishnuraj, 32. "I manage my expectation levels better and respond rather than react."
Equally demanding is retail guru Raghu Pillai's job as president and chief executive of Reliance Retail. "I like swimming as a mindsport to keep the brain agile," says Pillai, whose weeks are packed with 14-hour work days and travelling almost every other day. "I have started yoga. I hope this combo helps."
Be it swimming, yoga or meditation, if it keeps the brain racing, go for it, say experts. There is mounting scientific proof that this 1,400gm bundle of soft tissue, which makes us human and the most complex beings on earth, is after all capable of change.
Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, recently proved that meditation could physically alter the brain. The part of the brain responsible for attention and processing sensory inputs was thicker in experienced meditators though that area of the cortex-outer layer of cerebrum-usually gets thinner with age. This throws up the possibility that with regular meditation one could think and reason with as much clarity at 80 as at 30. "We used to think that everything became static once you grew up," says Prof. Sumantra Chattarji, neuroscientist at National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore. "On the contrary the brain is highly plastic and changing all the time."
Sample this landmark study on Knowledge-the London drivers' test that City & Guilds, Britain's leading vocational examination board-recently endorsed. The test involves remembering every street within six miles of London's Charing Cross. Since 1856 when it was introduced, all drivers of the city's traditional black cabs had to gain this knowledge for a licence. Three-quarters of the aspirants drop out of the three-year rigour. But those who do stay behind the wheel, Dr Eleanor Maguire of University College of London found, had bigger mid-posterior hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with navigation.
The longer they were in the driver's seat, the more developed their posterior hippocampus was. With this study, the scientific world proclaimed that a healthy brain could change structurally. Year before last, neuroscientist Richard Davidson of University of Wisconsin in a study on Tibetan monks found that meditation intensified activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area just behind the left forehead and responsible for happiness and positive thoughts and emotions. The study reiterated that the brain could be trained to physically modify itself.
While there is so much more to be explored in this "three-pound universe", as Chattarji fondly refers to his subject of study, all neuroscientists are unanimous on this: use it, or lose it. And that a trained brain is healthier. The more challenging the activity, the better. So, skip the easy crosswords. Go for the not-so-easy sudoku, and keep pushing. Make it a lifestyle and feel the brain sprout fresh synapses-connections between brain cells which are responsible for communication using chemicals called neurotransmitters.
The idea is to never stop learning. "We all have certain abilities and those of us who keep acquiring new forms of knowledge use the abilities most," says Dr E.S. Krishnamoorthy, neurologist and neuropsychiatrist in Chennai. "It can be a new hobby or a vocation, or a new set of skills that you require in your new job." Get started as early in life as possible, though it is never too late.
Pooja Chabria of Chennai picked up a few tricks at a one-day programme held by Aspire Superkidz, which trains young mothers to sharpen the mental abilities of their infants using visual and audio inputs. With training, Shiv, her year-and-a-half-old son, differentiates the card with eight dots from the card with nine dots when Pooja flashes them and says, eight. Though he is yet to speak coherently, he recognises animals and flowers, too, when shown pictures. "Just as we do exercises to flex muscles and build them, we have to flex our brain, too," says N. Madhumathi, director of Aspire Superkidz. "The education system is left brain-oriented, we try to sharpen the right brain of the children."
The most active phase of knowledge acquisition is from ages 2 to 13. "Early life experience is crucial. That's when the brain has the greatest capacity to grow," says Chattarji. "It will grow because it is genetically meant to do that. But what you do with that empty building is up to you; you can decorate it or keep it barren. That is nurturing. A very stimulating early life, with exposure to music, paintings, greater social interactions and a lot of opportunity and playtime, produce more electrical inputs. An enriched environment can enrich your brain."
Shanti and Aneesh Bhanot, who are media consultants in Chandigarh, make their 12-year-old son, Hari, solve sudoku puzzles every day. They had also put him on abacus classes at Universal Concept Mental Arithmetic System. "He is quick with responses not only in the classroom but even when we are, say, shopping," says Shanti. "We now plan to send him for Vedic mathematics classes."
Before choosing the activity, however, it is important to identify the orientation of the child. "A kinesthetically oriented child learns and thinks of concepts better by touching physical models," says Major Satyanarayanan, neurolinguistic and behavioural trainer in Chennai. "Auditorily inclined children do better when the concept is read out while visually oriented children learn by taking mental snapshots of the concept, be it a phone number or a complex formula."
The theory of multiple intelligences as propounded by Howard Gardner says that people have seven intelligences-linguistic, musical, mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal-but each one is better in some than others. Strive to be good at one and the other areas improve as well. "Stimulating the brain in the strong area will help strengthen all areas," says Dr R. Karthikeyan, director of Gemba Management Consulting, Chennai. "Story-telling and games, which are otherwise never a part of analytical reasoning, stimulate the right brain and help in drawing an analogy."
It is never too early to introduce mental gymnastics. Based on the understanding that the foetus's ears develop by the fourth week, Mumbai-based paediatric surgeon Dr Snehlata Deshmukh has been prescribing music to pregnant women. "I recommend music, classical music preferably played on the santoor or sitar which are identifiable with the heart beat," says Deshmukh, who has been practising music therapy for the last 12 years. "It is better to play the same music all through. Music stimulates the left and right lobes of the brain." Deshmukh measures the effect of music on the babies using ultrasound. "When music is played, foetuses either join their hands, and if twins, they come closer," she says.
To study the effect of music on foetal growth, Dr T. Mythily, music therapist and behaviourist at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, made 200 pregnant women listen to instrumental classical music for 20 minutes at the same time every day from the nineteenth week of pregnancy. "Music stimulates the prefrontal lobes which are responsible for planning, cognition, perception and aesthetics," says Mythily. "In about five weeks, it becomes a habit for the foetus, which starts kicking hard if the music is not played at that time. Take this music to the labour room and childbirth becomes very easy because the foetus recognises the music." Music as subtle vibrations ups the serotonin levels in the brain. (A neurotransmitter, serotonin plays a role in regulating emotions, mood, sleep and appetite.) Such babies learn faster than other babies, she says.
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