100 FUN & FREE ONLINE TOOLS TO MEASURE YOUR BRAIN FITNESS

If you are keen to keep your brain sharp & agile till as well as throughout your Third Age, here's the link to '100 Fun & Free Online Tools to Measure Your Brain Fitness'.

Have fun & enjoy your exploration!

10 PLACES TO TRAIN YOUR BRAIN FOR FREE

Here's the link to 'Ten Places To Train Your Brain For Free'.

In a nut shell, they are 10 fantastic resources to give you some quality brain training.

Enjoy your exploration.

LATEST BRAIN FACTS

The following are some key points from Norman Doidge, author of 'The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science' based on a video interview:

1) The brain can actually reinvent itself on account of its neuroplasticity: the ability to build new connections to compensate for injury or disease;

2) We are still at the beginning of what we know about the brain;

3) The two major causes of cognitive decline in old age: (a) Alzheimer's Disease - If you live to age 85 you have almost a 50 per cent chance of developing Alzheimer's disease; (b) age-related cognitive decline;

4) To keep the brain in shape, we just got to add novelty & interval in what we always do;

5) The sensory part of the brain can re-adapt to devastating losses via sensory substitution, based on the research of Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita;

6) We can do brain exercises to help the brain adapt, particularly for children with learning difficulties & language impairment;

7) Rote learning is actually very good for the brain;

[Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Lateline, 1st May 2009]

MIND TRICKS: 6 WAYS TO EXPLORE YOUR BRAIN

Here's a link to a belated article in the 'New Scientist': 'Mind tricks: Six ways to explore your brain', which is worth reading & exploring.

There are some simple experiments to help you probe the inner workings of the brain, and many of these are easy to set up at home or are available on the internet.

Try them on yourself and you will experience first-hand some of its strangest, most amazing workings - facets of brain function that scientists are only just starting to understand. You'll see aspects of perception, memory, attention, body image, the unconscious mind - and the curious consequences of your brain being split in two.

MENTAL CONDITIONING: IS YOUR BRAIN IN THE GAME?

Here's a link to a belated article entitled 'Mental conditioning: Is your brain in the game?', from the Revolution Health website.

The four core exercises introduced in the article are worth exploring, especially in terms of attaining improved concentration & focus, controlled emotions, confidence in the face of challenge.

DO PEOPLE ONLY USE 10% OF THEIR BRAINS?

The following report in a belated issue of the 'Scientific American' throws some light on the foregoing question.

Nevertheless, I am intrigued by the concluding remark in the report:

". . . out of all the brain's cells, only 10 percent are neurons; the other 90 percent are glial cells, which encapsulate and support neurons, but whose function remains largely unknown.

Ultimately, it's not that we use 10 percent of our brains, merely that we only understand about 10 percent of how it functions."

MODERN FACTS ABOUT OUR BRAINS

Here is the link to the above interesting article, which I had found on the net.