Train Your Brain (1 of 4 free samples)

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COPYRIGHT
Train Your Brain by Ryuta Kawashima. Copyright 2005 by Ryuta Kawashima / Kumon Publishing Co., Ltd.
All Rights Reserved. Sharing not permitted.

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Train Your Brain

Dr. Ryuta Kawashima

Author's Note
www.dailylit.com/books/train-your-brain/authorsnote

Introduction

Ryuta Kawashima
M.D., Tohoku University

Why should you train your brain?

This program was created to help you rejuvenate your brain and develop its function to a higher level. Brain function naturally begins to deteriorate after you turn twenty, just like our physical and muscular strength gradually weaken as we age. However, just as you can maintain your physical strength if you exercise regularly, you can keep your brain power from deteriorating by providing daily stimulation for your brain.

In my neuroscience lab, I developed the exercises in this program in order to activate the largest regions of the brain. These brain health exercises increase the delivery of oxygen, blood, and various amino acids to the prefrontal cortex. The result is more neurons and neural connections, which are characteristics of a healthy brain.

The program's emphasis on daily training makes it perfect for DailyLit users. The subscription is designed to give readers training each day of the week, including five worksheets and two days of tests. As such, DailyLit recommends that you make sure your subscription is set to send installments every day instead of the default setting of weekdays only. We also recommend that you save all of your installments, since the program is meant to be repeated regularly.

Who is this program for?

• Adults with the following symptoms:
  • Increasing forgetfulness
  • Difficulty remembering people’s names, spelling words, or expressing thoughts.
  
• Adults who wish to work on the following:
  • Creativity
  • Memory skills
  • Communication skills
  • Slowing the mental effects of aging
  

How can you keep your brain healthy?

In order to maintain your physical health, you have to (1) exercise regularly, (2) eat healthily and (3) sleep well. In like manner, in order to keep your brain healthy, you need to (1) exercise your brain regularly, (2) eat healthily and (3) sleep well. As an adult, you are responsible for your own diet and sleep on a daily basis. This program is exclusively designed to help you get used to also training your brain every day.

Simple calculations really work!

While looking at this program, you may have noticed it consists only of simple calculations. Some of you may be wondering why an adult, who is intellectually active at work and at home, would need to do such elementary school-level math. Through my research I found that simple calculations activate the brain more effectively than any other activity. I also discovered that the best way to activate the largest regions of the brain was to solve these calculations quickly. That is why I have created the easy-to-solve problems you see in this program to help you Train Your Brain!

Calculation and oral reading exercises are the optimal training methods according to the latest brain research

My latest research proved that reading aloud, solving simple calculations, and writing activate the brain most effectively.

The pictures below show images of the brain taken by a brain-imaging device during various activities. The red color on the images indicates an increase in regional cerebral blood flow, while the yellow color indicates a larger increase in blood flow to areas where brain activity is most vigorous.

Let’s take a look at the images in Charts B and C. Notice that while you are solving calculation problems quickly, there are several red areas in both hemispheres of the brain. Chart B indicates that the visual area at the posterior part of the brain is actively working. Other active parts are the inferior temporal gyrus, which detects the shapes of numbers; Wernicke’s area, which recognizes the meanings of words; the angular gyrus, which is the area for calculating; and most importantly, the prefrontal cortex, which is the area for thinking and learning. In comparison, Chart C shows your brain while you are solving simple calculations slowly. The same parts of the brain are working, but the active areas are smaller in size. Solving difficult calculations, surprisingly, does not activate much of your prefrontal cortex at all (see Chart D).

While you are thinking and watching TV, (see charts A and E) most of the different parts of the brain are barely functioning. These charts show that solving simple calculations quickly is the most effective way of activating your brain.

This is the state of your brain while you are reading aloud. Active areas in both hemispheres of the brain are much larger than in Chart G. Research has also shown that the brain becomes more active when you read faster.

Brain training boosted the ability to remember by twenty percent

My research team carried out research with elementary school students. We counted how many words they could memorize within two minutes and found that, on average, they could memorize 8.3 words. When we conducted the same test after a two-minute calculation exercise, the average word count remembered increased to 9.8. Our results show that these exercises boosted the children’s ability to remember by more than twenty percent.

The calculation exercises acted as a warm-up for the students, allowing them to perform better on the word memorization tests.

Simple calculation and oral reading exercises alleviated symptoms of dementia

My team also conducted an experiment with twelve dementia Alzheimer type patients. We gave our patients a ten-minutes-a-day writing and oral reading exercise and a ten-minutes-a-day calculation exercise to be performed two to five days a week. Cognitive and pre-frontal cortex function of non-participant subjects that did not do the calculation and oral reading exercises deteriorated during the six-month follow up. However, with participant subjects that did do the exercises, we succeeded in preventing deterioration of their cognitive function, as well as improving their prefrontal cortex function.

This is an exceptional achievement on a global scale - rarely has the deterioration of the cognitive function of dementia Alzheimer type patients been slowed or diminished.

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