Are You Ready To Jump Start Your Brain Training??

Jump Start Your Brain Training Now!!!

Some popular brain game programs are entertaining to be sure, but not a truly demanding workout like what is necessary to see real changes. It's sort of like playing ping-pong, its fun and engaging but not very demanding as an exercise. 

You certainly develop some skills like eye-hand coordination, but really you only get better at ping-pong and those skills just aren't as useful in other aspects of your life.Just like basic strength, endurance and fitness training can benefit you in almost any physical endeavor (including ping pong), So can brain training that improves memory/recall, concentration, processing speed and sequencing/shifting(decision making).

 These exercises may be less entertaining, but much more important to the overall goal of brain fitness. This is very much like the process for physical training, you gauge the effectiveness of your workout by how much you can now lift, or how far you can run, or throw a ball, etc... Professional and amateur athletes will never tell you they got where they are by luck or giftedness. 

The fact is they all train very hard to improve their "talents", and the beauty part is, anyone can improve, physically and mentally, directly related to the investment in effort given to exercise.

- Team Shirsa

How much time does Shirsa takes in a day?

Brain training exercises

Shirsa exercises is designed so that you can spend as little as ten minutes to as much time as you like in it at any given time. 

Any training is better than none! 

A good rule of thumb is to follow the basic guidelines for physical exercises: As We do physical exercises to keep our body fit same way do brain exercise to keep your brain fit.

 Use it at least 10-15 minutes a day, and your brain will thank!!!!!!!! 

- Sukhada Desai

Interesting secrets of brain!!!

While doing research for Shirsa, i came across to an interesting article from Glamour Magazine’s February 2008 issue talks about 5 secrets of your brain.  The article was based on the content written by neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D., coauthor of Welcome to Your Brain, speaks about in her book.

While I question whether any of them are really a ‘secret’, I do find Secrets #2 and #3 interesting and relevant for those interested in Brain Fitness.

Secret #2: Because of sex hormone’s in a woman’s brain, women tend to be able to recall objects’ locations better than men – such as where you parked your car or left your glasses.  The ability to recall locations relies on what is often referred to as Visual Working Memory.  One of our products, actually focuses on improving visual working memory.

Secret #3: Human brains do have a memory peak in their thirties.  And unfortunately, as we age, our memories do get weaker.  Dr. Aamodt suggests physical exercise as the best way to stay sharp as exercise increases blood flow to the brain.  However, we also have proven that brain fitness exercises like those in The Brain Fitness Program can also keep your memory sharp well into your later years.

- Team Shirsa

Is your brain is diabetic?

As we all know that high blood sugar levels can effect your brain health. Now a new research suggests that even levels that are only the upper range of the normal level could potentially be detrimental.

The researchers took a group of people whose blood sugars level are high but not high enough to be classified as having diabetes. They found that even at below pre-diabetes level, a high level of blood sugar could create shrinkage in specific areas of the brain when compared with individuals which have a lower or average blood sugars level.

This study demonstrates the link between blood sugar and brain health even when those levels are not that high. It is therefore important not only for important for your physical health but also for your mental health to check carefully your blood sugar levels.

- Team Shirsa

Want to burn calories? Think hard!

Are you aware that  thinking burns calories? I wasn’t knowing about  that till now, and today while doing some research for Shirsa,  I came across a Q&A article in New Scientist on this topic. According to behavorial neuroscientist Ewan McNay, who has conducted research in some particular area,

“A rough calculation suggests that thinking hard about a task for 30 minutes might burn about 1/30th of a gram of fat. Thinking is not likely to turn an intellectual couch potato into a lean machine.”

Some other neuroscientist  ‘Roger Hicks said it in a simpler way :

“It appears that the thinking part of brain function,  consumes a relatively small amount of extra energy and is therefore of little use in weight loss-unless, of course, some of that thinking is aimed at producing exercise.”

My  suggestion is, better sign off your computer and hit the gym. As there’s lots of evidences  shows  that  physical exercise is good for your brain too, instead thinking hard!!!!

-  Team Shirsa

Why isn’t brain health on top of your mind?

Recently I’ve been speaking to peoples about what a healthy lifestyle means to them.  The reason I’m doing this is to understand where brain health fits in with overall health:  eating right, exercise and emotional health.  What I mostly hear from folks is that brain health isn’t top of mind unless someone has a close family member suffering from a disease like Alzheimer, dementia.

Most of the people want to stay mentally fit as they grow older but they don't have specific things  doing about it, and the reason is they don’t see or feel a need for it yet. 

 What’s striking to me about this is that the same people will go on and on about what they do for their physical exercise, a healthy diet and in some cases, therapy or meditation for mental health.  They attend Weight Watchers and track their points religiously.  They don’t miss a day with gym.  They hit the gym and track how much weight they move.  They shop at the  market weekly for organic vegetables, use little salt in their foods, etc.  They attend yoga and aerobics.  And they do these and that things to be healthy overall.

 But why not brain health?  Why hasn’t it hit mainstream yet? 

 I think its just a matter of time.  We need to continue to get the word out to the news media about how important brain health is.  Its not about waiting until you are 70 anymore to do something about your brain health.  Its about living a brain healthy lifestyle from now until you are 70 and afterwards. 

  Earlier in 80s people use to eat a high-fat diet and rarely exercised.  There were no gyms.  And as far as mental health, it wasn’t ‘normal’ to go to therapy till last decades. 

 So, I am hopeful we’ll see the same phenomenon with brain health and brain fitness.  The more the media writes about it, the more mainstream health insurance and doctors acknowledge the benefits and the more we talk to our friends of any age about it, the faster we’ll spread the word and make it mainstream.  
Someday brain fitness will be top of mind just like eating healthy and exercising. I just hope it comes sooner than later.

- Team Shirsa