Brain exercises: how to improve memory in five minutes a day

A good memory and a sharp mind are not innate human talents, but skills that can be developed and trained by both children and adults. For this, there are sets of special exercises and methods aimed at improving brain activity and synchronizing the functioning of the brain hemispheres.

Human brain and memory training

Just like the body, the brain needs training. Many tasks that used to create new neural connections gradually become routine and reduce the brain's ability to focus and concentrate on new things. The reason for this is a violation of interhemispheric interaction and the lack of their equivalent development.

A person’s desire to learn new things, which forms new neural connections, helps normalize the functioning of the brain. But the lack of "feeding" for the brain slows down the learning process, due to memory deterioration, lack of quick reaction and the ability to think creatively.

An effective way to restore and improve mental and cognitive abilities is to perform special exercises to train the brain. Daily training helps improve brain activity and, consequently, a person’s cognitive abilities, which include thinking, memory, speech, perception, imagination and attention.

Benefit

What are the benefits of gymnastics for the brain:

• concentration and reaction speed increases;
• memory improves;
• emotional resistance to negative factors increases;
• coordination of movements improves;
• has more energy to complete everyday tasks;
• hidden abilities of the brain are revealed;
• sleep quality improves.

Brain gymnastics are often prescribed by psychotherapists to treat neuroses, depression and emotional burnout. Exercise helps to switch from negative thoughts, distract yourself and restore a person’s productivity.

Peculiarities

You need to train your brain throughout your life, starting in infancy and continuing into adulthood. In its principle, gymnastics to improve memory and brain activity is the same for both children and adults, but has a number of features.

In adults

Forgetfulness, poor spatial orientation and a general decrease in performance can be observed in every person over 20 years of age. Common reasons include bad habits, poor sleep, and irregular work schedules, which overload the brain with an abundance of information. To normalize brain function and regain the sharpness of your intellect, you need to reconsider your lifestyle, be physically active, be able to rest and spend 5 minutes a day on thematic exercises.

Also, adults should not forget about brain development methods for children - fine motor skills exercises, studying poetry, retelling, etc.

In children

The degree of development of interhemispheric connections determines the child’s academic performance, proper coordination of movements, communication with peers, quality of speech and emotional intelligence. The development of new neural nodes should begin at the age of 2-3 years, when a child’s brain absorbs much more energy than an adult’s brain.

The main and popular way to develop the brain in children is through educational games that combine activities to improve hand-eye coordination, concentration and motor skills. Additionally, the equal development of the cerebral hemispheres is favorably influenced by:

• finger gymnastics;
• breathing exercises;
• logorhythmics;
• listening to music;
• dancing;
• reading and retelling what has been read;
• creativity: modeling, drawing, weaving, etc. ;
• self-massage;
• kinesiological exercises;
• didactic games: comparing objects, guessing an object by description, etc.

All this helps improve interhemispheric interaction, which influences the formation of healthy self-esteem and the success of the child. And the desire to learn new things can become a useful habit for a child that will help him throughout his life.

How to develop memory

Memory is closely related to other cognitive abilities that also need development. Therefore, its development should be approached comprehensively, performing special exercises and changing your daily life using other interesting ways, which we will consider later.

Best exercises

Classes must be conducted in a calm environment. The duration of the workout is from 5 to 20 minutes. It is also important to complicate the exercises by increasing the number of repetitions, adding additional gestures, movements, and sounds.

For the brain

The following set of neurogymnastics exercises was developed by American psychologists Paul and Gail Dennison on the basis of educational kinesiology.

Exercise 1. "Brain Buttons"

Exercise helps to "start up" the brain and tune in to work.

1. Stand up straight, back straight.
2. One hand massages the depressions between the first and second ribs in the area on the left and right under the collarbones. The other hand is placed on the navel, which allows you to focus on the center of gravity.

Exercise 2. "Hooks"

1. Take any comfortable starting position: standing, sitting or lying down, crossing your ankles.
2. Extend your arms forward, crossing your palms towards each other and clasping your fingers.
3. Turn your arms inward at chest level so that your elbows point down.
4. Return to starting position. Repeat 8-10 times.

Exercise 3. "Knee-elbow"

1. Starting position: standing.
2. Raise and bend your left leg at the knee.
3. With the elbow of your right hand, touch the knee of your left leg. Then repeat the movement with your right leg and left arm. Do 8-10 reps.

Exercise 4. "Elephant"

1. Starting position: standing, in a relaxed position. Knees slightly bent.
2. Tilt your head towards your shoulder. From this shoulder, extend your arm forward, like a trunk, and draw a horizontal figure eight, starting from the center of the visual field, upward and counterclockwise. Important: the eyes follow the movement of the fingertips.

Perform the exercise slowly 3-5 times with your left hand pressed to your left ear and the same number of times with your right hand pressed to your right ear.

Exercise 5. "Mirror drawing"

1. Take markers or a pen in both hands.
2. Mirror-symmetrically draw numbers, letters, etc. on a piece of paper with both hands at the same time.

Additional exercises to maximize the involvement of the brain in work:

1. "Fist-palm. "Extend both arms in front of you. Clench the fingers of your left hand into a fist, straighten your right. Next, consistently change the position of your fingers, gradually accelerating your movements.
2. "Winner". The fingers of one hand show the "V" gesture, the other "OK". Alternate hands, gradually increasing speed.
3. "Horns and legs. "One hand shows the horns, the other the legs (thumb, index and middle fingers). Alternate hands, gradually increasing speed.
4. On one hand, sequentially connect the thumb with all other fingers, starting with the index. Do the same with the other hand, but starting with the little finger. Do the exercise with both hands at the same time.
5. "Puzzles". On one hand, bend all fingers except the index and middle fingers, on the other - except the ring and little fingers. Connect them like puzzles. Change hands, gradually speeding up the movements.

For memory

Simple and effective exercises to improve memory:

1. Route map.Draw a map of the route you take to work. Try to remember everything down to the smallest detail: names of streets, metro stations, bus stops, shops that you met along the way.
2. Alphabet.Quickly come up with words for each letter of the alphabet.
3. Magician.For this exercise you will need a deck of playing cards. Shuffle it and remember the sequence of the first 3-5 cards from the deck. Shuffle the deck and find these cards.
4. A carbon copy.Find any image on the Internet or take a banknote. Study the picture for a minute and draw what you see on a piece of paper from memory. Then check the drawing against the original to identify any missing details.
5. Remember a school poem or learn your favorite songs. It is also great for memory training.
6. Before going to bed, remember the people and objects that surrounded you. If you attended a lecture, try to reconstruct all the material in your head.
7. Take some object. Look at it in detail for one minute. Then turn away from the subject and try to describe it by writing a detailed review.

Other methods

In addition to special exercises, there are other useful ways to activate the brain and improve memory:

1. Constantly learn new things.Minimal load on the brain and lack of new information lead to deterioration of memory and other cognitive abilities. Also, switching your attention to something not related to your work helps develop stress resistance. The best options are learning foreign languages, online courses, handicrafts, etc.
2. Play mind games, solve crosswords, puzzles. This will help keep your mind clear and broaden your horizons.
3. Step out of your comfort zone.For example, take a different route to work, take up a hobby that you were afraid of, actively meet and communicate with people in real life.
4. Engage simultaneouslyboth hemispheres of the brain. Brush your teeth, eat, open the door, hold the handle with your non-dominant hand.
5. Read, write by hand.Reading trains memory, activates imagination and creative thinking. And handwriting is a great way to develop motor skills.

Equally important is to be able to rest. Avoid sleep deprivation and learn to meditate. The brain needs relaxation and rest.

Products for memory and brain development

To keep your brain active, it is important to watch your diet. A healthy daily diet should include proteins, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. You can also include the following products in your menu that support brain activity:

1. Fatty fish.A source of Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which affect the active saturation of brain cells with oxygen and nutrients.
2. Bitter chocolate.Chocolate with 70% cocoa slows down age-related mental decline and prevents cognitive impairment.
3. Eggs. Egg yolks contain choline, which is used by the body to create the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is responsible for memory and mood.
4. Whole grain bread and cereals.Cereals improve metabolism, fill you with energy and improve blood circulation in the brain, thanks to their vitamin B6 content.
5. Tomatoes.A source of melatonin, which prevents the aging of brain cells and improves the condition of blood vessels.

Also, for active brain activity, it is important to maintain fluid balance by drinking enough drinking water every day.

Prevention

For a clear mind, good memory and active brain function it is important:

1. Get rid of bad habits.Smoking, alcohol and taking psychotropic substances impair blood circulation in the brain, leading to oxygen starvation and death of neurons.
2. Walk.Daily walks saturate the brain with oxygen and help develop concentration and memory.
3. Exercise.Physical activity improves blood circulation, helps improve memory, coordination of movements and improves health.
4. Give to the brainuniform loadand don’t forget about rest.
5. Maintain good sleep hygiene.Sleep at least 7-8 hours. Sleep is necessary for the brain to rest, strengthen the necessary ones and destroy unnecessary neural connections.

The most important thing is to train daily. Only regular exercise will give the desired result.