Testing Your Brain
When I was toiling for my Black Belt in Taekwondo a few years back, I noticed the children in the class, and there were a lot of them, could memorize the poomsae’s much more readily than the older students in the classes. It got me to thinking about the aging brain and what happens as we get on in years. I do know that as I got older, the days sure seemed to be going faster. My mind was slipping a bit whether it was forgetting an appointment or where I had left a piece of jewelry. So last October, I went on a quest to find ways to exercise my brain. That is when I stumbled on a website called Lumosity. http://www.lumosity.com/
Lumosity has over 40 million users who are playing games that measure core cognitive functions. The front page of the site boasts that 97% of users improve. They further claim that ten hours of training can create dramatic improvement. The five areas that users are tested in are speed, flexibility, problem solving, memory and attention. I believe them since it has worked for me. I can attest to it. I love this site and am so grateful for the scientists who believe we need to study and improve the neuroplasticity of the brain.
I paid for a year’s subscription which was under $100 dollars. Every week I average about fifty games played or five to ten a day. After almost nine months of diligent training, I have hit the 99th percentile in most of my areas but one; problem solving. I admit, simple math is boring on a regular basis. The site displays the top five scores of every game played and assigns points for performance.
It takes discipline. Just life any exercise regime, you have to have a plan. My routine is to sit at the computer first thing every morning and play games. The only days I skip are when I am traveling. As a writer, it frees my brain of all the chores I need to get done and clears out the cobwebs. It allows me to write more freely. The other website I use is the games under aarp.org. This website is free yet it is a bit slower. It is still fun and challenging. So whether or not Alzheimer’s runs in your family or you just want to improve your cognitive functions, check it out and give it a try. I have yet to regret the dollars I spent improving my brain.
To learn more about taekwondo, check out two sites below.
http://www.wtf.org/wtf_eng/site/about_taekwondo/taekwondo.html