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

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

Train your brain and memory

Just like the body, the brain also needs exercise. Many tasks that once created new neural connections gradually become habits and reduce the brain's ability to focus and concentrate on new things. The reason for this is a violation of the interaction between the hemispheres and the lack of their equivalent development.

A person's desire to learn new things, forms new neural connections, helps normalize brain activity. But lack of "nutrition" for the brain will slow down the learning process, due to impaired memory, lack of quick reactions and creative thinking ability.

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, therefore, a person's cognitive abilities, including thinking, memory, speech, perception, imagination and attention.

Benefit

What are the benefits of gymnastics for the brain:

• concentration and reaction rate increase;
• improved memory;
• emotional resistance to negative factors increases;
• Coordination of movements is improved;
• have more energy to complete daily tasks;
• The brain's hidden abilities are revealed;
• Sleep quality is improved.

Brain exercises are often prescribed by psychotherapists to treat neurosis, depression and emotional exhaustion. Exercise helps to get rid of negative thoughts, distract yourself and restore a person's productivity.

Characteristic

You need to train your brain throughout your life, starting as a child and continuing into adulthood. In principle, gymnastics to improve memory and brain activity is the same for both children and adults, but there are some characteristics.

In adults

Forgetfulness, poor spatial orientation and general decline in work performance can be observed in everyone over the age of 20. 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 mental sharpness, you need to review your lifestyle, be physically active, maybe rest and spend 5 minutes a day on thematic exercises.

In addition, adults should not forget about methods of brain development for children - fine motor skills exercises, learning poetry, retelling, etc. v.

Still small

The level 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 nerve nodes should start from 2-3 years old, when the child's brain absorbs more energy than the adult brain.

The main and popular way to develop the brain in children is through educational games that combine activities aimed at improving hand-eye coordination, concentration and motor skills. In addition, the uniform development of the cerebral hemispheres is also favorably influenced by:

• finger gymnastics;
• breathing exercises;
• logo rhythm;
• listening to music;
• dance;
• read and retell what has been read;
• Creativity: model making, drawing, weaving, etc. v. ;
• self-massage;
• movement exercises;
• Didactic games: compare objects, guess objects by description, etc. v.

All this helps improve the interaction between the hemispheres, which affects the formation of healthy self-esteem and the child's success. And the desire to learn new things can become a useful habit for children, helping them throughout their lives.

How to develop memory

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

best exercises

Classes must be conducted in a quiet environment. Workout time is from 5 to 20 minutes. It is also important to complicate the exercises by increasing the number of repetitions, adding gestures, movements and sounds.

For the brain

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

Exercise 1. "Brain node"

Exercise helps "warm up" the brain and start working.

1. Stand straight, back straight.
2. One hand massages the depression between the first and second ribs in the left and right areas below the collarbone. Place your other hand on your navel, helping you focus on your core.

Exercise 2. "Hook"

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

Exercise 3. "Elbow Knee"

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

Exercise 4. "Elephant"

1. Starting position: standing, in a comfortable position. Knees slightly bent.
2. Tilt your head toward your shoulder. From this shoulder, extend your arm forward, like a tree trunk, and draw a horizontal figure 8, starting in the middle of the visual field, pointing up and counterclockwise. Important: eyes follow the movements of the fingertips.

Do the exercise slowly 3-5 times with the left hand pressing on the left ear and the same number of times with the right hand pressing on the right ear.

Exercise 5. "Drawing a mirror"

1. Grab a marker or pen with both hands.
2. Draw numbers, letters, etc. v. Mirror symmetry on a piece of paper with both hands at the same time.

Additional exercises to maximize brain engagement at work:

1. "Fist. "Open both arms in front of you. Clench the fingers of your left hand into a fist, straighten your right hand. Next, constantly change the position of your fingers, gradually increasing the speed of your movements.
2. "Winner". The fingers of one hand show the gesture "V", the other hand "OK". Change hands, gradually increasing speed.
3. "Horns and feet. "One hand points to the horns, the other hand points to the feet (thumb, index finger and middle finger). Change hands, gradually increasing speed.
4. On one hand, sequentially connect the thumb with all the remaining fingers, starting with the index finger. Do the same with the other hand but starting with the pinky finger. Do the exercise with both hands at the same time.
5. "Riddle". On the one hand, bend all fingers except the index and middle fingers, on the other hand - except the ring finger and little finger. Connect them like puzzles. Change hands, gradually increasing the speed of movement.

For memory

Simple and effective exercises to improve memory:

1. Route map.Draw a map of your route to work. Try to remember everything down to the smallest detail: street names, metro stations, bus stops, shops you meet on 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 cards. Shuffle it and memorize the order of the first 3-5 cards in the deck. Shuffle the deck and find these cards.
4. A copy.Find any image on the Internet or take a banknote. Study the picture for a minute and draw from memory what you see on a piece of paper. Then check the drawing against the original to identify any missing details.
5. Remember a poem from school or learn your favorite songs. It is also great for memory training.
6. Before going to bed, remember the people and objects around you. If you attend a lecture, try to recreate all the material in your head.
7. Get some objects. Let's look at it in detail for a minute. Then turn away from the topic 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. Never stop learning new things.Minimal load on the brain and lack of new information lead to deterioration of memory and other cognitive abilities. Additionally, turning your attention to something unrelated to your work will help develop stress resistance. The best options are learning foreign languages, online courses, handicrafts, etc. v.
2. Play intellectual games, crossword puzzles, puzzles. This will help keep your mind clear and broaden your horizons.
3. Step out of your comfort zone.For example, go to work by a different route, take up a hobby that you dread, actively meet and communicate with people in real life.
4. Join simultaneouslyboth hemispheres of the brain. Brush your teeth, eat, open doors, hold handles with your non-dominant hand.
5. Read and write by hand.Reading books trains memory, activates imagination and creative thinking. And handwriting is a great way to develop motor skills.

Equally important is being able to rest. Avoid lack of sleep and learn to meditate. The brain needs to relax and rest.

The product supports memory and brain development

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

1. Fatty fish.A source of Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which affects 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 decline.
3. Egg. Egg yolks contain choline, which the body uses to make the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is responsible for memory and mood.
4. Whole grain breads and cereals.Cereals improve metabolism, give you energy and improve blood circulation in the brain thanks to their vitamin B6 content.
5. Tomato.A source of melatonin, which helps prevent brain cell aging and improves blood vessel health.

Additionally, for the brain to function actively, it is important to maintain fluid balance by drinking enough drinking water every day.

Prevent

To have a clear mind, good memory and active brain function, it is important to:

1. Get rid of bad habits.Smoking, drinking alcohol and using psychotropic substances impair blood circulation in the brain, leading to hypoxia and nerve cell death.
2. Walk.Daily walking saturates the brain with oxygen and helps develop concentration and memory.
3. Exercise.Physical activity improves blood circulation, helps improve memory, movement coordination and improves health.
4. Donate to the brainuniform loadAnd don't forget to rest.
5. Maintain good sleep hygiene.Sleep at least 7-8 hours. Sleep is necessary for the brain to rest, consolidate necessary things and destroy unnecessary neural connections.

The most important thing is to practice every day. Only regular exercise will give the desired results.