Age is just a number. Here are ways to keep your brain as young as ever! [Fridays: Mindfulness by Miles]
Miles Everson’s Business Builder Daily speaks to the heart of what great marketers, business leaders, and other professionals need to succeed in advertising, communications, managing their investments, career strategy, and more.
A Note from Miles Everson:
Welcome to today’s “Mindfulness by Miles!”
Every Friday, we write about a topic or event that I find useful in my daily life. Our goal is to help you develop the right skills and habits that will improve your personal life and career.
In this article, we’ll focus on the topic of cognition. As professionals, it’s important that we take care of our minds so we can function well at work.
Would you like to know how you can boost your intelligence?
Read the article below. I’m sharing some easy activities to help improve your IQ (intelligence quotient).
Miles Everson
CEO, MBO Partners
Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute
Mindfulness by Miles
There’s a common misconception that our intelligence levels are fixed, and we can only be as intelligent as we’ll ever be. Some also believe that our memory, cognition, and focus decline as we age, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Here’s the thing: Both these brain-related myths are FALSE.
Researchers from the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) found that a 12-week cognitive training program conducted one hour a week, alongside two hours of homework, reversed cognitive decline in older adults.
What’s this program called?
The Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART)!
Photo from ASHAWire
The SMART program teaches participants how to block irrelevant information so they can focus on the bigger picture without getting caught up in the minor details. It also teaches them to analyze issues from different viewpoints so they can enhance their mental flexibility.
After 12 weeks into the program, researchers found that these techniques help participants to develop better focus and stronger reasoning skills.
According to Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, the lead author of the SMART program:
“Innovative cognition—the kind of thinking that reinforces and preserves complex decision-making, intellect, and psychological well-being—does not need to decline with age. This study reveals that cognitive training may help enhance cognitive capacities and build resilience against decline in healthy older adults.”
The bottom line?
It doesn’t matter much what your age is. Just because you’re getting older, that doesn’t mean you have to be resigned to the fact that you can be forgetful, less intelligent, etc.
With some simple cognitive training, you can maintain or improve your intelligence at any age.
—
According to Miles Everson, CEO of MBO Partners, he personally finds the SMART program interesting. For him, it would be great to participate in those brain exercises and experience positive results after.
However, since he wasn’t part of the program, he decided to look for other ways to boost his intelligence levels instead. That’s when he read an article from Dave Asprey, a lifestyle guru and founder of Bulletproof Nutrition Inc.
Based on Asprey’s article, there are a few simple ways to upgrade your brain function:
- Play brain games.
Different brain games improve different cognitive functions like memory, problem solving, critical thinking, and more. These games include:
- Crossword puzzles
- Chess
- Sudoku
- Bridge
… and other creative outlets like drawing, playing musical instruments, or learning a new language.
The key here is to find a variety of mentally stimulating activities that you enjoy so you’ll more likely do those activities regularly.
- Practice memory techniques.
There are different techniques to remember something. For example:
If you ask someone for a phone number, you repeat it in your mind until you actually dial it.
… or if you’re studying for a test, you use rhymes or mnemonic devices to easily memorize or recall a few items.
For others, they use the technique called, “memory palaces.” This involves visualizing things or people in a physical space that you’re familiar with. It’s similar to how you would visualize placing furniture in rooms.
According to Asprey, spatial memory is a huge survival advantage for humans because visualization helps in the storage and retrieval of information in the mind.
However, not all people are visual learners. So, if the “memory palaces” technique doesn’t work effectively for you, Everson suggests you look for another way to help boost your IQ or memory.
- Maintain a healthy diet.
Your food intake plays an important role in sharpening your brain’s cognitive functions. That’s why for Asprey, it’s essential that you eat food with these brain-boosting supplements:
- Omega 3 Fatty Acids: These are crucial for proper brain function and development. They help improve your memory and thought processes.
- Medium Chain Triglyceride Oil (MCT Oil): This helps your brain function more efficiently and activate your body’s fat-burning abilities.
- Acetyl-L-carnitine (ACL): This acts on both your acetylcholine and dopamine functions, becoming a powerful antioxidant and cognitive enhancer.
- Caffeine: This helps improve your short-term memory, alertness, and cognitive function. Additionally, caffeine enables you to effectively perform math problems and improve your mood. However, you also have to limit your caffeine intake in a day because overdosing on this substance may also cause palpitations.
You can get these nutrients by consuming fish, coffee, blueberries, nuts, eggs, fruits, vegetables, etc.
Everson says he personally agrees with doing all of Asprey’s suggestions. Sometimes, when he has spare time, he tries playing a few brain games or practicing some memory techniques.
He states these activities truly have positive effects on his cognition because afterwards, his brain is more keen in remembering details, his attention is more laser-focused, and his analytical skills are better.
So, if you’d also like to kickstart your journey towards enhancing your intelligence levels, he recommends that you try these tips too!
… and don’t disregard tip #3! Everson believes food plays a critical role in your overall health and well-being, so always strive to maintain a healthy diet.
Advance happy weekend, everyone!
(This article is from The Business Builder Daily, a newsletter by The I Institute in collaboration with MBO Partners.)
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: Mindfulness by Miles”
High-performance businesses are run by people who think and act differently.
In other words, these are people who are high-performing individuals.
Companies and individuals of this kind have found ways to escape the grind of commoditization and competition by focusing on the RIGHT goals.
High-performing businesses and individuals are also “return driven” businesses and “career driven” individuals. They conscientiously develop unique capabilities and resources that allow them to deliver offerings in ways no other firm or individual can.
Every Friday, we’ll publish tips and insights from MBO Partners and The I Institute’s “The Business Builder Daily” newsletter.
These will help you gain knowledge on the things that Miles Everson, the CEO of MBO Partners, often talks about regarding the future of the workforce.
We’ll also highlight other mindfulness advice on how you can be a high-performing individual both in your career and personal life.
Hope you’ve found this week’s insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Friday’s “Mindfulness by Miles!”
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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www.valens-research.com
