How to make your brain work at 100%

How our brain works

The brain determines our thinking, is responsible for memory, self-awareness and any feelings. De facto, it creates who we perceive ourselves to be. The hemispheres of the brain are interconnected by the substance callosum, which is necessary for the transmission of information. However, their “specializations” differ. The left hemisphere creates the ability to think logically, while the right hemisphere determines sensory perception and generates our ability to be creative.

The brain synthesizes the information it receives, applies it to the accumulated experience of memory and helps us think outside the box, giving birth to the ability to be creative, imaginative, and find ingenious solutions. If we consider the animal world of our planet, we can draw a logical conclusion: the human brain has the largest number of neural connections.

At the same time, the information that we use the brain only 10% of its potential is nothing more than a myth.

Thinking can and should be developed using effective training and providing decent conditions for improvement. Not all exercises will be useful, and you won’t always have a chance to become a genius. However, it is more than possible to progress day by day.

Brief description of the human brain

In order to know how to develop brain abilities, you need to understand the mechanism of its functioning.

The brain is the command center of the human body. It provides the opportunity to become aware of what we see, hear, feel, and controls all the functions of our body. The entire flow of information, which is recorded by every cell of the human body, is processed and filtered by the central nervous system. That which is not essential or may violate the integrity of the individual is discarded.

Without the brain, higher functions such as:

thinking process;
control of imagination;
self-determination and self-awareness;
management of emotions and speech.

This is only a small fraction of what the brain does to control the human body. It is extremely difficult to obtain knowledge about its operation - even the most minimal intervention in its structure leads to irreversible consequences.

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Preparing the brain for intensive development

The elasticity of the brain largely depends on lifestyle, nutrition, sleep and a number of other factors. Compliance with the basic conditions of preparation makes it flexible, ready to perceive new information, to improve thinking and memory. Let's note the key rules:

We provide physical activity . In the absence of regular physical activity and sufficient physical activity, physical inactivity occurs. It leads to the inability to break down fatty acids and the accumulation of cholesterol plaques on the walls of blood vessels. As a result, blood circulation slows down and the brain does not receive the resources it needs to work, its key functions are disrupted, and thinking slows down.
Let's eat right . You must provide your brain with not only enough carbohydrates, but also phosphorus. Include corn, bran, rice, fish and other seafood in your diet. But the consumption of fast food and alcohol should be limited. All alcohol-containing drinks destroy brain cells and often lead to mental degradation of a person.
We drink enough water . You should stick to the norm of 1.5-2 liters per day, or determine the optimal amount of water specifically for you. Lack of fluid leads to the accumulation of toxins and waste, disrupts cognitive processes and weakens neural connections in our brain.
Let's get enough sleep . An adult should sleep 6-8 hours a day. At the same time, it is important to go to bed and fall asleep at the same time, form a kind of “routine”, not eat 2 hours before bedtime and try to quit smoking so as not to feel groggy when you wake up.
Let's not overload ourselves . Those who know how to rest well work well. Try to get rid of workaholism and find time for relaxation, no matter how busy your schedule is. Your brain needs a change of activity and environment. Even while working or studying, regularly take 5-10 minutes to drink coffee or just walk down the hallway.

It’s unlikely that the rules for excellent brain function have revealed anything new to you. But it is they who form the basis - the one without which normal thinking is impossible. You can be as prepared as you want for an exam, but if you haven't slept the night before, your reactions and perceptions will be significantly slower. As a result, memory and logical thinking will be impaired. It is for this reason that it is recommended to first take care of your own regimen, nutrition and ensure sufficient physical activity, and only after that begin to develop your brain.

How to develop your brain?

Our intellect needs constant training to stay in shape! Vikium, a platform for training memory, attention and thinking, will help keep your brain in good shape. What attracts me here is the game form of training. There are quite a lot of online trainers, and new ones are often added.

There is also the opportunity to compete with other participants in who can think, remember and react faster. Training statistics are available, which can be compared with the achievements of other users.

Try it yourself - free registration!

Habit 3. Normalize sleep

Using the brain's ability to organize information during sleep

Many people complain that they constantly forget their things somewhere and can’t get their thoughts together. This is often due to lack of sleep. The brain gets tired just like muscles, and just like muscles, it needs to recover. He can do this while sleeping. Therefore, people who sleep little have problems with thinking. But there is another reason.

The fact is that consolidation of information in memory and work with thinking occurs in a dream much more actively than when we are awake.

You've probably heard about the REM (superficial) sleep phase and the slow-wave sleep (deep) phase. The REM sleep phase in English is called REM (short for Rapid Eye Movement, which means “rapid eye movements”). When a person is in this phase of sleep, his eyes under closed eyelids actually make noticeable movements. This means that the brain is actively working at this time.

Generating the best ideas in the morning

The main difference between sleep and wakefulness is that during sleep, new information does not enter the brain. When we are awake, the brain reacts to information received through the eyes and ears, evaluates external conditions and tries to act according to them. No matter how hard you try to focus on your thoughts, the influence of extraneous factors cannot be eliminated while you are awake.

During sleep, this influence is practically absent, but the brain continues to work. Now he is busy with the following: transferring information from short-term memory to long-term memory, collecting and distributing information received during the day, regulating thinking. And during the slow-wave sleep phase, your brain relaxes, so you feel refreshed when you wake up. This may explain why good ideas are more often born in the morning.

Take advantage of your brain's ability to structure information in your sleep. If you want to sleep, but artificially stimulate your brain with caffeine or something else and try to force yourself to collect your thoughts, then the duration of sleep will decrease, and your future efficiency will not increase. It is much more logical to work with the material to some stage and stop, get a good sleep, and in the morning finalize everything properly.

We sleep at least 6 hours

The worst thing for brain function is to reduce sleep time, explaining this by being too busy. Of course, there are times when you have to sleep too little, but you shouldn’t turn it into a habit. If you reduce your sleep time, you automatically reduce the time for consolidation of information in memory and do not allow your brain to restore order in your thought processes.

The number of hours to sleep varies from person to person. But in any case, try to sleep at least six hours, and even better - seven and a half.

Falling asleep easily

By thinking about serious problems before going to bed, watching exciting videos, you stimulate the brain center responsible for emotions, and this makes it difficult to fall asleep. It is better to leave such activities for the daytime, and prefer something soothing before bed. You can listen to calm music or read. A good option would be to care for animals or plants.

It is important to train yourself to do the same actions every day before going to bed. This is what is called a bedtime ritual and is a type of self-hypnosis.

If you repeat the same sequence of actions every day (for example, put away the dishes after dinner - study - take a bath - prepare things for tomorrow - read - go to bed), then after doing all this you will always feel sleepy. It is very good if all actions in the mornings and evenings are always performed according to a similar scenario.

Summary:

Sleep is needed not only to relax, but also to structure your thinking.
Night is needed to save the received information. Go to bed early and think about things for a while before going to bed.

How to develop your brain? TOP 10 effective exercises

The presented exercises and methods are effective at any age, regardless of gender, occupation and basic level of intellectual development. The key condition is regular training. If you study today, and tomorrow you take a six-month break, there will be no results. Let's talk about how to develop the potential of your brain, and note the most effective methods and exercises that should become a habit.

Online brain trainers

One of the most convenient and effective is Vikium.

Here are collected tasks that will keep your brain activity in good shape, training your memory, attentiveness and thinking.

Logic puzzles

Solve logic problems. Alone, in the company of friends and acquaintances. Riddle them to your other half or parents, offer them for discussion at friendly gatherings. They will make your brain work at full capacity.

Example of a logic problem : Ivan built a house with all the walls facing south. The day after the construction was completed, he saw a bear sleeping on the veranda to the left of the door. What color is the bear?

Answer: White. All the walls of the house can face south only at the South Pole, and all the bears living there are white.

Memory training

Use exercises to train your memory. We recommend that you download or purchase the book “Memory Does Not Change” by the popular psychologist Angels Navarro. It presents about a hundred illustrated exercises of several degrees of difficulty.

Level 1 exercise example

Read your to-do list for today for a minute, then repeat each item out loud or write it down on paper without looking at the original version.

To-do list:

Visit the vet with Rex.
Collect test results from the clinic
Order duck stuffed with lemons
Pick up Anya from school
Make a duplicate key
Pack your suitcase for tomorrow's trip
Buy bread home.

As you successfully complete the tasks of the 1st level, you will be able to move on to the 2nd and subsequent ones.

Take your time and don't overload yourself. Try to do no more than five exercises per day.

However, it is important that they be different each time and repeated no earlier than a week after their first passage.

Answer tricky questions

Here it is worth turning to John Farndon’s book “The Backfill Question.” In it, the author collected 187 complex questions that require a detailed answer. John recommends reading the question and thinking about it yourself and trying to answer. And only after that you can read the answer - the author's opinion. Needless to say, even an advanced scientist will not be able to put forward unambiguous theses.

Example question : Can the bag ever be empty?

Suggested answer : No, even if you open it, turn it upside down and empty the entire contents onto the table. It will still contain air molecules, dust particles and bacteria. Aristotle also said: “Nature abhors a vacuum,” arguing that matter will always strive to fill it. Accordingly, it is impossible to create an absolute vacuum in a bag without the use of special, perhaps not yet invented, equipment.

Develop strategies

Strategic thinking is accessible only to a person with developed intelligence. Agree, you will never associate a strategist with someone narrow-minded and mediocre. To help develop strategic thinking, game theory is a mathematical method that teaches you to calculate moves in advance and use game patterns in everyday life.

Example of a game theory problem

Given:

A hidden number in the range 1-100 that must be guessed. You have 5 attempts. After each, you will receive information: whether the hidden number is greater or less than the one you named.

Estimated course of the game:

Answer 50. Incorrect, the number is less.
Answer 25. Incorrect, the number is greater.
Answer 36. Incorrect, the number is greater.
Answer 44. Incorrect, the number is greater.

So before the fifth move you are left with several options: 45, 46, 48, 48 and 49. Despite the fact that the intended participant in the game tried to choose average numbers and narrow the circle of correct decisions to the maximum, he made a mistake. He did not take into account the situation in which the person who guessed the number found himself. The goal of the latter was to make the task as difficult as possible.

Accordingly, you would need to put yourself in his place. What number would you choose in its place? Of course, 49. But this is the wrong answer. After all, we also wanted to confuse you. The hidden number is 48. And the main lesson to be learned from this riddle is that you should always take into account the goals and objectives facing your opponent.

Spend time on math

Here we are talking not so much about logical problems with numbers, but about classical mathematical examples. Open the same algebra textbook and solve examples that you can handle. For some, these are integral equations, and for others, counting by column. Gradually complicate the task, remember the rules. This will be useful even for humanities scholars and people whose lives have nothing to do with numbers and mathematics in general.

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Take music lessons

Have you always dreamed of learning to play the guitar, piano or, who knows, clarinet? It's time. Even if you are 65, even if you have 8 grandchildren and no time at all, not to mention hearing and musical taste. The famous psychologist Victoria Williamson and a number of other authoritative researchers are convinced that playing musical instruments helps develop the brain, as it forces several parts of it to work in parallel. Therefore, choose an instrument to your taste and learn to play at home or at specialized courses.

Meditate Mindfully

Meditation is one of three ways to develop the brain, the effectiveness of which has been proven by scientists. We recommend combining business with pleasure and trying to meditate mindfully. Start with a simple breathing practice:

Sit up straight, preferably on a chair with a straight back, place your feet on the floor, and relax your arms.
Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Watch how the air fills and leaves the lungs, how the chest moves.
Gently push away any thoughts, just watch your breathing, and don’t try to change it (inhale deeper or more often, for example) - just watch.
At this moment, your head may begin to fill with fears, anxieties and other thoughts - do not react to them, constantly return to observing your breathing.
Open your eyes and spend about 1 minute in the same position.

The good thing about mindful meditation is that it helps us not only develop our brains and relieve stress, but also learn to look at the world differently. We often stop paying attention to details, do everything automatically and lose our zest for life. Mindful meditations help you take a different look even at things that seem familiar, ordinary and banal; they teach you to appreciate moments, while simultaneously developing your brain.

Strive to think outside the box

Even if your profession has nothing to do with non-standard thinking and creativity. This is one of the most effective ways to develop the brain, equally relevant for both the composer and the mechanic. To develop non-standard thinking, you can use the Leonardo da Vinci method. If you remember, he drew ideas for his paintings from scribbles: he closed his eyes and chaotically ran a pencil over a piece of paper, then opened his eyes and tried to see something in what he had drawn.

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How to put Leonardo da Vinci's method into practice:

Take a piece of paper and write down the task you are facing on it.
After this, completely relax and allow your brain to create all kinds of images that will describe the situation associated with the designated task.
Draw what your intuition wants - give the task a visual form. Don't think about how the drawing will look in advance. Drawing should be unconscious.
Has your intuition run out? Take another sheet of paper and draw some more.
Lay out everything drawn in front of you and look carefully. Think about the pictures for a few minutes.

As you look at each visualized image, try to ask yourself questions: “What is this?”, “Where did this come from?”, “Why did I decide to draw this?” Trying to answer will certainly push you to generate new ideas. It is possible that new thoughts will come to mind on their own the moment you look at the drawings for the first time.

Learn foreign languages

Don't know how to develop your brain's potential and make it work at 100%? Learn foreign languages. And not one, but two or three. The main thing is that this does not come at the expense of knowledge of the main language, for example, English. If you don’t know it well enough or need improvement, put off learning new languages or choose the ones that are as similar as possible. So, if you have insufficient knowledge of English, you should simultaneously learn French or German, Czech - Slovenian or Polish, Russian - Ukrainian or Belarusian.

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Write poems and stories

Definitely with a plot. It is recommended to periodically compose short stories and write at least short poems, alternating works of these two types. Finding rhymes and storylines will keep your brain firing on all cylinders. Create situations, invent characters, put them in all sorts of positions. Sometimes choose strange, fantastic plots, for example:

The cat decided to conquer the world.
You became a bee and ended up at the North Pole.
Aristotle challenged the Glory of the CPSU to a rap battle.
Your friend has been captured by the tea set.
The postman Pechkin brought you a parcel.

Try not to repeat yourself in plots, come up with something new every time. To avoid writing on your desk, start a blog or community on a social network. Invite friends or strangers there. But remember: your task is not to become a famous writer, so be extremely cold towards criticism of your literary talent.