Brain Exercises - Improve Memory and Concentration
Chronic stress is one cause of neurodegeneration, or the loss of neurons in the brain, that are needed for memory. Excessive mental stress increases your risk of Alzheimer's disease especially when it persists for years. Many people today are under chronic stress. You can see this by the number of medications recommended for conditions such as high blood pressure, depression, and acid reflux. These are symptoms all caused by stress.
Hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are produced during acute and chronic stress states. Excessive hormones cause heart reactions such as palpitations and high blood pressure. Cortisol also damages the memory cells and stops needed glucose from getting into your brain. You need glucose for your short term memory. Reducing acute stress states can prevent chronic stress from growing worse.
The major causes of physical symptoms of stress come from your reactions to events. If you react without the ability to respond to stress your body will not be able to process this event. The stress condition will be stored in your cells. Being able to respond physically by taking action will greatly reduce the effects you get from stress. Yet finding appropriate ways to reduce reactions to stress are not always easy. I recommend specific stress reduction exercises that help improve mental clarity and reduce stress reactions from being stored in our cells.
Stress Reduction Brain Exercises
Brain exercises wake up the body/mind system, and help to improve your learning and concentration processes. All types of physical and mental exercise improve the structural system and improve the circulation of your blood to your brain. Yet these specific brain exercises also help to enhance your mental performance. You will also look at other types of physical and mental exercises to improve your brain function in future chapters.
These brain exercises are used to facilitate learning in schools. These simple movement exercises keep oxygen flowing to the brain, lymph, and nervous system. When people sit still too long they will tend to either fall asleep or begin to lose focus. These specific movements will get more oxygen to your brain and enhance your sensory input. You will read about a few movement exercises that improve brain circulation making it easier to understand what you read and hear. These movement exercises will balance both sides of your brain by increasing brain communication between the left and right hemispheres. Paul Dennison, Ph.D. in the 1970’s, researched many movements and exercises that affect learning. He developed a program called Educational Kinesiology to work with people who were learning disabled. His exercises are called Brain Gym movements. I will be showing you my favorite movements that I use to enhance brain communication.
Emotional Stress Release
The main movement I recommend to reduce stress and improve thinking ability is called Emotional Stress Release. There are two neurovascular points on your forehead that are used to help you focus. Neurovascular points are specific points in your head that connect your nervous system to your muscular system. Each of these neurovascular points are related to an organ, and are used in Applied Kinesiology to evaluate stress in organs. These emotional stress release points are about one to two inches away from the vertical centerline of your forehead, and in the middle of the forehead between the hairline and the eyebrows. These emotional stress release points are real neurovascular points that connect your nervous and circulatory system. You do not need to know exactly where these points are since you just need to lightly cover your forehead with the palm of your hand to activate these points. Have you ever seen someone under stress, or when taking a test, cover their forehead with their hand? This is an instinctive movement that people use when they are under stress and they want their brain to focus better.
This movement is something you can do to yourself easily. Or you can hold your hand lightly over another person’s forehead and tell them to breathe calmly. If they were in a stressed situation they will begin to feel relaxed more quickly. I have often used this movement with others when they do not know what they want, or they have experienced a trauma and have lots of anxiety. I encourage students to do this action when they are taking a test, to improve their focus better and make better decisions.
Eye Points
On the back of our head we have two neurovascular points that relate to eye strain. In this day of constant computer use, you can overburden your eyes causing visual chronic stress. To locate these points in order to see if they are sore, you will press about one and one-half inches from the back centerline of your skull, and about four finger widths up from your neckline. These points will feel like slight indentations in the skull. Sometimes these points are sore, usually depending on how much eye strain is occurring. If they are sore then gently massage these points until they are no longer painful. These eye points will reduce any visual stress and help you better remember what you read or see.
Ear Pulls
To increase short-term memory, listening ability energy and circulation to your whole body, use ear pulls. Your ears have over 400 acupuncture points that can be used to improve many health related issues. One way you can stimulate your whole body is to pull on your ears in all directions. Pull them up, out, down, and try to unroll the edges. As you move the cartilage in the ear you will stimulate these acupuncture points. I have used ear pulls to stay awake in class, while driving (only one hand pulling on one ear at time), and to reduce neck tension and stiffness. This exercise improves circulation throughout your whole body, and can help improve your memory.
Left/Right Brain Communication
How do you know if your left and right brain are communicating well? Stand up and put your arms out to both sides of your body with your hands facing forward. Bring your palms together in front of your body, and clasp your fingers together. Did your hands go together easily? Or did they not quite meet in the middle easily? People who are having trouble thinking clearly, for example, people who are drunk, will have trouble doing this exercise successfully. When someone is excessively stressed they will also have trouble doing this exercise. The fingers may not come together easily, or you may have to think about the motion to make it work. The fingers should smoothly move into place. This is an introductory exercise to help you determine how your left and right brain are communicating. If you are having difficulty doing this exercise, do the following brain exercise and then try this movement again and see if it is easier.
People having difficulty thinking clearly can do certain movements that help to bring the brain and senses into better focus. The main exercise I teach to enhance brain communication and improve coordination is called cross patterning.
Cross Patterning
In aerobic exercise class there is a common movement that involves lifting one knee and touching it with the opposite hand or elbow. Then this movement continues by putting the bent leg back on the ground and lifting the other knee and touching it with the other hand or elbow. By doing this movement of one hand touching the opposite raised knee continually for 30 to 60 seconds you actually are improving the nervous system communication between both of your brain hemispheres.
Cross patterning is a cross lateral pattern of walking in place that activates large areas of both your right and left brain hemispheres to improve communication that in turn creates a higher level of reasoning. This exercise can be done slowly to improve motor skills and balance, and improve decision-making ability that is activated in the frontal lobe of the brain in the forehead area.
Children who have trouble reading often have the most difficulty with this movement. I recommend this exercise to anyone who is having trouble putting together thoughts in their mind or on paper. If anyone cannot do this movement I have them practice very slowly until they are able to do it easily. It is a very important tool in improving brain communication. Any similar exercise using opposite hands and feet in movements will help, such as free-style swimming, skiing, and many exercise machines that use both arms and legs in opposing movements. To make this exercise more challenging to your brain, you can do this movement while counting by threes, or by humming a tune. Adding these mental activities that activate the left brain while counting, or the right brain while humming will stimulate your brain more deeply.
These movements are specific stress releases for definite areas of your brain and nervous system. They may seem too simple to be effective, but just do them when you’re stressed. First, see if you can do the Left/Right Brain Integration exercise. If that seems easy, touch your eye points on the back of your head and see if they are sore. Even if they are not sore, it is good to rub these points regularly to prevent eyestrain.
If you are having troubles focusing on your work do some Cross Patterning exercises. Then go back to your work and see if it is easier. If you have to make some decisions and cannot think clearly, do Emotional Stress Release Points and breathe, and see how it helps you focus your thoughts. These exercises do help many people, and can make a large difference in reducing levels of stress that reduce brain function.
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