Nurture Your Brain

05/24/2010

I realize that humor isn't for everyone. It's only for people who want to have fun, enjoy life, and feel alive.
Anne Wilson Schaef (1934 - 2020), American clinical psychologist and author

"Think of the brain as almost infinitely plastic throughout our lives....Until the day we die our brain remains capable of change, according to the challenges we set for it." This observation comes from Richard Restak in his new book, Think Smart: A Neuroscientist's Prescription for Improving Your Brain's Performance (New York: Riverhead Books, 2009). At the end of this most interesting book, Restak lists over 20 recommendations to promote healthy brain functioning throughout adulthood. Here are some of the more surprising of these....

Try to include walnuts and blueberries in your daily diet.
Consider increasing your daily intake of caffeine.
Avoid the principal factors shown to be associated with a decline in brain information-processing ability: insufficient physical and mental activity, a decreased number of friends, too much empty spare time, infrequent opportunities to converse, and excessive alcohol use.
Increase your capacity for sustained attention and concentration. To do this, resist the pressures to multitask.
Increase your hand and finger dexterity.
Develop an appreciation for art.
Engage in reminiscence exercises.
Develop a magnificent obsession...take up something that interests you but is far removed from your background, education, or life experience.
Every day find an hour to improve through practice a specific aspect of your performance in an activity that interests you.
Use music to elevate your mood.

Lilian Katz on Intellectual Emergencies

Intellectual Emergencies: Some Reflections on Mothering and Teaching is a special contribution to the field by Lilian Katz. She has spent many years conducting workshops for teachers, parents, and students all over the world.

During those workshops, she often refers to her son Stephen, and what she has termed the "intellectual emergencies" she experienced during the years he was growing up.

Katz's responses to these "emergencies," the moments when he analyzed her actions and challenged her decisions as a parent and a teacher, are presented in this insightful, witty book.

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