Article Title: "Put Your Brain To Work "
Author: SONJA CARBERRY
Section: Leaders & Success Date: 1/22/2007

If you want to sharpen your analytical skills, try flexing your mental muscle on a crossword or sudoku puzzle. Research has shown that engaging in activities like these may preserve and even increase your brain's abilities.

The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that brain training sessions improve memory, concentration and problem-solving skills in older adults.

Other studies show that regularly working your brain may stave off Alzheimer's disease by increasing the number of dendrites - the branches that span the synapses between brain cells.

Not that you have to slave away with a pencil to exercise your mind, say AARP and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. Several activities, including just walking, may help you improve your analytical skills.

Think differently. Try brushing your teeth with the opposite hand, driving a different route to work, eating in silence or traveling somewhere new. These simple activities - called neurobics - enrich the brain's connective tissues, says Duke University Medical Center neurobiologist Lawrence Katz.

He designed 83 neurobic exercises that engage the senses by breaking a routine and focusing your attention in a significant way. Katz says these activities preserve mental capacity and may open new avenues for thought processing.

Play games. In "Exercises for the Whole Brain," Games magazine editor Allen Bragdon and puzzle author David Gamon present 60 games that work the brain's six functions. Executive planning happens in the front part of the cortex - the brain's outer covering - where you form goals and make plans. To exercise this function, Bragdon and Gamon recommend puzzles that force you to organize information and use it to your advantage.

Enroll now. Take a cooking class, learn a craft or study a language.
Mastering new hobbies or skills requires your brain to remodel itself.

Learning a second language is especially powerful because it forces your brain to continuously switch between the languages - a mentally demanding exercise.

Reading for pleasure also stimulates the brain.

Brain nautilus. To find out your brain's "age," take an online test at MyBrainTrainer.com. Then match wits with MyBrainTrainer's elementary cognitive tasks. These brain exercises force you to think quickly. After a few rounds, test your brain's age again to measure your progress.

Body exercise. Several studies have shown that exercise enlivens the mind. One study of women walkers shows that every extra mile they walk each week decreases the chances of long-term cognitive decline by 13%.

Other studies hint that running actually boosts brain cell numbers.

Get social. Volunteering or joining a club can fuel your brain. The social aspect of mental stimulation can enhance your mental vitality.

Live well. To take care of your brain, eat well, don't smoke or drink alcohol in excess, and remember to relax. Too much stress causes a surplus of the hormone cortisol going to the brain. That can destroy brain cells.