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JANE MURPHY
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ThinkFIT
Taking your workout outdoors could
also offer extra brain-building benefits.
Just five minutes of exercise in a green
space is enough to significantly lift your
mood, according to a study analysis
published in the Environmental Science
and Technology journal. And that boost
to your mental health is also key to
improving your brain power.#2
Be mindful
Despite all the state-of-the-
art brain-training apps and
schemes available, it seems good old
meditation is still one of the most effective
ways to improve your mind, because it
helps to get rid of some of the mental
clutter that’s stopping the important
stuff from getting in and sticking.
“The easiest way not to boost brain
power, but to release what’s already there,
is to get rid of anxiety,” says Williams.
“In my experience, [anxiety] was robbing
me of the brain power I needed to do
sums, pay attention, navigate and think
creatively. Dealing with this by learning
meditation was the best thing I did.”
Williams suggests meditating for 40
minutes once a week and 10 minutes every
other day. “Or if, like me, you can’t sit still,
‘moving meditations’ such as yoga,
swimming or walking might do the trick.”
Need more arm-twisting? Both yoga
and meditation are more effective than
memory exercises, such as crosswords
and computer games, at combating
mental decline, according to a recent
study at the University of Adelaide.#3
Or mindless...
Mindfulness is key to
maintaining a healthy brain –
but a growing body of research suggests
mindlessness has its clutter-clearing
place, too. In particular, letting our
minds wander and being a bit bored
provides a gateway to creativity. Think
about it: If you sit down with a blank
notebook, intent on coming up with a list
of amazing new ideas, chances are you’ll
still be staring at a blank page in half an
hour. But if you’re staring out of a train“Despite all the brain-training hype,
physical exercise has proven to be the
best thing anyone can do for their brain”
5 more
ways to get
smarter
LEAVE YOUR PHONE IN
YOUR POCKET
“The average person checks their
smartphone up to 85 times a day,” says
consultant neuroradiologist Dr Emer
MacSweeney. “This can affect
concentration and attention span,
making people distracted and
making the brain lazy.”LEARN A MUSICAL
INSTRUMENT
“Even in later life, this can improve
cognitive performance and memory,”
says Dr MacSweeney. “It will also build
confidence, relieve stress, foster
creativity and give a sense of
achievement – all of which keep the
brain young, active and alert.”LEARN ANOTHER
LANGUAGE
People who are able to speak more
than one language are better at saving
brainpower and are less prone to
distraction, according to a recent study
at the University of Montreal. This
allows them to perform tasks in the
most efficient way possible.KEEP IN TOUCH WITH
YOUR FRIENDS
“Socialising with friends and
maintaining your friendships helps to
reduce anxiety and depression, and
improves cognitive sharpness and
performance at every stage of your
life,” explains Dr MacSweeney.TAKE PART IN SPORT
“Physical exercise is crucial to the way
we think and feel, and can reverse
some of the effects of ageing on the
brain,” says wellbeing consultant
Robert Hutchinson. “Almost two-
thirds of adults have given up on
activities they enjoyed in childhood.”window or waiting for the kettle to boil,
inspiration is far more likely to strike.
In a recent University of Central
Lancaster study, students were asked
to find creative uses for two polystyrene
cups. Prior to the experiment, one group
had been asked to copy out numbers
from a telephone directory. And yep- it was the group who’d been carrying
out the boring task who then came up
with the most creative ideas.
#4
Change your filters
Let’s go back to ridding our
minds of anxiety... Along with
meditation, Williams swears by a process
called cognitive bias modification, which is
analysed using a “dot-probe test”. And yes,
it’s a kind of computer game. Devised by
University of London scientists in 1986, the
test measures how strongly your attention is
drawn towards and held by specific types of
stimuli. If you’re quicker at picking out angry
faces instead of smiling ones, for example, it
suggests your anxiety levels are high and
you’re always on the lookout for threats.
By learning to focus your attention
on life’s positives rather than the negatives
you’ll become less anxious and free up
some of that all-important brain space.
Try focusing on the things you’ve achieved
each day – trust us, there will always be
something – and don’t dwell on the
things you didn’t get around to.#5
Practise, practise,
practise
The best way to build a
beautiful mind is to keep using it to do
the things you want to do rather than
relying on others or technology. A lot
comes down to confidence: If you’re
convinced you’re “bad with numbers”,
for example, you probably shy away from
doing the household accounts or being
the one who divides up the bill at the end
of a group dinner. But unless you have a
go, how will you ever learn or improve?
“When I got over my fear of maths, there
was no better way of improving my skills
than to practise,” says Williams. As they
say, practice makes perfect, right?^