2014-03-11    How to improve your brain

Last week I mentioned how, on my January flight from Australia to Hong Kong, I saw the excellent BBC documentary "Rise of the Continents". On the same flight I saw another absorbing documentary "Redesign My Brain" (RMB!), from Australia's ABC.  For lots of information about this program, including a YouTube preview, Google "redesign my  brain".

"RMB" shows how we can become smarter, improve our memory and reverse mental ageing with brain training. An ordinary brain can become a super brain in three months. The program also claims that the science of brain plasticity has the potential to cure learning and mental disorders.

As a result of watching "RMB" I have started doing a few minutes juggling each day, using two tennis balls. I hope to graduate to three in the near future. RMB shows how juggling quickly refreshes and stimulates the brain. Which links in with what experts say: if you're using a computer for a long period, have a juggling break every hour or so. And it's pleasing to know that some schools in Hong Kong have experts come in to teach juggling to their students.

One other thing which RMB has got me doing is playing a game or five of chess each day - another good way of keeping Brother Brain healthy. The only trouble is I've become a free member of www.chess.com (which has 9 million players) - and I'm becoming a compulsive chess player. Anyone know of a program "How to stop playing chess"?!