BRAIN BUILDERS - Plan your way to a more powerful memory
By Mary Dixon Lebeau
AARP Magazive, July 04 - www.aarpmagazine.org

Want to bulk up your memory like you bulk up your muscles? Research shows that certain kinds of mental stimulation increase neuron counts in the brain’s memory center, says Gary Small, M.D., author of The Memory Prescription. Tasks that require several kinds of skills at once are the barbells of the mental gym. Some of the best ways to build up your memory banks:

Be a Well-Balanced Potato.  Instead of watching TV while lounging in your Barcalounger, try sitting on an exercise ball. As you strengthen your sense of balance, you’ll also be challenging two very different parts of your brain and strengthening the connections that help you store and retrieve information.

Change Sides.  Use your non-dominant hand in activities such as tooth-brushing or dialing the phone to strengthen little-used neural pathways. Four-time U.S. memory champion Scott Hagwood—who can memorize a deck of cards in two minutes flat—does this at least four times a week.

Keep a Few Balls in the Air.  Learning to juggle increases gray matter in areas of the brain that process and store visual information, according to a recent German study.

Do-Si-Do.  Square dancing is known to protect against dementia, presumably because it requires multiple mental and physical skills. For the same benefit with a twist, try the video game Dance Dance Revolution, which has made fools out of countless addicts. Using an electronic foot-pad that records your steps (or missteps), the game plays music and shows you where to put your feet. “The pattern and the music are constantly altered—which makes it fun and challenging for the mind,” says learning specialist Donalee Markus, Ph.D.

Sample the Unknown.  Card games sharpen brain connections. For an even better cognitive workout, play with people you don’t know. The randomness of the cards and the newness of communication patterns will give your brain a vigorous workout. Says Markus: “Novelty is like vitamins for the brain.”