Neurobics – A Workout For The Brain

In this article we are talking about neurobics, a training for the brain. The cult of physical appearance predominates in Western society. Many people are therefore obsessed with a good condition and a well-shaped body.

However, few people worry about training their brains. What do you say? Does this mean there is a way to keep your brain fit? Yes, there certainly is!

While it is good to take care of your body and appearance, remember that your brain is a muscle and needs to be trained as well. It is not just any organ, but a priceless operational system. So try neurobics, it’s a great way to stay in shape.

You can also adapt the suggested exercises to your specific needs. That way, you can improve your mental faculties depending on your age. There are exercises for both children and adults of all ages.

What exactly is neurobics?

This is a mental, brain, or neuron training consisting of a series of exercises, problems and mental puzzles that can improve mental performance. Lawrence Katz and Manning Rubin, neurobiologists at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, came up with the concept.

These authors conceived of neurobics as a training program for a group of brain muscles that must be stimulated through routine changes and through a series of exercises that can maintain optimal mental health in the long term.

According to Katz and Rubin (1999), neurobics is therefore very different from other types of brain training, which generally involve logic exercises, puzzles and isolated sessions.

Instead, neurobics requires the use of all of your senses to amplify and generate the various natural pathways the brain possesses. In this way you forge new associations between different types of information. Intentionally creating new associative patterns is a central part of this kind of brain training.

Types of workout

The training proposed in neurobics involves the brain hemispheres, body movement and the use of all senses, especially the use of the eyes to stimulate myelin and ease of learning.

This program has the following objectives:

• improve a person’s physical condition
• maintain the quality of his movements
• strengthen his or her psychological and cognitive skills
• help the communication between the brain and the body to remove all stress and tension from his body

You can do many exercises. The more creative you get, the wider your range of possibilities will be. Here are some ideas:

• Do Sudoku’s, and keep track of time to track your progress.
• Learn new words and incorporate them into your future conversations.
• Put your watch on the wrong way.
• Identify the time in a clock seen through a mirror.
• Walk backwards through your house (do this carefully).
• Brush your teeth or comb your hair with your non-dominant hand.
• View photos upside down and appreciate the details.

• Use your cell phone with your non-dominant hand.
• Get dressed with your eyes closed.
• Vary the route you take to work, home, or school.

Basically, any exercises that break your routine and automatic behaviors will put your brain to work.

What are the benefits of neurobics?

For a long time, scientists believed that the brain could only make neural connections during childhood. But Katz concluded that the brain allocates and processes all necessary sensory contributions, generating new structures and connections at different ages. With these exercises, you can do the following:

• create new connections (synapses) at the brain level, by experimenting with new daily life activities
• stimulate the production or regeneration of neural networks through the sensory network

• trigger the production of neurotrophins or specific molecules that promote neuron survival
• doing brain exercises is important because they help use the whole brain and body and improve concentration, balance, thinking, memory, creativity, hearing, attention, perception and concentration

Therefore, “it is a strategy that improves learning skills and attitudes and helps prevent and remedy motor deficits, behavioral problems, orality, writing and hyperactivity” (Orellana, 2010).

Thanks to the exercises proposed by neurobics, it is possible to develop new structures and brain connections. Also, using neurobiological techniques, you can prevent the manifestation of various neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, depression and Parkinson’s disease.