Over 500 trillion synaptic connections exist inside your brain. It is the most powerful muscle in your body. These connections are what allow you to do math, drive your car, cry at sentimental movies and control your every move and behavior. It constantly changes, through a process known as plasticity, and it is through these changes you can make changes in how your brain functions.
The fact that your brain is constantly changing is one of the newest developments in neuroscience. Traditionally scientists have thought that our brains were fully formed by adulthood, and that our genetics were the contributing factors molded our brains. In the last decade more has been known about the functions of the brain, and that our environment has just as much an effect on our memory and mental functions as does genetics. Even more interesting, these changes continue on throughout our adulthood.
Optimizing our brain fitness can improve our lives in a number of areas, including:
1.     Attention and focus
2.     Memory improvement in all areas
3.     Enhances learning, creativity and fine motor skills
4.     By paying attention you open the door to all the other memory and cognitive functions. It may sound like an easy solution, but being able to pay attention and focus takes some practice. We are too easily distracted – with phones, emails, outside activities, jobs and family, so fine-tuning our ability to pay attention is not something that will be easy.
5.     Focus and attention are the basis for learning. It also coordinates the brain networks that are involved with sensation, emotions, movement and thought.
6.     By improving memory you aid in the formation of neurological circuits that contribute to your brain’s optimization. A good memory gives you a better sense of self-worth, and forms the basis for your identity. When memory begins to slow down it causes confusion and diminished feeling of your own capabilities. It causes you to question yourself, and your ability to function in all areas of your life.
7.     Your working memory is linked to your IQ, and this is the first part of your brain that begins to decline as we age. It is the foundation for stored information and can easily be improved with practice and brain exercises.
8.     Exercising your brain does not have to be a chore. It can be exciting and calming, and an amazing way to make changes in the connections that comprise your brain functions.
Here are a few exercises that can help you to attain better brain health:
- Name as many animals as you can in one minute without repeating them. This exercise will make use of your working memory to mentally eliminate animals you’ve already named. A good score is between 17 and 20 animals. Keep practicing this and see how many animals you can add each time. You can also make a game of it with others, including children.
- Look at the room you are in, then close your eyes and try to envision everything in the room. You can write them down, as long as you don’t look. Repeat this memory-recall exercise in different rooms, and pay closer attention to smaller details, such as the number of magazines on a table.
- Take random spices from your cupboard and place them on a table. Close your eyes and try to identify each of them by smell alone. This will sharpen your senses of smell and sensory recall.
Optimizing Brain Fitness is an invaluable part of your “personal tool kit†for lasting health and wellness. By doing your best to make your brain healthier you can expand the use of your most important organ, and improve your quality of life.
Your brain is a constant work in progress, and you are still in control of how your creation turns out.
 
About the author:
Ron White is a two-time U.S.A. Memory Champion and memory training expert. As a memory keynote speaker he travels the world to speak before large groups or small company seminars, demonstrating his memory skills and teaching others how to improve their memory, and how important a good memory is in all phases of your life.
Sources:
The Great Courses – Optimizing Brain Fitness: http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1651&ai=60089&cm_mmc=googleadwords-_-G.NonBrand%20-%20OptimizingBrainFitness-_-Memory%20&%20Brain-_-memory%20brain&gclid=CIGvl8GS_a0CFbAEQAod8WszuA