5 Ways to get back to your 20-something brain

If you take longer than you used to remember people’s names or had to have your ATM pin number permanently tattooed on your hand, you’re in good company.

According to a recent study at the University of Virginia, for most of us, our mental peak hits at age 22. And while the study seems to show that memory may stay intact until around age 37, other cognitive skills like processing speed, reasoning and spatial visualization begin to decline around age 27.

Despite the findings, there’s no reason to assume you’ll have a single-digit IQ by the time you retire. That’s because in the 1990s, neuroscientists learned about the brain’s plasticity, that is, it’s ability to change and birth new neurons at any age.

So how exactly do we do that? Cognitive skills training.

Cognitive skills are the tools that enable humans to do things like focus, think, prioritize, plan, understand, visualize, remember, solve problems and create useful associations. They’re the skills you use to complete your Sudoku put together that kitten puzzle with your granddaughter, and remember to pick up that bottle of Pinot Grigio for the dinner party.

More specifically, your cognitive skills contain things like processing speed, logic and reasoning, memory, attention, and visual and auditory processing. And each of these skills is made up of sub-skills.  Memory, for example, includes short-term, long-term and working memory. Likewise, attention includes divided, sustained and selective attention.

Like muscles, your cognitive skills need to be strengthened using repetitive exercises. Here are a few that you can do at home, at work or in the car:

1. ¿Habla español? Learning a new language requires that you analyze new sounds, which not only improves auditory processing skills, but also memory. Most local libraries have foreign language CDs or videos that you can check out, or you can sign up for a class at your local community college or online.
2. Count on it. The Sudoku has taken the world by storm. You can’t stand in line at the grocery store without seeing a pocket-size booklet. The numbers (but not math) game can help increase your logic and reasoning skills, as well as memory. And because logic and reasoning are skills that can (to a certain extent) be taught, there are now strategy books for the game. Look for Sudoku booklets that offer gradient difficulties (easy, medium and difficult) so you can work your way up. Ditto with crossword puzzles.
3. Lose the list. Using mnemonics (triggers to aid memory using visual imagery or sounds, such as rhyming) is a great way to boost your brain while developing a system to remember things when you just can’t get to a piece of paper. Here’s one example of a number system:

1=tree (think of the one trunk), 2=legs (think two legs), 3=stool (three legs), 4=truck (4 tires) and 5=glove (5 fingers)

Link the items that you need to remember to your memory objects. If you’re upstairs and realize you need to buy toilet paper, envision yourself wrapping a tree in toilet paper. While you’re emptying your trash, you run out of bags, so you visualize yourself hopping around on two legs in the garbage bag. You just ate the last of the yogurt, so picture yourself pouring yogurt all over the stool. When you get to the grocery store, just remember your number system and what you linked to them.

1. Get in the game. Play boards games like chess or Scrabble, or surf the Web for free brain-boosting games, like those found at www.eons.com. Trivia games can boost memory, jigsaw puzzles can help visual and spatial skills and Mah Jong can help executive function (the capacity to control and apply your mental skills).
2. Be the center of attention. You can work the three types of attention with a simple activity, like reading. Sustained attention can be built by staying focused and completing the task at hand without stopping. Use a stopwatch to see how long you can stay focused. If you stop, go back to the beginning of the chapter. To strengthen selective attention, have someone try to interrupt you while you continue reading. For divided attention, try to comprehend what you’re reading while watching television.

For those with noticeable cognitive decline, brain training can significantly help. Unlike the above-mentioned self-help exercises, specialized cognitive skills training first uses precise testing to measure which cognitive skills are weakest. Once the results are evaluated, one-on-one brain skills training can strengthen all skills – even those that score highest.

“Many people assume cognitive skills training is only for children and teens looking to get an edge in school,” says Tanya Mitchell, Vice President of Development for LearningRx, a national brain-training franchise. “But we actually work with a lot of adults. Some have suffered a traumatic brain injury, others are looking to improve their brain skills to compete with younger job-seekers in the workforce, and many are just looking to fight the effects of age-related cognitive decline. The results are usually very significant. If we’ve got the tools to improve our brain power, why shouldn’t we take advantage of it?”

To learn more about cognitive skills training, call your nearest brain-training center or visit www.LearningRx.com