How to: Morning Brain Exercises

Juggling is physically and neurally challenging, unlike commercial brain games, e.g. "memory matrix" pattern recall.

In 2006, a National Institutes of Health study on cognitive training birthed the "brain training" phenomena. This new commercial industry soon included "brain games," offered to consumers online and on gaming consoles. However, Dr. Marc Siegel, NYU, School of Medicine, and Amnon Gimpel, MD, author of "Brain Exercises to Cure ADHD," recommend "brain exercise therapy" as a no-cost, physical alternative to these online and gaming console games. You can get this type of therapy in already cognitively complex, everyday activities, such as juggling, running, meditating and even laughing.

Things You'll Need

• Three juggling balls

Instructions

Waking the Sleepy Head

1. Juggle two balls, one in your left hand and one in the right. Throw the ball in your right hand in an eye-level arc to your left hand. Throw the left hand ball before you catch the right hand ball, ideally when the right hand ball is parallel to your eyes. Switch the movement, starting with your left hand throwing to the right hand. Repeat right to left and left to right movement for 30 seconds, building to 1 minute of continuous two-ball juggling.

2. Juggle three balls. Hold two balls in your right hand, one in the front, using your thumb and index finger, and the second at the back of your hand, using fourth and little finger. Hold the third ball in your left hand. Throw the right hand front ball in an arc towards the left hand. Throw the left hand ball before the right hand ball reaches the left hand. Catch the right hand ball with your left hand.

3. Throw the right hand back ball before the left hand ball (in motion) hits your right hand. Catch the left hand ball with your right hand. Repeat this sequence for 30 seconds, building to 1 minute of continuous three-ball juggling.

4. Phone a friend. Initiate a lively, witty conversation. Tell jokes and laugh often. Share new words, facts or quotes still fresh in the mind, from newspapers, books and lectures.

De-stress For Crystal Clear Thinking

1. Cross your legs. Lift your left foot onto opposite knee (half lotus position). Inhale quietly through your nose and exhale quietly through mouth, with lips parted slightly.

2. Follow only the breath's sound and your accompanying chest/abdomen movements until you are caught up in the rhythmic feel and sound. Count your breaths up to 10, with one inhale and exhale counting as one. Count up to 100 breaths, returning to the count of one after every tenth breath.

3. Extend your inhale and exhale to 7 seconds, still counting from one to 10. Visualize your breath as the ebb and flow of gentle waves. Imitate the image in your breathing to produce fluent, gentle breaths. Do this for 15 minutes.

References

• Mercury News: Brain-training Games Rise in Popularity as People Try to Prevent or Delay Mental Deterioration
• Health: Brain Games and Exercise: A Drug Free Treatment for ADHD
• Sharp Brains: Free Brain Exercise: Two Feet of Free Therapy

Resources

• Columbia Business School: Center for Decision Sciences
• Neuromarketing: The Twitter Spot In Your Brain
• Science Magazine: Why Loneliness is Hazardous to your Health