Our thinking is an amazing psychological process associated with memory, imagination, speech and so on. For this reason, by directing your thoughts to the development of one, you will simultaneously improve the other. Thought processes go through several stages of development. Each age of a person corresponds to a certain level of development of cognitive skills. The level of intelligence is determined based on indicators of the development of our intellectual abilities. If you want to learn how to improve your thinking and develop your intelligence, then this article on elgreloo.com is especially for you.
Special exercises for the psyche and brain
Psychologists say that if you perform simple but effective actions for 15 minutes every day, you can significantly improve memory and brain function in adults. For this purpose, it is recommended to use the following methods: gaming, educational, training. It is only important to remember that cognitive processes are interconnected and controlled by the brain, therefore, during classes, complex exercises will give maximum results.
The most popular technique is the association technique, which helps to actively train memory and thinking. The difficulty is that you need to have a fairly broad outlook and a large vocabulary.
To learn how to select a suitable associative series, use active exercises to memorize complex text and select additional images for it, for example, with color, sound, smell.
How to develop memory and attention with the help of associations in order to preserve them for many years? Constantly train these mental processes by finding unusual and interesting relationships in the world around you. For example, the complex word “glow” can be associated with similar words “screen, light, star, candle, radiance.” But this requires a rich vocabulary. If similar exercises are carried out constantly, memory will noticeably improve, concentration and concentration will increase.
Recently, the neurobics technique (mental gymnastics) has been widely used for similar work. This is a unique and effective system for training the brain at any age. For adults, it allows them to avoid the deterioration of mental processes due to age-related changes, and helps keep the brain in good shape during intense mental work.
By recommending this technique, experts prove that constantly performing the same type of everyday tasks leads to decreased concentration and memory impairment. To prevent this from happening, you need to teach a person to think creatively. In the future, using neurobics can significantly improve memory and brain function.
Mental gymnastics exercises are simple, but complex, since they involve all the senses and the work of many mental processes. They are worked out without being distracted from routine matters.
For example, in one of the exercises it is recommended to perform familiar actions in an unusual way. With your left hand (for a right-handed person) brush your teeth, hold a spoon, write in a notebook, operate a computer. And, conversely, the same actions with the right hand for a left-handed person.
At the initial stage, this is difficult to do, but psychologists confirm that if you train such skills for just one month, concentration, thought processes, and the volume of imagination can significantly improve.
Get out of your comfort zone
When you feel comfortable and happy, your brain releases chemicals that make you feel good. But in the long run, comfort does not benefit him.
It is the willingness to step out of your comfort zone that keeps the brain young. Seek new experiences, develop new skills, and be open to new ideas.
Without mental work, dendrites - the processes of neurons that conduct nerve impulses to the body of the neuron - shrink or disappear completely. Living an active life increases dendritic networks and the brain's regenerative capacity, known as plasticity.
When you step out of your comfort zone, you stretch your brain and your dendrites grow like trees with many branches.
Brain sprint for mental acuity
In determining how to improve brain function, we will offer another interesting technique, especially relevant when performing work that requires mental acuity.
The “brain sprint” exercise consists of the fact that before starting complex mental activity, you need to select a word from any printed text and write it down on a sheet of paper. And then, in 5 minutes, make up, if possible, a large number of sentences with this word, even absurd ones.
As a more advanced option, it is proposed to turn the text 180 degrees and read aloud. The brain will resist the unusual action, but this will lead to an increase in concentration and activation of thought processes.
Game exercises that can be used as special training for mental acuity include games that, at first glance, seem childish. But for adults they will be no less relevant: “Count forward and backward to 100 as quickly as possible”; “Name the letters of the alphabet, making up a word for each”; “Remember 20 names of men or women by numbering them”; “Choose a letter of the alphabet and write 20 words that begin with it,” “Draw with both hands at the same time,” and so on.
Read every day
While reading, the brain changes Reading skill and structural brain development and develops. As you read these words, your brain is deciphering abstract symbols and synthesizing the results into complex ideas. It's an amazing process.
Reading involves many brain functions, including visual, auditory, phonemic awareness, and comprehension. When we read about something, the same neurons are activated in us as when we directly experience what is being described.
According to Watch This. No. Read It! researchers, unlike viewing or listening to information, when reading, the brain has more time to think about and process the data, as well as imagine the events described. Reading every day can help slow age-related cognitive decline and support brain health.
Development of mental processes in everyday life
Special techniques that improve thinking require additional time and a certain attitude. But everyday routine, work, study rarely allow for special classes. At the same time, the brain, memory, and attention need to be trained constantly, and not from time to time, so we use every ordinary situation.
For example, psychologists recommend keeping a diary in which you write down everything that happened during the day. Such concentration on events will help to reproduce and remember important ones.
And if in the evenings before going to bed you plan things for tomorrow with subsequent analysis of their implementation, then memory and thinking will work with maximum efficiency.
When discussing how to develop memory and attention, we must not forget about reading, especially new books, articles and magazines. If their topic is difficult enough to understand, thought processes then begin to become intensely activated, which leads to training of memory, attention, and perception. A good way to develop them is to solve crosswords, puzzles, and solve logical problems, which also teaches them to think logically.
Few people know that classical music, along with other modern means, helps improve thought processes. Psychologists call this action the “Mozart effect”, since the development of auditory perception has a positive effect on other mental aspects of a person, makes memory and attention work actively.
In parallel with special exercises, psychologists recommend using an extremely effective memory simulator - learning foreign, and even better, exotic languages. It is enough to memorize a certain number of new words a day, and then, to activate memory and thinking, try to use them in speech.
Such everyday exercises, useful for every person, stimulate both hemispheres of the brain, increase concentration, and improve memorization.
Conclusion
So, in this article we examined the question: how to develop the brain . Why to do this - everyone chooses for himself: some, for example, want to live a healthy, bright and long life; some - to achieve success; some just want to become smarter.
The methods described in the article allow you to develop your brain without specific knowledge, exercises and training. These are the chips that allow you to increase the quality of your gray matter, so to speak, in everyday life.
Proper nutrition for your brain
The right environment for your brain
Proper sleep for your brain
But, of course, the most important way of development remains training. It is continuous learning and self-improvement that will not only develop your brain, but will also set you apart from the gray crowd and allow you to become successful. Knowledge is power! Don't stop learning new things. Remember - this develops you and your brain.
Another useful feature
And finally, a useful tip about physical exercise in developing your brain.
Firstly, physical activity raises body temperature, which means the brain works better.
And secondly, it removes psychophysical clamps and frees up the channels of your perception.
And for those who want more information about pumping up their brain, I recommend getting acquainted with the side of pharmacology in the article: “Drugs for improving the brain”
Sincerely, Vadim Berlin
Order in life - order in the brain
It is known that an orderly lifestyle of any person helps restore physical and mental performance and helps improve the flow of mental processes.
In this regard, scientists advise maintaining the correct daily routine, ensuring adequate sleep, and a healthy diet.
To maintain brain activity, memory, and attention, monitor your health, learn to alternate periods of work and rest, and maintain mental balance.
Physical exercises, sports games, swimming, walks in the fresh air increase blood circulation in the body and nourish the brain. The work of all mental processes depends on this.
During complex mental activity, you need to take short breaks more often and learn to perform relaxation exercises, which also help develop concentration.
The main thing, while maintaining the performance of memory, thinking, and attention, is to treat them as necessary life processes, which, like other aspects, require daily systematic training.
What is thinking
What is thinking? There are many theories, but scientists have not come to a final conclusion. I will not delve into complex and incomprehensible terms now and will try to explain everything in simple terms. Thinking is a thought process that offers different neural connections (pathways) for solving various issues, situations, circumstances, thoughts.
The quality and speed of these paths depends on how developed thinking is. If you haven’t developed your brain for a long time, haven’t read books, haven’t solved problems, then your thinking can only provide 2-3 ways to solve a simple problem and they will be mediocre.
The more you develop your brain, imagination, memory, broaden your horizons, improve your logical and creative thinking, the better the quality of your neural connections (thoughts) will be.
To develop thinking, it is necessary to approach the development of each feature of the brain.
Thoughtful reading
A love of poetry will help increase the speed of thinking, not only writing poetry, but also memorizing rhymed lines. You can even learn the lyrics to your favorite song. The main thing is that our brain develops by analyzing words and rhymes.
Experts also recommend reading a lot to stimulate your brain. But when deciding how to improve your thinking speed through reading, it is important to choose what to read correctly. Mindlessly browsing news on social networks will not improve the functioning of your brain cells. Historical books, philosophical works, textbooks, scientific works, only intellectual publications will help stimulate brain function.
Moreover, you should not chase the number of books you read; it is much more important to thoughtfully comprehend their content and find application for new knowledge in real life.
Don't sit motionless
Like it or not, physical activity has a significant impact on the brain and mood. According to researchers, movement improves The Effect of Movement on Cognitive Performance cognitive abilities. So find an activity that you enjoy and do it regularly.
Simple aerobic exercise like walking is enough. 30-45 minutes of brisk walking three times a week will help Exercise, Cognition and the Aging Brain protect against mental wear and tear, and improve episodic memory and executive function of the brain by about 20%.
Showing interest in life
Little children are interested in every little thing, they want to know everything and find answers to any question. Growing up, a person becomes more and more uninterested in the world around him, driving himself into narrow, gray everyday life. And this gradually reduces the efficiency of the brain.
One of the ways to develop speed of thinking is to regain interest in life. We need to learn to be curious again, discover new tastes every day, don’t be shy to ask questions and look for answers.
- Change your usual route and go to work a different way.
- Don’t brush off your child’s strange questions, but together find the answer to why the grass is green and the shape of the clouds is constantly changing. Open the encyclopedia, look for the answer online, ask your friends. The main thing is to think, clarify, analyze, this is food for the mind.
- Don't be afraid to try new tastes, smells, sensations. Analyzing new impressions stimulates the functioning of brain cells.
- Try to attend new exhibitions, presentations, and follow the latest in the art world. This will help you see the world around you from an unusual perspective.
- Try to look for unusual explanations and make non-standard decisions. By looking at a situation from an unfamiliar, and perhaps absurd, angle, you can develop the area of the brain responsible for processing new information and memory.
Keep a diary
Keeping notes will help you prioritize, think clearly, and focus on important things instead of urgent ones. A diary also helps Effects of Expressive Writing on Psychological and Physical Health cope more easily with stressful situations and anxiety and even increases Effect of Written Emotional Expression on Immune Function in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection the activity of immune cells.
“Keeping notes improves the brain's ability to perceive, process, store, and retrieve information,” explains neurologist Judy Willis. “This develops long-term memory, helps to notice patterns of thinking, and gives time for reflection. And with the right approach, it becomes a source of conceptual development and stimulates the higher mental functions of the brain.”
How to develop speed of thinking through observation and the use of patterns
The speed of decision-making that you observe in your colleagues and which you envy is not always associated with their ability to develop an unprecedented speed of thinking. If a person is engaged in some activity for a long time, he gains experience and develops a whole piggy bank of algorithms and templates. What you need to figure out when “reinventing the wheel” is probably a lesson learned a long time ago for him, and if you need to be creative and unconventional, then he can simply use an algorithm. Believe me, after a while you will have your own “chest” of ideas, algorithms and templates, you just need to take care to remember the solutions you find and put them in a collection, in your piggy bank.
How to develop speed of thinking using the Victor Kotka method. Increasing internal tempo
- To use this technique, which trains the speed of perception and speed of thinking, you need an assistant trainer, a timer and an informative book, preferably a popular science book, on a topic that interests you. You are given time to read the page, for example 3 minutes. then they give the task to do it in 2.5 minutes. It gets more difficult, but you manage. Then you are given 2 minutes. you already have to “speed up”, but you manage. Then you are given 3 minutes, and you feel how much it is. Next task - 2 min. - it is possible, but with difficulty. One and a half minutes - it’s very difficult for you. Then 2.5 - after one and a half it’s easy for you, then 2 minutes, but in seconds: 120 seconds, then 100 seconds. etc. After a few months of such training (no need to force it too much), you will learn to “grasp” the content of the page text in a short time (a few seconds). Testing the assimilation of the text read is carried out by retelling.
Don’t let self-doubt and fear that you won’t succeed interfere with you: the one who walks will master the road. Just do it, try it and believe in yourself.
(Reference: Victor Kotok is the author of an original method of teaching dynamic reading. As his fellow student at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, the popularizer of practical psychology N. I. Kozlov (Doctor of Psychology, professor and founder of Training-) studied using this method and speaks of it as very effective.)
- You can increase your internal tempo, that is, increase your own internal speed, in this way: prepare a timer and try to come up with and pronounce as many noun words in 1 minute. Have someone help you count how many words you can remember. Try it, practice more often, try to “speed up” and name more and more words per unit of time.
- Speed up the pace of your walking, speaking, making decisions (even if they are wrong). Try changing the tempo, either speeding it up or slowing it down. Feel it, it will help you control it. In general, consciously slowing down and speeding up the pace at which you perform any action (for example, talking, walking, drawing, and so on) helps the brain learn to work at different tempo rhythms and, if necessary, speed up.
