By Prof Con Stough [Extracts]

Up until recently many scientists believed that as we age our brain shrinks and our capacity to be intelligent diminishes. At the same time cognitive psychologists have been busy measuring the psychological changes that occur across age. There appears to be a fairly clear downward decrease in learning, memory, speed and attention as we get older. Some scientists argue that these variables start declining in our 20s, although there is some evidence to indicate that perhaps other measures of intelligence such as our vocabulary may steadily increase as we get older, at least until the age of about 60. Much of this age related intellectual decline has been blamed on the fact that humans do not regenerate brain cells (neurons) and brain volume decreases as we get older.

Over the last few years, research on the brain has started to indicate that perhaps there are ways for our brain cells (neurons) to regenerate. It is very clear that stimulating the brain with new learning and new tasks causes some important changes. These changes include helping our existing neurons make new connections with other neurons. In fact some neurons can make many different connections with different neurons in different areas of the brain and this is in part responsible for the brains capacity to learn and to remember new events. There are several training programs available on the internet but perhaps the best researched is the posit program found at www.positscience.com. A free but limited program is available at brain.com.

Keeping the brain healthy and fit will of course also involve diet, sleep and other health related factors. Oxygen flow to the brain is important as the brain is the biggest user of oxygen in the body. Adequate levels of anti-oxidants is also vital in maintaining high levels of intelligence. There is probably no difference between keeping the body and the brain fit and healthy. Brain fitness is likely to involve getting it to work as hard as possible. Many of us have an interest in crosswords and puzzles like Sudoku. However, keeping the brain active will require a variety of other tasks and forcing the brain to react as quickly as possible to complex stimuli. In the absence of structured programs like Posit, the next best might be a range of computer games