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Brain Boosters-October Anagrams


Neuroplasticity challenges the idea that brain...

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Wow, we are almost at the mid point of October and Halloween is just around the corner! As we enter the holiday season, remember how important it is to take care of your health and your brain! Speaking of the brain it’s time to exercise your brain, form new brain pathways, build your cognitive reserve, challenge yourself,  engage in new learning!  Become a lifelong learner, and take advantage of your brain and neuroplasticity skills through new learning.  We are never too old for new learning or too young to begin building our cognitive reserves!  Let’s try some anagrams today. Create as many new words as you can from the following words.

First, go grab a healthy snack-blueberries, strawberries, apples, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, veggie sticks, dark chocolate, paired with a healthy beverage-green tea, water, red wine. I just had some walnuts and iced green tea. Ready? Here are your words.

HALLOWEEN

COSTUMES

CANDIES

GOBLINS

PUMPKINS

DECORATIONS

 

Remember to exercise your body as well! Physical exercise helps pump blood throughout your body-including your brain. Studies have shown that by walking just 35 minutes a day at least 3 days/week it’s possible to increase the size of your hippocampus, which may correlate to improved memory skills! So, get up, leash that dog and take a walk!

BrainMasters Brain Awareness Week Educational Program at ManorCare of Marietta


Wendy and I are having a busy week as we continue to celebrate Brain Awareness Week.  Today we conducted an educational program at ManorCare in Marietta, GA.  We discussed brain plasticity, brain foods, brain health, brain maintenance, brain facts, and brain tips. The brain fact that most surprised the group was that the human brain processes about 70,000 thoughts each day. That is really rather impressive! They were also quite impressed that the human brain uses enough energy to light a 25 watt light bulb. Of course, that naturally developed into a conversation about how to use this human energy in our daily lives. What a great brainstorming session! Believe it or not, there were several people who correctly guessed that the brain weighs approximately 3 pounds!

After our lively educational session Wendy and I presented the brave participants with some BrainMasters Brain Boosters. Today we worked on cryptograms which involve solving a word puzzle with missing letters. We could see the energy in their brains and the number of thought increasing. It was a truly great event!

So with that in mind, let’s work your brains a bit. Using the words   Speech Language Pathologist try and from as many new words as you can. Use letters from all the words. Believe me, there are countless possibilities!  I’ll get you started. Have fun!

path, age, peach,

Brain Awareness Week


Today officially kicks off  Brain Awareness Week (BAW), and BrainMasters is proud to be one of The Dana Foundation‘s partners. Be sure and check our BAW Calendar of Events, and join our brain celebration activities to be held during the next 2 weeks.

Here are some facts about BAW.

  • March 14-20, 2011 is BAW’s sixteenth annual celebration.
  • The goal of the campaign is to make the public more aware of the benefits and promise of brain research.
  • BAW is a global partnership of government agencies, scientific organizations, universities, hospitals, service groups, professional associations, schools, and other organizations. Since its inception in 1996, more than 2,600 partners in 82 countries have participated in the campaign.
  • Hundreds of BAW events take place each year. These activities are organized by partners to meet one or more of the following goals: scientific, education, or advocacy outreach.

Here are a couple of quick facts about your brain. Did you know that your brain accounts for ~ 2% of your total body weight and weighs ~ 3 pounds? The brain is one of the body’s largest organs. Interesting, isn’t it?

Now that you have learned a couple of things and fired those neurons, let’s give them a workout and stay sharp!

Unscramble the following words.

STLMTEEAP

ZDAIRW

EINDDEGS

TCEVRIEA

UOMCNL

TPSJOREC

Share your answers with us! Need help with these-just ask us! Enjoy exercising your brain today!

BrainMasters and Brain Awareness Week


Brain Awareness Week 2011 is almost here-March 14-20, 2011.  BrainMasters is proud to be a partner with  The Dana Foundation in support of BAW.  What are you doing that week? Here is a sample of one of our scheduled events around Atlanta.

BrainMasters will have an exhibit and open house at Savannah Court Assisted Living,  Marietta, Georgia. During this time, Heidi Lipman, M.Ed.,CCC-SLP and Wendy Alexander, M.Ed.,CCC-SLP the co-founders and owners of BrainMasters will conduct an educational and hands on interactive workshop focusing on brain health, brain fitness, and brain maintenance. Our event is primarily targeted for adults with a concentration on assisted living residents, family members, friends, caregivers, staff, and professionals in the area. The event is of course open to the public, and all are invited to join us.

With more and more attention focusing on anti-aging, healthy living, and aging in place it is more important than ever to learn about the brain and brain health. This is especially true as our population continues to age and Alzheimer’s Disease is on the rise with someone currently developing it every 70 seconds and by the year 2050 it will be every 33 seconds. These statistics are  frightening to say the least!  So, make it a goal to increase your knowledge of the brain, exercise your brain, exercise your body, eat a healthy diet, and be positive! These all contribute to healthy aging and longevity. Isn’t that what we all want?

 

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