Can certain smells boost brain power? Let’s first take a look at what else certain odors can do:
Your mental energy and ability to concentrate depend to a very large extent on the types of food you eat. Unfortunately, most people fall short when it comes to understanding how to best feed the brain. Here’s a short tip you may find helpful:
Is the brain like the muscles in your body? Can it be trained with cognitive exercises to improve mental agility and sharpness as you get older?
Quite a bit of research has come out lately indicating that the answer to this question is a resounding ‘Yes’.
One of the main benefits of stimulant drugs (such as cocaine, ephedrine, and amphetamines like Ritalin) is their ability to dramatically increase mental energy and concentration. They can make it easier to focus on your work and studies for prolonged periods of time.
How is this achieved? Basically, it’s thought that psychostimulants increase catecholamine neurotransmission in the brain.
Can college students pull an ‘All-Nighter’—staying up the entire night to cram for a test—and have their brains function close to normal the next day? The majority, of course, think so …
But several studies clearly show brain function takes a big hit after an all-nighter. Memory systems and frontal lobe function especially suffer. [References 2-6 below]
Over the past 4 years, I’ve eaten a lot of dark chocolate, and some of the world’s best bars have made their way through our kitchen. Amedei, Valrhona, Michel Cluizel, El Rey, Domori, Bonnat. The nice thing about chocolate is that it is a very affordable luxury. You can grab yourself the world’s finest bar for less than $20.
Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words…
(Noever, R., J. Cronise, and R. A. Relwani. 1995. Using spider-web patterns to determine toxicity. NASA Tech Briefs 19(4):82. Published in New Scientist magazine, 27 April 1995.)
Nevertheless, over the next week, I have 2 informative commentaries on caffeine I’m getting ready to post
Snoring can be one of the signs of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a relatively common disease that affects children and adults. There’s been quite a bit of press lately about it- and for good reason: sleep apnea, which tends to be greatly underdiagnosed, can have a tremendous affect on your brain power.
Does listening to Mozart make you smarter? According to a landmark neuroscience research study out of the University of California, Mozart’s sonata for two pianos K448 (which you can listen to below) can indeed increase your spatial-temporal IQ scores by 9 points. While the duration of the effect on your brain is only about 10-15 minutes, the findings are nonetheless fascinating.