Brain Games Club

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE VANILLA. To change your usual morning olfactory association-waking to the smell of freshly brewed coffee-wake up to something different-vanilla,citrus,peppermint, or rosemary. Keep an extract of your favorite aroma in an airtight container on your bedside table for a week & release it when you first awaken & then again as you bathe & dress. (Keep Your Brain Alive)

SHARE A MEAL IN SILENCE.You'll be surprised at how the foods you taste and the things you hear are greatly enhanced.You'll automatically slow down, savor the food, feel its texture, smells its bouquet, & hear a new ambience that conversation usually smothers.The absence of verbal communication forces you to use different associative circuits to "speak" & to decipher what's being "said." ("Keep Your Brain Alive")

Five murder suspects, including the guilty party, are being interrogated by the police at the scene of a brutal murder. Of the five statements made, just three are true. Alf White: "David Dark is the murderer." Barry Gloomy: "I am innocent." Cyril Shady: "It wasn't Ernie Black." David Dark: "Alf White is lying." Ernie Black: "Barry Gloomy is telling the truth." Who committed the murder?

Brain workout:shower with your eyes closed. Locate the taps & adjust the temperature & flow using just your tactile senses. Locate all necessary props by feel, then wash, shave, & so on, with your eyes shut. Your hands will probably notice varied textures of your own body you weren't aware of when you are "looking." Trying things in a novel way will engage new or rarely used brain paths.

Brushing Roulette: Brush your teeth with your nondominant hand, include opening the tube & applying toothpaste (substitute other morning activities-styling hair,shaving,applying makeup,buttoning clothes, eating, or using remote). This exercise requires you to use the opposite side of your brain instead the side you normally use. Consequently, all those circuits, connections, and brain areas involved in using your dominant hand are inactive, while their counterparts on the other side of your brain are suddenly required to direct a set of behaviors in which they usually don't participate. Research has shown that this type of exercise can result in a rapid and substancial expansion of circuits in the parts of the cortex that control and process tactile information from the hand. SHARE YOUR RESULTS!