:: 13 Brain Boosters :: part 1 of 2

#1. Eat Dark Chocolate - activate brain's neutro-transmitter system that pumps out dopamine among others. Dopamine is an important brain chemical that is responsible for goal-directed behaviour.

#2. Visit a Museum - go on a guided tour of a museum or a site of interest. When get home, resonstruct the tour by writing an outline of everything you remember. Receiving, remembering and thinking help to improve brain function and prevent its decline.

#3. Memorise a Song - listen to the song with lyrics you enjoy repeatedly until you have written down all the lyrics. Once mastered, move to another. Developing better listening habits will assist you in understanding and remembering. When you focus, neuro-transmitter acetylcholine will be released. Neuro-transmitter acetylcholine is a brain chemical that enables plasticity and animates memory.

#4. Exercise your peripheral vision - stare straight ahead and don't move your eyes. Concentrate on everything you can see without moving your eyes, including things in your peripheral vision. When finished, write a list of everything you saw. Scientist have found that acetylcholine, which is crucial to focus and memory, declines with memory loss and is almost absent in Alzheimer's patients. This activity may help to revitalise the release of acetylcholine in brain.

#5. Learn to Play a Musical Instrument - play instrument helps to exercise many interrelated operations of brain function, including listening, control of refined movements and translation of written notes (sight) to music (movement and sound).

#6. Do a Jigsaw Puzzle - do a challenging jigsaw puzzle with no fewer than 500 pieces. Completing one requires fine visual judgement about where pieces belong. It entails mentally 'rotating' the pieces, manipulating them in your hands and shifting your attention from a small piece to the big picture. Its fun too when you find the right places.

#7. Turn Down the TV - set tv volume a little lower than your accustomed setting. Observe whether, by concentrating, you can follow what you are watching as well as if the volume was higher. Turn it down another notch when already get used to the lower setting. Matching TV volume to a conversational level can help you catch every word when talking with others.