Stay Smart: 100 Exercises to Keep Your Brain Sharp

140 Pages·2012·11.385 MB·English

by  Charles Phillips

S
i—' 'Wk. \
A
fiw/
S
Lr f Ji ri
I
EXERCISES TO KEEP
YOUR BRAIN SHARP

WAYS T 0
10 0
Stay Smart contaawi enaslo tfph u zzalneds
thinckhianlgl etnhwgaiethls el le px erycoiusre
memoarnyid m pryoovuepro weorfrs e call.
Theasrese u pplempeangtbeeyp d a,g ,e
witShm aBrrta Fianc tthsea xtp aonntd h e
informaantSdim oanBr,rt a Aicnt i-osnmsa ll
bupto weerxfeurl ctioes negsa tghebe r atihne,n
furtshterrea tncwdho rtkhm ee mory.
Thaen swseerc taitto hnbe a ccko ntains
supplemiennftoarrmayan todic ocna sional
extcrhaa lleanswg eealsslf usloll utainodn,s
whenreec esesxaprlya,n Tahteirosenom's us.c h
packiendtt hosi msa blolo Sko.w hnyo ttu trhne
pagaen bde geixnp lo.r.i ng
The Author
Charles Phillips ist haeu thoof3r 0b ookisn,c lutdhbieen sgt ­
sellHoiwn tog T hink seripeusb,l iisnh1 e9ld a nguaagneds ,
Business Brain Trainer. Charhlaeissn vestIingdatithaeendo ries
ofi ntellaingdec nocnes ciouisnAn nceiesnt sC ivilizations
(200p5r)o,bt ehdbe r aidnr'esa mmiencgh aniinMsy mDr eam
Journal (200a3n)ed,x amihnoewwd e p ercaenirdve es ptoon d
coloiunhr iC sol our for Life (200H4ei) as.l sako e ecno llector
ofg ameasn pdu zzles.
�1fffe\V
� lMl]j.\�1f
1
Charles Phillips
OrientG
Paperbacks
DELIHM IU MBIAH IY DERABAD
Dedication
To my parents, David and Gay
ISBN 13 978-81-222-0560-2
StaSym ar1t0:E0 x erctioKs eeesYp o uBrr aSihna rp
Subject: Puzzles and Games
© 2012 Eddison Sadd Editions
1st Published 2013
4th Printing 2016
Published in arrangement with
Edd1son Sadd Editions. England
Published by
OriePnatp erbacks
(A division of Vision Books Pvt Ltd.)
5N8, Ansari Road. New Delhi-110 002)
www.orientpaperbacks com
Printed at
Yash Printographics. Noida
Printed on Chlorine-free eco-friendly paper
STAY SMART
CONTENTS
Introduction
EASY BRAIN TEASERS 27. Criss-Cross . .. 38
1. Octaplus 12 28. Ten Finger Facts
2. Arithmetest 13 -At The Movies! 39
3. Around the World 14 29. Take Your Place 40
4. Memory Box 15 30. Building Blocks 41
5. Polygon Overlay 16 31. Math Oddity 42
6. Cogitation 17 32. Once Upon a Time 43
7. Colour Override 18 33. Navigator 44
8. Digital Sequencing 19
9. Honeycomb Links 20
10. Lighten Up 21 INTERMEDIATE
MIND STRETCHERS
11. Sacred Repetition ... 22
34. Dice Path 46
12. Number Step ... 23
35. A Bard's Dozen 47
13. Number Ladders 24
36. Bingo Mix-up 48
14. Get in Shape 25
37. Taking a Turn 49
15. Memory Walk ... 26
38. Number Waffle 50
16. Digital Hubs 27
39. Grid Split 51
17. Flags United 28
40. Shape Stacker 52
18. Downtown Parking . .. 29
19. A Taste of 41. Step by Step 53
Remembering 30 42. 'I Can See it Now' 54
20. Add-ups 31 43. Midnight Hive 55
44. Tile Align 56
21. Neat Fit 32
45. Missing Center 57
22. Hexagon Twist 33
46. Rainbow Rice 58
23. Fraction Stations 34
47. Perfect Pattern 59
24. Get in Character 35
48. No Doubles 60
25 Number Nest 36
49. All in One Place 61
26. Picture This 37
50. One to Nine 62
5
51. Ten to Remember 63 75. ��umber crunch 88
52 Shape Align 64 76. Divide by Rule 89
53. Tou Wets - 77. Are You Paying
Wiht Het Wocyobs 65 Attention? 90
54. Partition Plan 66 78. Domino map 92
55. Safecracker 67 79. Lost leader 93
56. Marine Maneuvers 68 80. Finetuning Your
57 Cards on the Table 69 Memory 94
58. Number Steps 70
81. Eight Square 95
59. Cube Cute 71
82. Magic Carpet 96
60. Casino Trial 72
83. Cross Sum 97
61. The (UN)usual 84. Word Sums 98
Suspects 73 85. Inner-City Pile-up 99
62. Number Pile 74 86. Card Sharp . .. 100
63. A Whisk Through 87. Codec racker .. . 101
Some Whiskies 75 88. Sea War . .. 102
64 Letter Jacks 76 89. Numbercomb . .. 103
65. Art Blocks 77 90. Three Men and
66. Sounds Like . 78 a Bank . 104
91. Bull's Eye . .. 106
92. Slot In . .. 107
CHALLENGING
93. Top to Bottom . .. 108
MEMORY JOGGERS
94. One Step at a Time .. . 109
67. Letter Landscape 80
95. Speedy Steps . .. 110
68. Dominological 81
96. Shining Example . .. 111
69. Do Dotty 82
97. Hexagon Hold-up . .. 112
70. Gone to the Cogs 83
98. Nighthawks . . 113
71. Eliminator 84
99. Plates in the
72. Picture Perfect 85
Ninth Position ... 114
73. Boys in Blue 86
100. Number Card . . 1 15
74. Cube-a-Cuba 87
ThAen swers
6
STAY SMART
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever had to pause in midsentence, unable to remember
the name of a friend? Perhaps you've had a 'senior moment' in which
you've forgotten where you put your keys or muddled up the steps
in a long-familiar dance routine. If you're getting older you may feel
you're in decline. That time is against you.
But you'd be wrong to feel despondent. Because in recent years
-largely through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) and other high-tech approaches that enable technicians to
show the brain in action - neuroscientists have greatly increased
our knowledge of how this small, soft, but massively powerful organ
works. And their highly encouraging report is that if we stay healthy
and keep ourselves mentally active, there is usually no reason why
brain and memory will not carry on performing well into our later years.
Older ... But no Less Smart
On average, society is growing older, with more and more people
living to a ripe old age. For many decades, the conventional wisdom
was that the brain and its performance were in decline from a person's
20s onwards and that there was no avoiding a falling away in mental
functioning, in some cases to quite a severe extent.
Certainly brain changes do take place as we age. The brain
communicates by sending electrical signals along nerve fibers
insulated by a fatty material called myelin. As you age, your quantity
of myelin falls away and the signals travel more slowly. There is less
efficient communication between different parts of the brain, the blood
supply to your brain drops, and the number of brain cells declines. As
a result, the brain loses some volume -in other words, it becomes
7
smaller. Some people -but by no means all -may also be affected
by neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
But there is now strong evidence that the brain carries on adapting
-and renewing itself -long into our later years.
For one thing, as we grow older the brain uses more of its areas
in order to maintain performance; research shows that keeping the
brain active counters the natural changes of ageing so effectively that
many people simply do not notice any of the effects.
It's even the case that in some respects for example, the ability to
manage our emotions and to see a problem in context -our flexible
brain performs better in middle and old age than it does in youth. The
evidence suggests that as we age our brain becomes more cheerful!
Staying Connected
The key thing for brain performance is not the number of cells we
have but the number and quality of connections between them. In the
brain we have not only a very large number of neurons (one type of
brain cell) but also an almost unimaginably large number of potential
connections among them: There are 100 billion neurons and a
potential 100 trillion connections.
The brain makes connections among its neurons when we learn
new skills or information, when we ensure that we are engaged by
what we do, and when we are mentally stimulated. Remain mentally
active and you help protect yourself against the effects of natural
decline.
A key study carried out with 4,000 nuns in Minnesota, U.SA,
beginning in 1991, showed that the sisters who kept active mentally,
by carrying on with their teaching work into old age, had an average
of 40 percent more brain connections than their fellow nuns who
opted for a lower-stimulus lifestyle. And the industrious nuns lived four
years longer on average than the less busy sisters. In fact, research
published in 2006 at the University of New South Wales, Australia,
showed that people who kept themselves mentally active through
work and leisure, or by using brain-training games and puzzles, were
half as likely as others to develop dementia.
8