Six blogs your brain might like

So many blogs… so little time.

When I’m doing research, I often come across some great blogs.  So from time to time I’ll point them out so you can enjoy them too.  They are not always about the brain but are usually tied to stuff your brain would like to know.

What To Eat

What To Eat is written by Marion Nestle who is a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and a Professor of Sociology at New York University.

This is a blog about social issues, politics, policy and health that are tied to food.  Plus a ton of information about what we eat.

Her latest book, also called What To Eat, is a guide to food shopping, helping to decode labels and clarify nutritional and other claims. The book explores issues like the effects of food production on our environment, the way pricing works, and additives and their effect on nutrition.

She also wrote Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health and Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism.

Stay Sharp

Prevention Magazines has many good blogs but this one is specifically about brain health.  It’s called Stay Sharp, written by Dr. Cynthia R. Green.

She covers games that are good for your brain, supplements, brain research, effective brain workouts and lots more.  It’s well written, easy to understand and gives good advice.

Dr. Weil

Dr. Andrew Weil is a pretty amazing guy.  He’s a doctor that recommends natural ways to stay healthy instead of going straight for the pills.

His blog, also on the Prevention Magazine site, provides advice about healthy food, physical and mental exercise, supplements and simple home remedies for illnesses.  He’s also got an interesting web site and newsletter.

Small Bites

Small Bites is a blog that covers food related stories in the news and answers questions from readers about food.

The questions are great and the answers are equally helpful.  For example, what does that 2% mean when you buy milk?  There’s lots of fascinating info here.   And his writing is sharp and gets to the point.

Written by Andy Bellatti, a Master’s Degree candidate at New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health.

This is his blog blurb:  “Small Bites aims to separate myth from reality and lies from truth, with no sponsors to please or agendas to push.”

Neuroscience Blog

The Neuroscience blog on the Scientific Blogging site covers a wide range of topics about the brain.  Generally the staff writes short articles about neurological or behavoral studies.  Be prepared to spend a couple of hours here because the excerpts and headlines will suck you in and you’ll read a lot of the articles.

World of Psychology

The World of Psychology blog has articles that cover a wide range of topics ranging from aging to stress and schizophrenia. Click on the Brain and Behavior section because there are lots of posts that provide practical advice about your own behavior.  For example check out this post on keeping your new year’s resolutions.

Den of Geek
Ryan Lambie writes a gaming column every week at Den Of Geek.

While he cites a study about why playing casual games are good for you, he also clues you in about games that are probably pretty bad for you.

Den of Geek is a kind of “best of geek info” website.  You know, movies, video games, TV, awesome top ten lists, etc. brought to you by the guys that publish lad mags in London.

If you get tired of reading all these blogs, I’d recommend playing a casual game or two for a change of pace.  Check out our web site – Brain Games Software – where there are plenty of pace changing games.

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Top ten EASY ways to exercise your brain

Mental workouts are good for you – these are a piece of cake.

The Cleveland Clinic suggests that mental workouts are just as important as physical workouts.  Here’s ten simple suggestions from the experts at the clinic for keeping your brain in shape, without breaking a sweat:

1. Challenge yourself with new activities. Try a crossword puzzle, take a class, or build something.
2. Create to-do lists to help you remember appointments and activities.
3. When learning something new, make sure you are not distracted. No multi-tasking.  Give it your full attention, and use all of your senses to become familiar with it.  For example if you are learning a language, isolate yourself from other distractions.
4. Break an activity into multiple steps, and stretch it out over several days. For example, take a few days to learn how to program a new electronic device.  (Frankly, I’m still working on setting up my TV remote after two weeks.  But my brain is fully activated.)
5. Be habitual.  For example always put your house keys in the same place.  Soon, you will never forget where you left them.
6. Think about what you want to remember.  Repetition is good.  If you read this blog twice, thinking about each item, chances are most of it will stick.
7. Get plenty of social interaction.  Go to parties.  Meet your friends for a drink.  Use up your mobile minutes.
8. Sleep.  Wow, is this good for your brain!  You know the difference between being a sleep-deprived zombie and a well-rested, chilled-out human being.
9. Get some regular physical exercise.  Even 30 minutes a day of walking helps a lot.
10. Reduce stress.  OK, this may not be as easy as the first nine but you gotta do it.  Try some simple exercises – stop what you are doing, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths.  (Don’t do this while you are driving.)  You’ll be amazed how much better you feel in just a couple of minutes.

There are plenty of other ways to reduce stress.  We recommend playing a casual game on your PC like solitaire or mahjongg.  Stop by our site sometime – Brain Games Software – and see what we’ve got in the way of casual, stress relieving games.

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