Keeping Your Brain Healthy: Brain-FX

Mind-FX: Working with a Strong Brain

Most of you know I started this blog as a companion to the Mind-FX Science website, to share with readers ways of keeping the brain healthy, including an emphasis on the Mind-FX product line. But I don't want to sound like an ad or a commercial either.

Every once in a while I come across an advertisement that is well written. It may not be a great ad to purists, because it is a far stretch from the copy to the actual services it is promoting. In that view, it stinks. But here it is:

There are three pictures, a swimmer, a rock climber and a football player, with the accompanying text that appears when you hover your mouse over a photo:

Determination:
Muscle gives you the power,
but determination gives you the will.
That's how you make it happen.
Make it happen

Tenacity:
Be prepated to hang in there.
That's how you make it happen.
Make it happen.

Focus:
Size and strength are nothing
without direction and focus.
That's how you make it happen.
Make it happen.

What great copy! Would you believe this is promoting a bank? Royal Bank of Scotland.

Well, my point is that most advertisements for health supplements focus on muscles, or power, or losing weight, etc. I love this ad because it calls attention to three most important things essential to success in any sport: determination, tenacity and focus.

Mind-FX Science develops products that will help you build on those three things, by keeping your brain healthy. (See our product descriptions on the website.)

As an experiment, yesterday I had a non-sport day, with a straight 12 hours of work to accomplish. I took two of our Mind-FX products, MaxxImpulse for sustained energy, and 2 NeuroCharge for maintaining focus and concentration. I usually take these before a tennis match.

I am happy to say that I was able to work productively and creatively for the whole day without having to go through a pot of coffee. I took a break every 90 minutes to refresh the creativity centers of my brain.

Although we originally created healthy supplements for the brain for better sports achievement, we are now encouraging its use for work, and for any long stretches where you need focus and energy. And it makes sense that these products would work for working. After all, the brain consumes an enormous amount of calories to operate.

Negative People Are Bad for Your Brain

I read a great post over on Kathy Sierra's Passionate Users blog April 17, about how negative people are bad for your brain. It's worth the read.

An interesting section in the post cites research about "mirror neurons." Evidently the old saying "monkey see, monkey do" has scientific relevance. We learn from seeing other people, then copying them. As a survival tool, this served us well, back in the day.

It does not serve us well when we are around angry, negative people. Sometimes our brains pick up on things best left not repeated or mirrored. This resonates with the research in organizations that shows emotions are contagious, and the mood of the leader permeates the culture of the group.

When's the last time you became aware, as your mood was changing, that you might have picked up some 'bad vibes' in your environment?

Well, sometimes we generate our own bad moods ourselves, and the only negative person around is...ourself! Just remember, you can spread positivity just as easily as negativity, and it's a lot more fun.

Your Brain on Caffeine

This post comes from Robert Krakoff, founder of Mind-FX.com, based on the book, Making a Good Brain Great, by Daniel Amen.

If you want a healthy brain stay away from caffeine. Large doses of caffeine constricts blood flow to the brain and many other organs. A little caffeine a day is probably not a problem, but more than a cup or two can certainly be trouble.

New coffee shops seem to spring up on every street corner every day, selling highly caffeinated drinks full of sugar and fat. As a society we are going from one to two cups a day to one or two cups three or four times a day.

Understanding the drug’s actions will help understand why we consume so much caffeine and why we should significantly curb our use.

Adenosine, a chemical in the brain that causes drowsiness by slowing down nerve cell activity, is a key to understanding caffeine addiction. When we are tired adenosine triggers the brain to slow down so we will go to sleep and naturally rejuvenate brain function. The purpose of sleep is to replenish certain chemicals in the brain to help with efficient nerve cell firing. Adenosine tells us when we need to sleep.

Caffeine blocks the effects of adenosine by occupying the adenosine receptor sites and preventing the brain from seeing it. So even if you are tired and are in need of sleep to rejuvenate your brain chemistry, caffeine tricks the brain into thinking it is wide awake.

We are a sleep deprived nation and caffeine addiction is a leading cause. Caffeine, a stimulant, causes the release of adrenalin from the adrenal glands, putting the body into a fight-or-flight mode, where the pupils dilate, the heart beats faster, blood vessels on the skin surface constrict to slow blood flow from cuts and also increase blood flow to muscles … blood pressure rises, blood blow to the stomach slows, the liver releases sugar into the bloodstream for extra energy, and muscles tighten up, ready for action. Caffeine puts us in a ready state for trouble.