Keeping Your Brain Healthy: Brain-FX

Left-Handers Faster in Sports and Computer Games

Of course the Hubby has been telling me this all along since he's a lefty, but now there is a study to prove it: Left-handers 'think' more quickly.

This report is from the BBC News site:

Left-handed people can think quicker when carrying out tasks such as playing computer games or playing sports, say Australian researchers. 

The fast transfer of information in the brain makes left-handers more efficient when dealing with multiple stimuli.

Experts said left-handers tended to use both sides of the brain more easily.

Study leader Dr Nick Cherbuin from the Australian National University measured transfer time between the two sides of the brain by measuring reaction times to white dots flashed to the left and right of a fixed cross.

Martina Navratilova is left-handed, and so are many other sports legends.

If only the Hubby would apply his advantageous abilities to taking out the trash...

Computer Games as a Brain Sport

One of the top computer gaming sites in Germany recently posted an article about "eSports." Although this is a private blog requiring membership open only to gamers, here's what one reader sent me about keeping high levels of concentration and focus required for PC games.

eSports as Brain Fuel Pt.2
Posted: 2005-11-03 16:05:37

It's still a well kept secret inside the eSports Scene but several Top Players in Sports as well as eSports use these products to improve their reflexes, brain functions and the ability to concentrate and focus a lot better. And the best thing is that as you can see it works. There are some companies using a caffeine boost in their products which is a really bad thing because if you don't take them regularly or too early they'll cause a massive caffeine downswing which makes you really tired before you even play and as you know you can't play when you're tired you didn't get even 50% of your normal concentration and energy if you're close before sleeping. But there is one company which i'd say myself really take care about the gamers doing massive research for their products and just use ingredients which are totally unharmful for your body.

These company i talk about and which you'll hear from time to time on big eSports events and if you talk to some top players is Mind-FX. Mind-FX product for gamers Maxx Impulse is based on just 5 ingredients which are really powerful in the mix. To tell you everything about the single ingredients would take to long in this article so i'll just name them and i think you'll recognize some of them. It's based on Siberian Ginseng , Rhodiola , Green Orange , Metabromine and the always famous Guarana you can find in several Energy drinks.

If you'd like to know more about Mind-FX and their products i can just suggest you to visit their site:

http://www.mind-fx.com 

And take a look at everything yourself because i'm not here to make any advertisement. There you'll find all the research stuff and explanations about the ingredients and where to get their products. Try it yourself if you want and check for yourself how good it works out for you. It's like with the hardware try it yourself and if you don't like it don't use it i can just say it's worth its price.

So as you can see there are several ways to train your brain and abilities and there are also products supporting you doing this.

Winning Under Stress

This comes from Nick Bollettieri, director of Bolletierie/IMG Academies, and leading coach to tennis champions:

"Most of us, especially athletes, are all too familiar with the misery of Aristotle, commonly known as overthinking. Ever since the appearance of Homo sapiens on the planet nearly 150,000 years ago, our well-developed brains (blame it on the cerebral cortex) have enabled us to think, reason, create, and empathize - all good things - but also to worry, doubt, and obsessively self-analyze - not good things, especially if you are a tennis player serving for game, set, match, and championship at the US Open. Think of it as the "centipede effect": if the lowly centipede had to think about coordinating each of its legs to get from Point A to Point B, it would be totally immobilized - and I have worked with some athletes who were not far from that state of mind!"

This is taken directly from the foreword of the book Mental Training for Peak Performance, Top Athletes Reveal the Mind Exercises They Use to Excel, by Steven Ungerleider, Ph.D. (Rodale, 2005)

Looking forward to reading this book, as I reflect on my recent tennis loss where my brain felt as if it were soaking in molasses...

I have a feeling that what is coming is a model for envisioning whole body movement, rather than focusing on one leg at a time, like the centipede. When athletes are able to visualize the flow of body movement and ball motion they can get out of the molasses and create results. It's the inability to shake of thoughts of the last error that interfere with the next positive visualization.

Clearly "being in the moment" has its rewards in sports, like in life.

Now, if only I can remember all that tomorrow for the match...