Your brain has to perform many different types of calculations all at the same time:

• processing sensory input
• checking your internal emotional signals
• responding to social cues
• being alert to danger
• running simulations to predict the outcome of numerous possible actions
• orchestrating muscle activity
• and much much more

With all of these simultaneous activities competing for resources, your brain can easily get overloaded.

Have you ever exercised so intensely that you can barely think straight? That’s because vigorous use of your muscles sucks up lots of the glucose your brain needs to perform its calculations.

Brain researchers also use this principle in designing experiments. If you’re given multiple mental tasks to perform at the same time, scientists can show a deterioration of “higher” brain function: your reasoning power, moral decision making, etc.

Given the changes in metabolism, circulation and hormone function that accompany the aging process, it’s understandable that cognitive decline is a common challenge for older adults.

Many have turned to mental exercises to slow the decline of brain processing.  But is there a type of mental exercise that’s actually proven to be effective?

The best-developed research shows a measurable benefit from a computerized training system that targets brain processing speed.

Speeding up the brain makes sense.  Since so many different channels simultaneously occupy the brain, speeding up each process by even  a miniscule fraction of a second results in a significant boost in brain power.

The research has primarily used an online brain-training system called Insight from Brain HQ. Anyone can subscribe to Brain HQ and have access to Insight and many of their other brain-training modules.

If you combine the Insight program with other methods to maintain cognitive health, including brain stimulation with NeuroTactile® Therapy, an anti-inflammatory diet, and exercises that challenge the brain, the health benefits can be enormous.