Training Your Brain for Dummies - (For Dummies) by Tracy Packiam Alloway (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Judging from the worldwide popularity of the brain game, Nintendo DS, and such mind-bending puzzles as SuDoku and KenKen(R), keeping one's mind as limber as an Olympic athlete is an international obsession. With forecasters predicting over a million people with dementia by 2025, today's young and senior population have a vested interest in keeping their grey matter in the pink for as long as possible. Training Your Brain For Dummies is an indispensable guide to every aspect of brain fitness-and keeping your mind as sharp, agile, and creative for as long as you can. Whether you want to hone your memory, manage stress and anxiety, or simply eat brain healthy food, this guide will help you build brain health into your everyday life.

• Includes verbal, numerical and memory games, brain games to play on the move, tips on the best day-to-day habits, and long-term mental fitness techniques
• Offers ten key brain training basics, tips on brain training through one's lifetime, and improving long- and short-term memory
• Includes advice on improving creativity, developing a positive mindset, and reaping the rewards of peace and quiet

With tips on mind/body fitness, Training Your Brain For Dummies is a must-have guide for anyone, at any age, for keeping one's mind-and quality of life-in peak condition.

From the Back Cover

Learn to:

• Improve both your long-term and short-term memory
• Increase your creativity and develop a positive mindset
• Make brain-friendly diet and lifestyle choices
• Maximise your mental fitness with puzzles and exercises

Put your brain through its paces and achieve first-rate mental agility

The brain is your body's most important muscle and, with regular exercise, you can improve its performance and strengthen it against age-related deterioration. This guide offers everything you need to know to keep your brain and memory in tip-top shape, whether it's by choosing the right foods or playing the piano. From puzzles and exercises to the best day-to-day habits and long-term mental fitness techniques, this book enables you to boost your mental agility and reduce memory loss. So shake off those cobwebs and get your brain fighting-fit in no time!

• Start as you mean to go on - get to grips with the basics of brain training and discover how to make it work for you
• Keep your mind razor sharp - improve your memory and banish that pesky 'tip-of-the-tongue' phenomenon
• Have happy thoughts - follow expert advice on how to keep your mind happy and healthy
• Start afresh - adapt to new brain-friendly diet and lifestyle choices
• Let the games begin - get stuck into a compendium of brain games, exercises and puzzles

Open the book and find:

• The facts behind the fiction
• Mental fitness exercises for children and the over-50s
• Ways to memorise your shopping list, put names to faces, and remember directions
• How to visualise your success
• Why socialising is important
• Techniques for managing stress and anxiety
• Advice on nutrition and 'brain food'
• Word searches, sudoku puzzles, and more

Review Quotes

"... covers everything you need to know to keep your mind sharp." (At Home, May 2011)

"Be a memory marvel... follow these tips." (Daily Express, December 2010)

About the Author

Dr Tracy Packiam Alloway, PhD is the Director of the Centre for Memory and Learning in the Lifespan at the University of Stirling. Her research has been featured in newspapers including The Guardian and The Daily Mail, as well as on BBC Radio, Sky News, and ABC News. She has also written over 75 scientific articles and books about memory and learning. Tracy was the winner of the 2009 Joseph Lister Science Award.