Keep Your Brain Alive

Keep Your Brain Alive – Lawrence C. Katz

As we age, many of us worry about memory lapses and declining mental sharpness. Neurobiologist Lawrence C. Katz of Duke University, writing with Manning Rubin, proposes a simple and enjoyable approach to keeping the brain fit. In Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobic Exercises to Help Prevent Memory Loss and Increase Mental Fitness, they introduce a program they call neurobics.

Katz explains that the brain thrives on novelty. When we follow the same routines every day, much of our activity becomes automatic and the brain receives little new stimulation. Neurobic exercises aim to break these routines by engaging the senses in unexpected ways and creating new associations, which, the authors suggest, may stimulate the production of substances that support the health of brain cells.

The book offers dozens of simple exercises that can be built into daily life without extra time or equipment. Readers are encouraged to do familiar tasks in unfamiliar ways, such as brushing their teeth or eating with the nondominant hand, getting dressed with eyes closed, taking new routes to work, rearranging their desk, shopping at different markets, identifying objects by touch or smell, and combining senses in new ways. Other exercises involve social interaction, travel and leisure activities.

Written in an accessible style and illustrated, the book makes brain fitness playful and practical.

Keep Your Brain Alive will appeal to readers who want to stay mentally active and curious. Readers should note that research on brain training and memory loss prevention has continued to develop since publication, and the exercises are not a substitute for medical advice about memory concerns.