So, just what IS “Brain Fitness”, anyway?
Good question.
Brain fitness seems like it should be easy to define - I mean, it’s the fitness level of your brain, right? But when I sat down to write this article, suddenly it didn’t seem so simple.
We’re used to thinking in terms of physical fitness - overall physical health, endurance, muscular strength, and so on. Sometimes, we describe more specific types of fitness- heart fitness, for example, which refers to the strength and function of the heart muscle and circulatory system.
But the brain isn’t a muscle…
…. and we haven’t traditionally considered the brain in our ideas about physical fitness. Some of us (ok, me) even had an image of the brain as sort of a inert lump that just sits there, almost like a gland that churns out thoughts, instead of adrenaline or bile, not as a muscle that might need exercising.
In fact, most of us haven’t thought much about the function of the mind and brain in physical terms at all (except for those dull anatomy lessons in school, of course).
Part of the reason for that is because traditional ideas about the brain suggested that once we reached adulthood, our brains didn’t change much {except to slowly deteriorate with age, or for the unlucky among us, with disease or injury.)
Our old understanding of the brain didn’t suggest that we could influence its health and well being much at all… so outside of avoiding head injury, or pickling brain cells with alcohol, there just wasn’t a lot of advice on how to get or keep our brains healthy.
But all of that is changing.
Thanks to modern neuroscience, we now know that the brain is *not* fixed and frozen at adulthood; in healthy adults, the brain continues to 
develop, change, reorganize its functions… and even grow!
And while the brain isn’t a muscle, it does respond to exercise almost like a muscle — the more we use it, the more developed it becomes. Also like a muscle, the brain needs exercise to maintain and increase its strength and function. It needs increasing intensity of exercises, so that it’s always challenged to work harder, and it needs a variety of different exercises to build different kinds of strength.
Though a lot of people have talked loosely about exercising our minds over the years, the idea of exercising the brain itself, from a physical perspective? That is new, and it’s pretty astounding - because mental exercise creates physical changes in the brain, just like exercising a muscle changes that muscle.
I’m going to repeat that ( in bold, even!) because it’s a big change in our assumptions about the brain:
__________________________
Mental exercise physically changes the brain,
just like exercising a muscle physically changes the muscle.
__________________________
There are more parallels to draw between the brain and a muscle - the brain needs the right nutrients and nourishment to function properly, and to grow. It needs water, it needs oxygen, and it needs time to rest from all that exercise, in order to heal and respond to your ever increasing demands.
But as cool as all of this comparison with muscles may be… wasn’t I supposed to be defining “brain fitness”?
Ok, Ok, back to the point…
Wikipedia defines physical fitness as 1. general fitness (a state of health and well-being) and 2. specific fitness (a task-oriented definition based on the ability to perform specific aspects of sports or occupations).
I think that’s a good enough definition to build on and adapt, so… here goes:
Brain Fitness is: 1. A state of general good health and well being of the brain 2. The ability to perform specific mental tasks and functions at normal or above skill levels.
What do you think?
Does that definition work, or can it be made cleaner and simpler?
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello, Tori.
Great piece! You address a subtle but important point. If we haven’t defined brain fitness, how can we pursue it or measure it.
I like your definition — it is clear and straightforward. And it is also, to some extent, measurable. Scientists can now observe and test the brain’s ability to function through non-invasive brain scans giving us general information about brain fitness, and individuals can use carefully designed functional tests to track their ability over time.
I’m in the brain training business. My company publishes software that trains various cognitive abilities with a controled exercise that induces brain plasticity. I believe we’re on the brink of a new era in which people engage in regular brain training to ensure optimal brain fitness.
Thank you for such a thoughtful article,
Martin Walker
http://www.mindsparke.com
Thanks Martin! It’s great to have your opinion on this.
I was surprised that I couldn’t find a good definition online - the term is pretty intuitive, but we still need a definition. And I definitely agree with you about a new era, where people will become increasingly aware of brain fitness, and that we’ll soon find health professionals stressing mental exercise as much as physical, or rather, a combination of both. One bit that fascinates me personally is that some people who aren’t motivated to maintain their physical health *cough cough, who, me?* ARE interested in maintaining our mental fitness — and since there is so much of an overlap, a whole lot more of us will be generally healthier.
Cool, isn’t it?
Hope you drop by again!
Tori
Yeah. Great job Tori. I love your definition. Send it in to Wiki
Hello again, Tori.
I guess it’s one of those things — some people enjoy gym, others prefer algebra or art.
But it is interesting that physical and mental motivation often don’t coincide in the same person. Perhaps there’s a connection.
On the other, other hand, DaVinci was a scientific genius, an artist, and quite an athlete. So go figure.
Martin
@whizmo Thanks, Maureen - once it’s been polished up and expanded a bit, maybe I will see about putting it up on Wikipedia!
@Martin I jokingly call that the part of my psyche that deals with motivation my inner-donkey: stubborn and tough to motivate without just the right carrot or 2×4.
Maybe Da Vinci and other multi-talented geniuses had an entire team of donkeys. Or maybe just better mannered draft horses?
More seriously, I think its fascinating to look at our motivations and ponder their origins. But I’d better stop pondering now before this turns into post-length commentary
Brain fitness is very, very important as one grows older. Keeping the brain in shape is one of the key activities that can stave off the effects of aging.
It is surprising that you couldn’t find a definition of brain fitness online, what with so many people beginning to wake up to its benefits. Maybe you could be the pioneer definer, leading the troops to battle against brain atrophy!
Good post, Tori!
Hi Tori,
I really enjoyed your piece and it did stop me in my tracks a bit. I have been defining brain fitness by talking about exercising neural circuits, sort of like a personal coach might design a program for the biceps, and another for the deltoids. So I am doing exercising of the attentional muscle, for example, and in the case of Martin’s excellent program, the fluid intelligence muscle, which translates for me into longer attention on one task. My wife wants me to exercise the rogaine muscle now. I am not convinced that the rogaine muscle has any bearing on brain fitness, but I may be convinced by her sly ways. Mike Logan
Interesting post, Tori!
A couple of weeks ago I attended a brown-bag session where I work, put on by our company wellness coordinator. The title was “Exercising the Brain” and she talked about what you talk about in your post. We even did some brain exercises (and memory tests) during the session. Most of her talk centered on memory improvements. She recommended a book called “The Memory Bible” by Dr. Gary Small.
Here’s the kicker: After telling us all this cool stuff about how we can exercise our brain and improve our memory… she totally forgot she had scheduled an afternoon session! I’m sure that’s no reflection on the quality of the info she shared with us or the importance of brain exercising. But it was hilarious… and of course we’ll never let her live it down.
Thanks Mike, Mike and Bonnie!
@Mike N, just hitch up the old covered wagon to my Inner Donkey, and I’ll be pioneering all over the place!
@Mike L, I’m sure your wife knows what she’s talking about - the effects of Rogaine should help keep your brain warm, and who wants a cold brain? Always listen to the wife. Yepp yepp.
@Bonnie, that story is pretty darn funny… and I relate to it OH so well. I’m always afraid of that “Oh yeah, well if this stuff works, why do you keep forgetting everything?” My answer…. “Well, just imagine what I’d be like WITHOUT it.. I’d forget everything plus one!”
Great definition Tori. I especially like #2, “The ability to perform specific mental tasks and functions at normal or above skill levels.” That one definitely works for me - and I think as well for anyone over the age of about 30yrs!
[...] actually mean, anyway? Well, I recently came across a great definition for brain fitness over at Mind Tweaks. It goes as [...]
[...] came across a great definition of brain fitness some time ago and it goes like this: Brain Fitness is: 1. A state of general good [...]