Get Easy Health Digest™ in your inbox and don’t miss a thing when you subscribe today. Plus, get the free bonus report, Mother Nature’s Tips, Tricks and Remedies for Cholesterol, Blood Pressure & Blood Sugar as my way of saying welcome to the community!
The secret to multitasking like a 30-something well into your 70s
You expect a lot from your brain….
You watch the news as you shop for a new dishwasher on your phone as you keep an eye on text messages coming in from your boss.
You drive on the highway as you listen to a podcast as you brainstorm what you’re going to cook for dinner.
You pay bills as you answer Facebook messages as you call the vet to make an appointment for your Shih Tzu, Sam.
Man, that’s a lot of multitasking. And as you get older, it doesn’t get any easier. In fact, you may eventually find it difficult (or impossible) to keep up with it all.
But there is a way to make sure you’re a multitasking master well into your 70s and 80s. What is it?
A hobby you might already enjoy anyway… playing games.
«SPONSORED»
Online brain games boost your brain’s multitasking ability
Over the years, there’s been conjecture about whether brain games really improve cognitive health and ability as you get older. But the latest study from researchers at the University of California shows that they do.
In the study, researchers randomly sampled 1,000 people who played a game called “Ebb and Flow” on the online brain game website Luminosity. “Ebb and Flow” is a task-switching game where players alternate their focus between where a shape points and how the shape moves.
Related: 5 seemingly healthy habits that are bad for your brain
Researchers split players into two groups: those between 21 and 80 years old who completed fewer than 60 training sessions, and those between 71 and 80 years old who completed at least 1,000 sessions.
People in the second group (older people who played the game a lot) were as good or better at task-switching than younger players who hadn’t played that much.
Basically, these older adults made their brains multitask better than 20 and 30-somethings… all from playing a simple game.
“Medical advances and improved lifestyles are allowing us to live longer. It’s important to factor brain health into that equation. We show that with consistent upkeep, cognitive youth can be retained well into our golden years,” said lead author Mark Steyvers, a UCI professor of cognitive sciences.
Let the (online brain) games begin!
If you want to keep your multitasking abilities up to par, give “Ebb and Flow” a try. All you have to do is register for a free account on the Luminosity website and you can play three games per day.
Stick to that three-game regimen daily, and soon, you’ll be running (brain) circles around your kids as you check your email, pay your bills, text your friends, keep up with current events and post the best memes to Facebook. They’ll call you mom (or dad) the master multitasker.
Editor’s note: Have you started a new medication and found that your mind’s a little foggy? You’d be surprised how seemingly safe medications can even rob you of essential nutrients your brain needs, like the popular one 38 million Americans take every day. Are you one of them? Click here to find out!
Sources:
- Online brain games can extend in-game ‘cognitive youth’ into old age, study says — MedicalXpress
- A large-scale analysis of task switching practice effects across the lifespan — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
By Jenny Smiechowski
«SPONSORED»
