38 Ways To Get Smarter About Your Brain

As scientists probe the mysteries inside our heads, their discoveries are providing new insights into how we can all sharpen our mental machinery

- Tina Donvito And Jenn Sinrich

THE BASICS

YOUR BRAIN IS FAT

In fact, your brain is the fattiest organ in your body, consisting of a minimum of 60 percent fat. That’s why a good balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is vital for the brain and overall body health. “Fat stabilizes the cell walls in the brain and carries, absorbs and stores fat-soluble vitamins in your bloodstream,” explains Brandon Brock, DCM, a chiropractic neurologist and the medical director of Innovative Health and Wellness in Dallas, USA. “It also reduces inflammation and helps the immune system function properly.”

WE CAN GET SMARTER AS WE GET OLDER

Rawan Tarawneh, MD, an assistant professor of neurology in the division of cognitive neurology at Ohio State University, points out that although some mental processes decline as we age, not all do. “Some of our brain functions—such as short-term memory, processing speed, and visuospatial functions—show some decline with healthy aging,” she says. “On the other hand, language functions tend to remain well preserved as we get older.” In fact, research from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows that arithmetic skills don’t peak until age 50, and vocabulary and cumulative intelligence (all the facts and knowledge we’ve acquired) peak even later, into our early 70s.

BIGGER ISN’T NECESSARILY BETTER

Comparing the brains of great thinkers, writers and mathematicians posthumously haven’t yielded conclusive evidence that the size of the brain has a correlation to intelligence.

IQ CAN GO UP—OR DOWN