Monday, February 27, 2012

Brain Functions, Memory And Your Brain Training

Our brains are certainly an amazing part of our body and they perform an incredible array of functions all day long, whether we are active or at rest. Some of the activities are performed consciously while others are compleLinktely done in an unconscious way. Let’s review some of the important brain functions. Some are higher level functions which require conscious effort while others occur without even realizing it or putting any conscious thought to it.

For example a portion of our brains control automatic functions in our bodies. This includes things like heartbeat, breathing, digestions, etc. The brain also tells different parts of our bodies to change based on different criteria. For example if we exercise and move our bodies faster, the brain tells the heart to beat faster and our lungs to breathe faster as well.

This is because it knows that our bodies will need more energy and it can occur by pumping more oxygen rich blood through our bloodstream. And as indicated earlier, these functions occur with no real conscious thought. The brain knows what to do in these cases.

Other important functions can control appetite or thirst. Our brains will tell us that we are hungry or thirsty when it determines that our bodies need water or food. We normally feel hungry when our bodies need nourishment. On a side note, to keep a healthy brain, your nutrition is very important. It is shown that not only we need to train our brain and be physically fit to keep our abilities vibrant and healthy. We also need to follow a proper nutrition and diet as this has a tremendous effect on the health of our mind.

There are many brain functions related to higher level functions such your attention, perception, motor control or memory. So conscious thought and the ability to make decisions based on limited information is an important brain function. Other functions such as language processing, speech processing and vision processing are critical as well.

The brain also controls things like emotion. So we can feel happy, sad, angry or frustrated because our brains direct these emotions based on different stimuli.

Our brain is also an amazing computer. It can process information at lightning speed. So an important function is arithmetic function. We can add numbers or other complex numerical functions through our brains.

There are important vision processing functions. So we can see a stop sign and know what it means and not be confused with what is shown. Or we can see letters next to each other and the brain interprets them to create a word which means something to us.

Other higher level brain functions can include things like empathy or generosity. We can talk to someone and understand what they are feeling. Or we can respond to a situation with kindness or generosity.

The examples shown here are but a small sampling of different brain functions. It is a massive list and the impact it has on our lives and those around are certainly significant.

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