A few weeks ago I was asked to take part in Sunraysia's 7-Day Brain Fitness Challenge. Seeing good health includes taking care of both body and mind, I decided to step-up to the challenge. The 7-Day Brain Fitness Challenge required me to complete a daily brain boosting activity and drink one glass of Sunraysia's new blueberry juice drink (which was quite tasty and this is coming from someone who's not much of a juice fan).
To see how my brain stacked, I took a Uber Brain Test before starting the challenge. This involved a five-minute test assessing five areas of my brain including concentration, visual-spatial, executive function, memory and language. From the Uber Brain Test, my memory proved to be the best area - Mum has always said I have a memory like an elephant! My worst area was visual-spatial, which makes sense seeing I rarely mentally manipulate 2D and 3D objects throughout my day. Overall, I scored 3725 in the test.
Now to see if the brain activities and blueberry juice can give my brain a boost. The 7-Day Brain Fitness Challenge saw me:
- Learn a new language: Ciao! Un cappuccino, per favore. I learnt the important things; I can now order my coffee in Italian.
- Complete my first Suduko: I'm officially hooked! Now I have to complete all the Suduko in the weekend paper.
- Write a postcard to my Grandma back in Victoria: Writing requires a lot of concentration so that no mistakes are made. Very different to the emails that has spell check and a delete button.
- Get active with a 1/2 marathon: Ok so I wasn't required to run a 21km race, but the run just happened to fall on the same day as the get active challenge.
- Cook a lamb curry for the first time: The meal proved a winner with my fiance.
- Relax with a session of yoga
- Write a poem: Can't see myself doing that again anytime soon.
After a week, I completed the Uber Brain Test again and my score was well above the first one. Memory was still my best area and visual-spatial still my worst, but overall I was better and achieved a score of 5058. So why the improvement?
While research shows that blueberries and blueberry juice can assist with brain health, as well as improve memory, I have some other theories for my brain boost. Ever since day two of the challenge, I have been challenging my brain with daily Suduko, which was not previously on my weekly planner. Also, when I took the test for the second time I knew what to expect with the test - I was no longer wasting time reading the instructions as the time started to count down, which is what I did during the first test. So overall, the brain boost came from a combination of mental stimulation, diet and exercise, all of which have been proven by research to improve brain function.
You too can flex your brains by taking part in the 7-Day Brain Fitness Challenge. Simply visit www.sunraysia.com and sign-up today. The first 300 to register for the challenge will receive cash back on two 750ml bottles of Sunraysia Blueberry juice drink. To go in the running to win a copy Dr Kawashima's Train Your Brain book, tell us in 25 words or less what you do to boost your brain power.
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