According to Sigmund Freud, the human mind can be split into three distinct areas of consciousness:
1.The Conscious mind is the top or shallowest part of the mind and is responsible for making sense of the things we are directly aware of like stress levels.
2.The Subconscious mind is below consciousness most of the time, a deeper level – it is therefore not so easily accessible and controls how we may feel or react to certain situations or circumstances, based on what we have learnt through experience in the past. It also controls and regulates our essential bodily functions, such as breathing.
3.The Unconscious mind is the deepest part of our mind and is much more difficult to reach – it can include suppressed memories of traumatic events.
How Our Memory Works
There are things in life that we experience only once and remember forever. These memory peaks are times when our entire brain is involved in the learning process – both left and right hemispheres and our limbic system or emotional center. For example, we often learn songs without conscious effort because they involve the whole brain. The left brain focuses to the words, the right brain focuses to the music, and the limbic system pays attention because it is emotionally relevant to us. By deliberately using all three of these processes, we can improve our memory for any learning experience.
1.The left brain handles our reasoning and is responsible for words, numbers and language. It sees individual details one at a time and deals with order, facts and logical thinking.
2.The right brain is the artist within us and handles symbols, images, melodies, patterns and spatial relationships. It sees the whole picture at once and uses parallel, imagistic and intuitive thinking.
3.The limbic system plays an important part of our long-term memory. It decides if incoming information is relevant enough to be remembered, based on its emotional appeal. When what you’re learning appeals positively to your emotions, through colors, pictures, games, challenges, etc, you learn better and remember more easily.
Brain Waves
In a nutshell, there are four major types of brainwave patterns, namely:
1.Beta – Emitted when we are consciously alert, or we feel agitated, tense, afraid, with frequencies ranging from 13 to 60 Hz. Beta is where we spend most of our time and is also where we learn the least efficiently.
2.Alpha – When we are in a state of physical and mental relaxation, although aware of what is happening around us, its frequency is around 7 to 13 Hz. This is the peak-learning wave and it increases our ability to concentrate and receive information dramatically. This means that to learn faster you need to slow down your brainwaves. You can reach alpha by relaxing in a quiet room with no distractions, closing your eyes and breathing deeply and slowly few times.
3.Theta – More or less 4 to 7 Hz, it is a state of somnolence with reduced consciousness.
4.Delta – When there is unconsciousness or deep sleep, emitting between 0.1 and 4 Hz.
In general, we are accustomed to using the beta brain wave. When we reduce the brain rhythm to alpha, we put ourselves in the ideal condition to learn new information, keep fact, data, perform elaborate tasks, learn languages, analyze complex situations. Meditation, relaxation exercises, and activities that enable the sense of calm, also enable this alpha state. It is an ideal state for synthetic thought and creativity, the proper functions of the right hemisphere. As it is easy for the hemisphere to create images, to visualize, to make associations, to deal with drawings, diagrams and emotions, as well as the use of good-humor and pleasure, learning is better absorbed if these elements are added to the study methods.
My Personal Experience
One of the things that surprise me time and time again is how we think our brains work and how they actually do. On many occasions, I find myself convinced that there’s a certain way to do things, only to find out that actually, that’s the complete wrong way to think about it.
For example, I always found it fairly understandable that we can multitask. However, according to the latest research studies, it’s literally impossible for our brains to handle two tasks optimally at the same time.
Recently, I came across more of these fascinating experiments and ideas that helped me a ton to adjust my workflow towards how our brains actually work instead of what I thought.
Following are some interesting facts about the human brain that I discovered through research and personal experience:
•Your brain does creative work better when you’re tired.
•Stress can change the size of your brain making it smaller.
•It’s literally impossible for your brain to multi-task.
•Naps improve your brain’s day-to-day performance.
•Your vision trumps all other senses.
•Introversion and extroversion come from different wirings in the brain.
•We tend to like people who make mistakes more.
•Meditation can rewire your brain for the better.
•Exercise can reorganize the brain and boost your willpower.
•You can make your brain think time is going slowly by doing new things.
Exercising Your Brain
Your mind is a computer that can be programmed. You can choose whether the software installed is productive or unproductive. Your inner dialogue is the software that programs your attitude, which determines how you present yourself to the world around you. You have control over the programming. Whatever you put into it is reflected in what comes out.
Many of us have behavior patterns today that were programmed into our brains at a very early age. The information that was recorded by our brains could have been completely inaccurate or cruel. The sad reality of life is that we will continue to hear negative information, but we don’t have to program it into our brains.
The loudest and most influential voice you hear is your own inner voice, your self-critic. It can work for or against you, depending on the messages you allow. It can be optimistic or pessimistic. It can wear you down or cheer you on. You control the sender and the receiver, but only if you consciously take responsibility for and control over your inner conversation.
Habitual bad attitudes are often the product of past experiences and events. Common causes include low self-esteem, stress, fear, resentment, anger and an inability to handle change. It takes serious work to examine the roots of a harmful attitude, but the rewards of removing ourselves of this heavy load can last a lifetime.
The brain acts a lot like muscles in the body, and just like muscles, it needs its exercise. The more you work out your brain, the better it functions.
Brain fitness is quite a huge concern, and is as important as overall body fitness. Therefore, when concerned with keeping the body fit, you should consider the brain as well. It’s important for working your mental muscles.
Exercising the brain keeps it sharp and alert. Brain fitness should be a priority for both the young and old alike. There are a number of reasons why such fitness is essential for any person. The primary reason why you need to exercise your brain is cognitive diseases. Keeping the brain fit can help keep such diseases at bay, or even better, manage them.
Exercising the brain also helps in improving memory. Most people consider an accident or illness as the only prerequisites for working out their brain. This should not be the case and it’s essential