Brain Rules
About the Author
DR. JOHN J. MEDINA, a developmental biologist , features a lifelong fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information. He is the author of the newyork Times bestseller Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and faculty , a provocative book that takes on the way our schools and workplace environment are designed. Medina is an allied Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of medicine .
REVIEW OF THE BOOK
Dr. John Medina says, root of all problems is what our brain thinks, because we don't fully understand how our brain works and as a result we do dumb things. In order to make people aware of some major rules and tactics by which we can conquer our brain, John Medina has written a book named "brain rules''. In this piece, he has discussed 12 scientific rules which one can follow and understand to increase their productivity and make themselves efficient and effective in their work. Even if you are a student, teacher or a businessman, these rules will help you to take your work performance to the next level and make your life easy and make your brain think smarter than ever. So now let's have a quick glance over these rules.
Rule no. 1
Brain is a survival organ which evolves with time-
Human evolution has evolved our thinking power and survival techniques. Even if we are not the world's most powerful being but we have evolved as the world's most powerful brain and that's the reason for our survival in history and in the present. Human analyse action and cooperates with other human beings, this has been our survival strategy for thousands of years. We applied this strategy, so that we can take help from each other to survive and to be alive and we could extend our genes even further. Implying this strategy, we have developed an ecosystem around us, an environment that affects us directly and indirectly, in such a way that even our goals get affected by this environment. For instance, if our goals are something that is accepted and appreciated by the environment we live in, then it enhances our productivity and creativity, while on the other hand, if the environment is in contrast with our goals, it can harm our productivity and affect our goals adversely. So the thing is that "only the strongest brain survives, not the strongest body".
Rule no. 2
Exercise boosts our brain power-
Researchers found in one study that exercise has a tremendous effect on our brain, they test two types of groups of people that are living different lifestyles. Group A consists of people which do physical exercise and are highly active and group B consist of people who don't do any physical exercise and activity. So in the end of this experiment researchers found that group A people have more cognitive scores than group B. Anyway studies say that our brain is made to run 19 kilometres per day but I know that this is a difficult task to run every day 19 km. even if we do any physical exercise two to three time a week, by this we can increase our brain power immensely to think and to learn, because exercise circulates blood in our brain then blood energy and glucose helps to remove toxic cells from our brain so that oxygen can flow to clear brain fog and think block, as well as to send more neurons to brain and these neurons help our brain to increase our creativity and mental sharpness.
Rule no. 3
Sleep well and think well-
Sleeping well boosts our thinking ability and makes us productive. Due to improper sleep our brain has a bad effect on its focusing power, brain function, memory and even logical thinking. In a study it was also revealed that taking a nap for 26 minutes increased the performance of NASA pilots by 34%. So if you are feeling tired in noon time taking a nap for half hour is a good idea and it is common also, because in noon time there is an war between bio chemicals in our brain in which one side want to stay wake and other side want sleep, so if it possible you should take a small nap. Dr. Madina says even if we are sleeping at noon, our brain doesn't sleep, it processes all the information and memory of what we have done all day. Proper sleep and naps are important for a productive mind.
Rule no. 4
Stressed brain don't learn the same way-
Our mind is made up of just thirty seconds of stress, not for taking stress for a longer time. Taking stress for a long time damages our brain blood vessels due to this it may become a reason for heart attack and many more other health issues. Taking more stress decreases your performance and productivity because due to more stress it increases the amount of cortisol in your brain due to which it starts damaging cells in the hippocampus by which it affects brain thinking and learning ability. So if you feel stressed you must find a way to make you calm.
Rule no. 5
Every brain is wired differently-
We were told in our schools that Everyone has the same mind but after many researchers scientists find that all brains are wired differently and everyone thinks differently. We can develop our brain but we cannot make our brain the same as others. Even two twins don't have the same mind. Different thinking power of every student is ignored by our education system. They measure their brain ability through a grade system but every student has a different ability and different mind that could not be judged by grades.
Rule no. 6
We don't pay attention in boring things-
Many researches show that we only pay attention to the things in which our interest, profit, emotions or culture is connected. It doesn't matter who you are, your mind consciously or subconsciously focuses on these questions.
Human brain is not for multi taskers but our offices and schools encourage us for multitasking. Multitasking increases our chances for failure by 50%. So try to do one task at one time it will make your brain think faster and smarter.
Rule no. 7
Repeat to remember-
Our brain is built for storing only important information. So when you perform any task your brain only remembers important things and it starts deleting all other unimportant information from your brain after sometime. That's why vision boards, written goals or reminders are important for our brain to remind that this information is important. So if you want to remember anything or want to learn anything so you must repeat it several times or write it somewhere that you see every day.
Rule no. 8
Our senses work together so it is important to Stimulate them.
Humans have five basic senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The sensing organs communicate with each senses and send information to the brain to help us understand and perceive the world around us. Our smelling sense is a reason, when we smell buttery popcorn it reminds us of movie theatre. If you want to remember something while reading or while working, then you can connect it with some kind of smell or fragrance. So when you smell that fragrance again you will remember information connected with it.
So that's all from my side, there are a lot more amazing things in book brain rules by Dr. John Medina. I hope you like it.
Reviews By Readers
abhinav singh
2 months ago
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars
this
book is one of the best ones i have read that is informational bacuse
such kind o books are boring with facts and figures but this book has
caught my mind and i dont get bored reading with examples and stories
and humor well done for such a publication MR MEDINA
