• Wake up to inbox full of “urgent” emails. Check.
• Go grab coffee with the dog. Before I could pay the woman, the dog reaches down and helps herself to the whipped cream on top. Check.
• Boyfriend gets acid in his eye while cleaning his pool. Check.
• Rush boyfriend to eye doctor to make sure he’s okay. (He’s okay.) Check.
• Dog has meltdown because it’s 106 degrees, and she can’t go out to play football. Check.
• Programmer tells me there’s another “short” delay and that coding can be a tricky process. Check.

So, by about 3pm, I head to the fridge to get a Coke. Now, before you cringe, I know – I know, I have really cut down on the sodas. For someone who was rarely allowed to drink the stuff growing up, I developed a full blown addiction to it.

With all of the chaos of the day, I had forgotten that I purchased a Brain Toniq™ the night before and stuck it in the fridge to get it nice and cold.

I popped it open and took a sip. Sweet, but not too sweet. Citrus-y, with a hint of grapefruit. No bubbles. Smooth and cold. Fresh. I admit – I wondered what it would taste like with Vodka – but that’s another blog post altogether.

I sat down next to my boyfriend and handed him the can. He’s one of those strange people who drinks water, not soda.

I asked him if it tasted like Red Bull, and like me, he’d never tasted Red Bull. So if any of you have had both, please leave a comment and let me know. I’m curious.

The Brain Toniq must have been good, because when I got the can back, there were maybe two sips left. Lesson learned. Next time buy two.

What’s In It?

Choline, Eleuthero Root extract (Siberian Ginseng), Rhodiola root powder, DMAE, Blue Green Algae extract, Carbonated water, Organic Agave nectar, natural citrus extracts and citric acid.

What’s not?

No caffeine. No processed sugar. According to the company, “no fake anything.”

Brain Toniq is both Vegan and Kosher.

The company calls its toniq, The Clean and Intelligent Think Drink. Because I shared my can, I can’t attest to the cognitive boost that is supposed to happen. I will say it lifted enough of the afternoon fog to get us both off of the couch and back out into the triple digit heat to finish our day.

My Review

I like that there’s no caffeine. I want something I can drink that won’t keep me up at night. I love that there’s no processed sugar. I clearly need help in this area. The ingredient list looks impressive, and you can research the science on the company’s website. Plus, it tastes good.

I will definitely purchase more, and I will update this post with my results.

Where To Buy It

I purchased mine at Whole Foods, but you can also order by the case via the main website.

Your Turn.

Have you tried Brain Toniq? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Similar Posts:

• 10 Simple Ways To Get A Peaceful Night’s Sleep
• Brain Fitness Pro For The iPhone
• Can You Solve This Brain Teaser?
• Which ADHD Software Will Work For You?

Neuroplasticity has been described in many ways. Some of these definitions have been basic enough for most of us to understand, while others speak of “cortical remapping”, “synapses” and a complete inventory of additional seemingly foreign terms that leave us still wondering what it is! In short, neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change its structure in response to what it experiences. This means that there are networks that run between the neurons in the brain. Based upon experiences, these neuron networks can change pathways and essentially change their functions, thereby altering the brain, itself. This is what is commonly referred to as a “rewiring” of the brain.

More specifically, the brain is not much different than other parts of the body when it comes to the concept of atrophy. Muscles that are not utilized tend to atrophy. In contrast, muscles that are exercised quite frequently tend to grow in strength and even become larger. According to recent research, when signals are sent to the brain, the brain will expand the area that is associated with the execution of these signals and the movement or behavior that they result in (Begley, 2007). Therefore, areas that are signaled often develop strong pathways between the neurons involved, while those pathways that are not used will be eliminated. As one researcher explains, “the very structure of our brain—the relative size of different regions, the strength of connections between them, even their functions—reflects the lives we have led. Like sand on a beach, the brain bears the footprints of the decisions we have made, the skills we have learned, the actions we have taken…” (Begley, 2010, 9).

Of course, this means that the ability to rewire your brain can apply to just about anybody in just about any aspect of behavior or, for that matter, any aspect of life. However, because this rewiring of the brain is a means of creating new connections between neurons that foster positive habits and behaviors, while turning off those pathways that are associated with negative habits, one can see how advantageous such a concept would be when applied to children with Autism. What is even more encouraging is that this rewiring of the brain and the development of new pathways that promote positive behaviors is achieved through repetition.

ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis) is the perfect vehicle for the promotion of this rewiring as the concept of discrete trials used within this approach is essentially just that: constant repetition of a positive behavior. Therefore, ABA therapy is an excellent means of rewiring the brain pathways in children with Autism. Doing so can retrain and restructure the child’s brain to engage in a myriad of behaviors that are prosocial, foster academic skills and support independence in daily living. Of course, early intervention is critical as the younger years seem to be the most optimal for changing and reprogramming the developing brain.

As a result of these findings and the way in which ABA therapy promotes this transformation of the brain, children diagnosed with ASD can essentially achieve learning skills that are similar to their same age peers that are not developmentally disabled. Of course, while the results are often profound and even phenomenal in some cases, it is always important to make the distinction between the process of recovery and the discovery of a cure. Currently, there is still no known cure for Autism and ABA does not qualify as one—even through its ability to rewire the pathways in the brain for the promotion of increased learning and the acquisition of positive behaviors. Yet, what it does offer is a chance for kids with ASD to adapt and experience a sense of recovery that can lead to great success in what can otherwise be a very challenging world.

For those that wish to read further on how the pathways in the brain can be rewired for use in Autism or in a variety of life skill capacities, the literature list below provides excellent resources to serve as a starting point for such research. Much of the information within this article was presented in these materials and such topics can be explored in greater detail and in easy to comprehend language for the inquiring parent or even the motivated learner.

References & Further Reading:

Arden, J. (2010). Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life. New York: Joh Wiley and Sons.

Begley, Sharon (2007). “How the Brain Rewires Itself”. In Jeffrey Kluger, The New Map of the Brain.

Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. New York: Viking.

Similar Posts:

• Rewiring The Brain With Michael Merzenich
• Word Wanderer Takes You to Your Threshold
• 9 Reasons Golf Is Good For Your Brain
• Which ADHD Software Will Work For You?

5th

And, if the red block is not next to the green block, what is the order from first to last (left to right) of the five blocks?

Green, Blue, Black, White, RedSimilar Posts:

• Can You Solve This Brain Teaser?
• Free Mind Sparke Upgrade For Windows Users
• Here’s A Short Brain Teaser Video For You
• Circle Word Games #1

1) The black block is between the blue block and the white block.

2) The red block is not first and the white block is not last.

3) The green block is separated from the white block by two blocks.

What is the position of the red block?

And, if the red block is not next to the green block, what is the order from first to last (left to right) of the five blocks?

Leave your answers in the comments below. I’d love to see them!

If you think your friends and family might enjoy this brain teaser, please click the blue Share Buttons below. I really appreciate your support!

Click here to view the solution to this teaser.Similar Posts:

• Can You Solve This Brain Teaser?
• How To Use The Number Rhyme System To Remember Important Numbers
• Are You Right-Brained Or Left-Brained?
• The Brain Teaser Solution

• Circle Word Games #1
• Word Wanderer Takes You to Your Threshold
• Do Brain Games Really Make You Smarter?
• Stretch Your Mind With Online Games

Want more? Try Circle Word Games #2Similar Posts:

• Circle Word Games #1
• Stretch Your Mind With Online Games
• Word Wanderer Takes You to Your Threshold
• Do Brain Games Really Make You Smarter?

There is one answer per circle. The word can start at any position, and it can either go clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Here’s an example:

The answer is “anywhere” as you find the “a” and move around the circle towards the right.

Alright, now it’s your turn. Leave your answers in the comments below – I’d love to see them!

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

Want to check your answers? Click the link for the Circle Word Games #2 Solution.

Similar Posts:

• Circle Word Games #1
• Word Wanderer Takes You to Your Threshold
• Stretch Your Mind With Online Games
• Do Brain Games Really Make You Smarter?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The shepherd with three loaves of bread receives one coin. The shepherd with five loaves of bread receives seven coins.

Why? We assume that all three men ate the same amount of bread. Three men splitting eight loaves would each get two and two-thirds loaves.

So, after eating 2 and 2/3 of his loaves, the first shepherd (who originally had three loaves) has 1/3 loaf to share.

After eating 2 and 2/3 of his loaves, the second shepherd (who originally had five loaves) has 2 and 1/3 loaves to share (or 7/3)

The first shepherd gets 1 coin and the second shepherd gets 7 coins.

If the above makes your head spin, take some scratch paper and draw out this solution submitted on our facebook page by Khalid:

Dividing each loaf to 3 peices , and eating 8 pieces per person
will make the contribution as following

The guy with 5 loafs :
Gave 15 peices
Ate 8
Contibuted 7 to the group

The guy with 3 loafs :
Gave 9 peices
Ate 8
Contributed 1 to the group

The Hunter : he took 7 from the 1st guy , 1 from the 2nd guy , so he also ate 8 pieces ..the share for the good shepherds is clear.

Similar Posts:

• How To Improve Your Memory
• Can You Solve This Brain Teaser?
• Eating A Mediterranean Diet Cuts Your Alzheimer’s Risk
• How To Memorize Names Of Large Groups Of People

After they finished, the hunter gave the two shepherds eight coins as payment for the meal.

Assuming the loaves were all the same size, how should the two shepherds divide the coins?

Leave your answer in the comment section below, and it would be great if you shared your thought process with everyone.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Want to check your answer? Click here.

Similar Posts:

• Circle Word Games #1
• The Brain Teaser Solution
• Brain Fitness Pro For The iPhone
• The Jastrow Illusion

I am wired to move, and move when I am wired. In Yoda-speak: a kinesthetic learner I am. My brain wants me to move; needs me to move. Whoever is at the controls, or is in control, feels better when I am moving.

Picture a tiny animatronic human, like one of the creatures in Men In Black. There is a scene in that movie that fits my image perfectly. The alien on the outside clearly looks human, but the creature opens his chest or gets its head blown off (I forget which) and there is a little man inside working the controls like a biomechanical puppeteer.

I am a Physical Education and Wellness teacher, so my little ‘inner man’ is usually eager to go. Recently I had an important interview, for a teaching position in another school district, and I took the day off to get in touch with my ‘Inner Man’.

I went to the Gym.

There is bike at Cardinal Fitness, an exercise bike that has a virtual rider who turns when I move the handlebars. I did 10 miles and about 800 calories. Maybe 40 minutes on the bike. I zipped home and then attacked my garden, working my body to a serious sweat for maybe the next four hours. More oxygen to my brain; my brain was happy; it got its oxygen fix and then some. My brain craved exercise and told me, in its Inner Man way, that it wanted lots and lots of oxygenated blood, which it basically feeds on.

To quote John Ratey, M.D., author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, “Exercise is miracle grow to the brain.”

Let’s get back to my garden. I worked the asphalt out of my hind-end and quit at a sensible time. The interview was at 5:00 pm at an elementary school across town. It was time to quit tilling and digging my garden for planting.

I could have had a nap but held off.

Out of the shower I was calm, thinking about the questions the Principal might ask me. I was calm because the exercise I got earlier calmed me down, equaled both sides of the mysterious equation of mind and body. I worked out, did big things with my arms and legs and core. I sweat, profusely, when I was digging up sod with the spade and hauling it in the wheel barrow.

I sat down at my desk to work on this article, sketching things out and jotting things down. I felt good, relaxed, calm, and not yet sore from the exertion. My hands were a little shaky from the jarring and jolting of digging holes for the small fence posts I put into the hard Indiana ground.

My garden will soon have plants inside it that I will carefully tend so that good things grow, especially cucumbers and tomatoes. My garden was a needed physical distraction. As I worked in it I allowed my mind to roam free to nowhere. I got lost in the hard work, but the hard work was not lost on me.

It is a little after 4:00 pm.

I am downstairs, at my desk, eyes closed, breathing deeply. I hear my wife come home from school, where she also teaches physical education, only at a Catholic school on the northeast side of Indianapolis. Breathe in and out. I felt wonderfully relaxed. Calm. Focused. Alert.

I’ll leave at about 4:18, give myself plenty of time in case something happens and my time goes somewhere else. I went upstairs, said hello, and began to get dressed. I say goodbye to my wife and sons.

Driving to the school I got caught in traffic, a seemingly endless line of cars going to or coming from somewhere, anywhere, I didn’t care.

4:22. Traffic can be a huge stressor but I was as calm as the cucumbers I’d be seeing in three weeks or so.

4:32. Haven’t moved in ten minutes. Traffic got stupid and I got a little stressed and panicky – but my brain, still faintly glowing from all that rich oxygen it got earlier – handled it in stride.

4:38. Open the window. Turn on the radio. We just moved twenty feet, then fifty, then a hundred. Breathe in and out, in and out, out and in, out and in.

4:49. I got to the school with ten minutes to spare. I felt good, really, really good. The exercise. My brain was rewarding me, and would reward me again in fifteen minutes, when I would be asked a question that was a curve ball. I could never hit a curve ball.

I am still very calm and focused and unstressed. My brain is still buzzing from the intoxicating effects of the oxygenated blood. I sat next to the Vice-Principal and stared the Principal directly in one eye like Dad used to tell me to do.

My last interview, I was both late and stressed, and I definitely did not work out before; I most likely took a nap that I did not need and drank one too many Cokes.

I answered the Principal’s questions and gave calm, intelligent, well-thought answers. My alert mass of tissue, much of it composed of water, sitting squarely (well, sort of oblong-ly) inside my skull took that last curve-ball question and figured out how to hit it out of the park.

I had a successful interview and answered all questions well, succinctly, passionately, and smartly. There was a writing exercise and I attacked it like a big predator hunting easy prey. Exercise, especially before an important event like a job interview, makes the brain function at a much more efficient level. Specifically, cardio-respiratory exercise, like biking 10 miles at about a mile every 4 minutes, brings the brain an enormous amount of oxygen. It freely distributes it to a finger here and a toe there and the tip of the nose and a part of the body that supports you whenever you sit.

20% stays, though. 20% stays and that says a lot. Aerobic exercise allows us to hit curve balls when our ordinary, un-oxygenated selves believe and perceive that we can’t hit them.

So the next time you have something big on your radar screen, find time to work out, and hard. Your brain will love you for it and will step up to the plate. Your hands might shake a little and your buttocks and hamstrings might be a little sore, but whatever lies on your radar screen will be in good shape. You’ll handle it. Your brain will handle it, if you think to take care of it and give it the gift of exercise.

Ted Scheck, a Physical Education and Wellness Teacher, is a husband, a
father and an exercise advocate. When he’s not hitting the bike at the
gym, you can usually find him in his garden – picking the perfect tomato.

Photo (c)istockphoto/vm

Similar Posts:

• Do Brain Games Really Make You Smarter?
• How To Speed Read Like An Expert
• Brain Exercises: Four That Keep You Sharp
• What’s Your New Year’s Brain Resolution?