Day 8

I ended up spending most of my afternoon asleep. I'm finally starting to feel better. Neuropsychologically, not much happened. My brain was pretty dormant for most of the day. I couldn't even focus when I was in class because of my lack of motivation. But this morning I woke up, put on a pretty dress, and decided that I wouldn't let this cold get me down. And today's actually started off really well. I have to make up the Government test that I missed when I went home yesterday, but I'm sure it won't be that bad. I'll take the practice test here in a minute. I'm also preparing for this thing called the Moot Court competition. It's where you're a lawyer in a civil case, and you have to argue for your client in front of a panel of judges. Maybe my knowledge of brains will help me get in their heads. I hope so, because if I win at State, I get an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington DC for Nationals. That could be really exciting. I have to write a brief of a court case for this afternoon. I'll do that after the practice test. I guess I'm just starting a list here. Today's turning into a busy day. Luckily I have time and my motivation back. Well, I better get started on all this stuff.

See you later.
Isabella

Day 7

I skimmed the self-help book. I'll admit it. Not skimming like internet skimming, but I went through and found the parts that actually applied to brain improvement. I FINALLY have a list of things I can do to improve my brain. A real, written down list. After taking a survey to figure out which areas of my brain need to be improved most, which for me is the area in charge of anxiety, self-image, worrying, and motivation, I have a list of things that will help. MEDITATION is the biggest thing. To meditate every day will benefit me more than anything else. It relaxes your brain and allows you to look inside yourself to fix problems. I started last night. It was really quite pleasant. Time literally flies by, and you can just let your mind be completely free. Something else on the list is drinking a lot of water. I already drink quite a bit for cross country, but I'll be the first to admit that I could drink more. Water clears out your system of toxins, and it's one of the only drinks that is healthy to drink in large amounts. Even fruit juices are loaded with unnecessary sugar (even though it's natural.) Antioxidants are big too. Berries, pomegranates, dark chocolate... They don't only help your brain but help keep your whole body feeling good. Fish and fish oil have recently been shown to help improve brain function. Omega 3 fatty acids might sound like they're bad for you, but 1 fish oil supplement a day can help a lot. PING PONG is the ultimate brain sport. It improves hand-eye coordination and doesn't require much in the way of actual physical strength. It has as much strategy as it does skill, just like regular tennis. Unfortunately, I no longer have a ping pong table. The one I've been using recently belongs to someone who won't be around for any of this experiment. I guess I could go to my running coach's house... That'd be interesting. He's a ping pong master. Anyway... There are a bunch of recipies in this book for "brain food." I'll have to try some of them. They don't sound that bad. Lotsa veggies and poultry. There's a chicken omelette that sounds pretty fantastic. Apparently I'm supposed to learn a new sport. I hope dancing counts, because I'm going to learn to ballroom dance. I also have to learn a new fact every day, and spend at least 30 minutes taking in new information. I hope school counts. They say foreign languages are good. Yay, French! Unfortunately I'm still sick. I'm actually leaving school at lunch today. Sickness really affects you psychologically. I feel like I can't focus and I have no motivation. Everything really does start in your brain, doesn't it? It's interesting. Well, that's all I've got. I'll tell you how everything goes.

Isabella

Day 6

So, as you've probably noticed, the day number in the title of my post is a day behind what day number it currently is. That's because I usually post in the morning, so I post a day behind. If that makes any sense. I hope it does. ANYWAY... I've been starting to notice changes. Really. It started last night. I started remembering things. Unimportant things, but things nonetheless. Like, I remembered all of my vocab from the 10th grade English unit on Beowulf. I remembered what I learned about the consitution in middle school when I had my constitution test in Gov yesterday. It's like all these things are coming back to me. As Nicholas Carr says, they're "going from your dormant, long-term memory into your working memory." The switch between working and long-term is a difficult one. I guess that means that I'm now able to bring things out that I didn't know I'd stored. That's pretty sweet. Maybe the memories will get to be more relevant. That'd be nice. I guess that's really been my only breakthrough. Other than that, I'm still reading and excercising my brain. Apparently running is really good for your brain. I guess it's good that I run every day. That's one thing I won't have to start doing. I guess that's really all I have for you today.

See you tomorrow.
Isabella

The 3 Day Weekend

Sorry about that blank post. Turns out I can't post from my iPod, and I didn't have a computer for most of this 3 day weekend. I decided to just consolidate all of the posts into one that I would write today. It wasn't much of an eventful weekend. Well, not for my brain anyway. I finished The Shallows and have moved onto How to Make a Good Brain Great. This is my first time reading a self-help book. From what I've seen so far, it's extremely cheesy and repetitive. Hopefully it has some good information. I wish I could get a SPECT brain scan. It shows brain activity. If I could get one of those when this 3 months is up, I'd be extremely excited. Is it going to happen? Probably not. A girl can hope. I've had to start getting on the internet more lately, as a means of communication with people I work with, but I'm making sure that I only read things that are pertinent and I read things all the way through. It's weird thinking that your brain controls everything about you. Like, even stuff that we consider to be "instinct" or "gut feeling." Like, that fact that you prefer apples to peaches is completely brain function. Sexual desire, appreciation of praise, and striving for success are all also brain functions. If our brains aren't functioning properly, it can completely change who we are. The same applies to when our brains are at optimal performance. The rest of our body will be performing optimally as well. In this past week, I've been doing extremely well. I got a cold a few days ago, but I'm trying to not let it get me down. The sneezing is frustrating, but it's alright. The lack-of-a-certain-person is a lot worse. It's been taking some getting used to. It's hard to believe it's still been less than a week. I think that because I can't even talk to said person makes it worse. But hey- it's all brain function. Maybe I can make it so even though I miss him, I stay completely content. I mean, I can change my brain however I want, right? Or I can try, at least. Well, I'll keep reading and let you know how it goes.

Have a good rest of your day,
Isabella

Day 2

If anyone says that music or dancing is bad for brain development, I will cry. They're how I've been spending most of my Facebook-less time. I used my 5 minutes to upload a picture and update my status. That's all. I also learned that choline is really good for your brain, because it helps activiate neurotransmitters. Soymilk and almond milk have a lot of choline in them, and I drink a glass every day. I still haven't figured out the brain set website from Gov. I'll have to make sure I write it down today. Apparently if I get my IQ above 150, I'll be considered highly gifted. I also learned about MENSA, which is a forum for people with high IQs. My grandpa is a member. My adopted grandpa. Not my birth one. But still. It's cool. You have to score a certain IQ on an approved test to be eligible. Maybe I'll try it at the end of this 90 days. Obviously I haven't seen any drastic changes in my mind yet, but I'll keep working. Well, I better go. Over and out.

Isabella, signing off.

D-Day, a.k.a. Day 1.

I can't get on Facebook today. GAH. I'm gonna have withdrawls. I never thought of myself as one of those Facebook addicted people, but it's a really difficult thing to give up. I almost logged on when I first got up this morning. That's saying something. I have to wake up and see what's happened between when I went to sleep and then. The more I think about it, the more pathetic that seems. Nothing ever changes on Facebook, and I always scroll through to make sure I haven't missed any important news. How unnecessary is that? I haven't yet done my brain tests. I'll hopefully be doing them by noon. I'm going to make copies of the blank ones so I can do the EXACT same test on day 90. The next book I'm reading, How to Make a Good Brain Great, says that its methods can improve brain function in 15 days. I'm hoping to start reading it next week, so I'll be testing its methods for approximately 80 days. It's been proven to work, so maybe I'll just become exceptional instead of great. Or maybe after 15 days I'll peak. You never know. I'm currently working on "word splits". I've been doing good, getting each one in 10-15 seconds. It gets easier after you've completed a few. Your brain starts to develop dendrites for new skills after one to two times of doing them. By my fourth or fifth test, I could see the patterns. When I go to AP Government this afternoon I'll have to see what website has this "daily brain set test" and start trying to complete it on my own instead of with the class. I'll also have to start getting better with my ambedextrosity. I know that I said that limiting my internet use was my first goal, but as I've studied it further, even though I will be keeping my Facebook to five minutes a day and won't go mindlessly searching the internet, it doesn't mean I have to go anti-internet. The point is to just make sure I'm not jeopardizing my attention span. I'm going to read all internet articles ALL THE WAY THROUGH and basically just use the internet for some of my brain tests. Well, I'll comment more on what happens with the rest of today in tomorrow's post.

See you later.
Isabella

Getting Ready for D-Day

Sorry for not posting this weekend. Not much happened in the way of my neuropsychological abilities. It was just a really crazy time. But anyway, it's over with now and I'm just going to forget about it. Other than the fact that I saw Andy Schleck. But that's not what this blog is about, so let's get back on topic. Thursday will be day 1. I'm starting to get nervous. Technology is like an addiction. I'm probably going to go through a withdrawl phase. I just don't know how bad it's going to be. I'm blessed with the powers of strong will, discipline, and self-control, so maybe I can make a smooth transition. I kinda sorta forgot to mention that someone pretty important to me will also be leaving on September 1st, so if my posts sound a little "off" for a while, that's why. He won't be back until after this whole thing is over. But I'm getting off topic again. In Nicholas Carr's book I'm currently learning about the history of writing and it's impact on our neurological development. Apparently, when writing first started there were no spaces in between the words. Though this seems impractical and confusing, it actually helped people use more of their brains. Ibetyou'regoingtohavetothinkalittlebitharderwhenyou'rereadingthissentence,aren'tyou? People had to decipher where words began and ended, and a lot was left up to interpretation. As interesting as it is, writing was becoming a universal communacation tool, so they had to simplify it. I also rediscovered that the order of letters in a word doesn't matter as long as the first and last letters are in the right place. Wried, ins't it? You can sltil raed tihs, bceuase yuor barin can rcgeoinze waht I'm tyrnig to say. This is because we've been trained to skim. Whole words seem unnecessary. So yeah. I'm messing with my words. But I'm going to get back to reading now. More tomorrow.

Isabella