BOOST YOUR BRAIN POWER

1. Rearrange Your Desk. Clear some clutter from your life. Folks who are organized remember better. Why? Because they have mastered one of the secrets to better memory — getting organized. Spend five minutes organizing your desk, getting rid of what is non-essential. Keep out papers that require immediate attention, filing away what you can. Look over how your desk is organized and see if you can think of a better way to put it all together.

2. Read a Poem. Reading poetry gets us to think out of our workday “box” and is a wonderful source of intellectual challenge and pleasure. Find a poem and spend five minutes reading and musing it over. Bring a book of favorite poetry to keep on your desk or visit the website of the Academy of American Poets at www.poets.org. You can even sign up for their “Poem a Day” program and get a poem sent to your inbox each day.

3. Take a 5-Minute Yoga Break. This tip is all about bringing a little “ohm” into your life. Yoga is the perfect brain-health exercise. It supports aerobic workouts by building strength and stamina, trains our focus, and is a terrific resource for maintaining emotional balance. The Kripalu Center offers a series of such breaks you can download to your computer or other media player on their website at www.kripalu.org.

4. Doodle. (Unfocused drawing) Do you doodle? Many of us (including folks such as Bill Gates and former President Clinton) do. But did you know that doodling is good for your brain health? Recent research suggests that doodling helps us maintain focus and remember more effectively. A recent study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology found that subjects assigned a doodling task performed 29 percent better than their non-doodling counterparts on a surprise memory test covering the material they were learning simultaneously. Doodling improves attention, making it more likely that you will acquire things that you later want to recall. So when you are in a meeting or on a conference call, go ahead and doodle — no need to apologize.

5. Keep Up Your Social Network. Studies have shown that folks who are more social have an associated reduced risk for memory loss. In one recent study, Harvard researchers found that persons with lower levels of social interaction were much more likely to show memory problems after six years than their more social peers. Remember, no man — or woman — is an island. Reach out from behind that desk and connect with your family and friends for five minutes. It’s good for your soul and good for your brain.