How (And Why) To Train Your Pre-Frontal Cortex

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Dr. Chapman’s Keys For Mental Focus

This is Dr. Sandra Chapman; she’s a cognitive neuroscientist, on a mission to, in her words, further our understanding of:

  • what makes the brain stronger, faster and last longer
  • what enhances human cognitive capacity, and
  • what enhances the underlying brain systems across the lifespan.

To this end, she’s also the founder and Chief Director of the Center For Brain Health, where she has worked on her mission for the past 25 years (clocking up hundreds of peer-reviewed publications to her name), as well as being a professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at UT Dallas.

What does she want us to know?

Get your brain into gear

When it comes to your brainpower, it is “use it or lose it”, but it is also perfectly possible to use it and lose it.

Why?

Very often, what we are using our brains for is high-strain, low-yield stuff, such as multitasking, overthinking, or overthinking while multitasking. And to make it worse, we often do it without sufficient rest.

This is the equivalent of owning a Ferrari but trying to drive it in second and third gear at once by switching between the two as rapidly as possible. And doing that for 18 hours each day.

Suffice it to say, you’ll be going nowhere quickly.

An alternative “use” of brainpower is low-strain, low-yield stuff, such as having to pay close attention to a boring conversation. It’s enough to stop your mind from doing anything else, but not enough to actually stimulate you.

This is the equivalent of owning a Ferrari but keeping it idling. The wear and tear is minimal this time, but you’re not actually going anywhere either.

Better, of course, are the other two quadrants:

  • low-strain, high-yield: consistently using our brain in relatively non-taxing ways that encourage its development
  • high-strain, high-yield: here the Ferrari metaphor definitely fails, because unlike cars, our bodies (including our brains) are machines that benefit from judicious regular progressive overloading (but just by a bit, and with adequate recovery time between overloads).

See also: 12 Weeks To Measurably Boost Your Brain

How to do the “low-strain, low-yield” part

When it comes to “what’s the most important part of the brain to help in the face of cognitive decline?” the usual answer is either to focus on memory (hippocampi) or language (various parts, but for example Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area), since people most fear losing memory, and language is very important both socially and practically.

Those are indeed critical, and we at 10almonds stand by them, but Dr. Chapman (herself having originally trained as speech and language pathologist!) makes a strong case for adding a third brain part to the list.

Specifically, she advocates for strengthening the pre-frontal cortex, which is responsible for inhibition, task-switching, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. If that seems like a lot, do remember it’s a whole cortex and not one of the assorted important-but-small brain bits we mentioned above.

How? She has developed training programs for this, based on what she calls Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Tactics (SMART), to support support attention, planning, judgment and emotional management.

You can read more about those programs here:

Center For Brain Health | Our Programs

Participation in those is mostly not free, however, if you join their…

Center For Brain Health | BrainHealth Project

…then they will periodically invite you to join pilot programs, research programs, and the like, which will either be free or they-pay-you affairs—because this is how science is done, and you can read about yourself (anonymized, of course) later in peer-reviewed papers of the kind we often cite here.

If you’re not interested in any of that though, we will say that according to Dr. Chapman, the keys are:

Inhibition: be conscious of this function of your brain, and develop it. This is the function of your brain that stops you from making mistakes—or put differently: stops you from saying/doing something stupid.

Switching: do this consciously; per “I am now doing this task, now I am switching to this other task”, rather than doing the gear-grinding thing we discussed earlier

Working memory: this is effectively your brain’s RAM. Unlike the RAM of a computer (can be enhanced by adding another chip or replacing with a bigger chip), our brain’s RAM can be increased by frequent use, and especially by judicious use of progressive overloading (with rests between!) which we’ll discuss in the high-strain, high-yield section.

Flexibility: this is about creative problem-solving, openness to new ideas, and curiosity

See also: Curiosity Kills The Neurodegeneration

How to do the “high-strain, high-yield” part

Delighting this chess-playing writer, Dr. Chapman recommends chess. Although, similar games such as go (a Chinese game that looks simpler than chess but actually requires more calculation) work equally well too.

Why?

Games like chess and go cause structural changes that are particularly helpful, in terms of engaging in such foundational tasks as learning, abstract reasoning, problem-solving and self-control:

Chess Practice as a Protective Factor in Dementia

Basically, it checks (so to speak) a lot of boxes, especially for the pre-frontal cortex. Some notes:

  • Focusing on the game is required for brain improvement; simply pushing wood casually will not do it. Ideally, calculating several moves ahead will allow for strong working memory use (because to calculate several moves ahead, one will have to hold increasingly many possible positions in the mind while doing so).
  • The speed of play must be sufficiently slow as to allow not only for thinking, but also for what in chess is called “blunder-checking”, in other words, having decided on one’s move, pausing to consider whether it is a mistake, and actively trying to find evidence that it is. This is the crucial “inhibition habit”, and when one does it reflexively, one will make fewer mistakes. Tying this to dementia, see for example how one of the common symptoms of dementia is falling for scams that one wouldn’t have previously. How did cognitive decline make someone naïve? It didn’t, per se; it just took away their ability to, having decided what to do, pause to consider whether it was a mistake, and actively trying to find evidence that it is.
  • That “conscious switching” that we talked about, rather than multitasking? In chess, there is a difference between strategy and tactics. Don’t worry about what that difference is for now (learn it if you want to take up chess), but know that strong players will only strategize while it is their opponent’s turn, and only calculate (tactics) while it is their own turn. It’s very tempting to flit constantly between one and the other, but chess requires players to have the mental discipline be able to focus on one task or the other and stick with that task until it’s the appointed time to switch.

If you feel like taking up chess, this site (and related app, if you want it) is free (it’s been funded by voluntary donations for a long time now) and good and even comes with free tuition and training tools: LiChess.org

Here’s another site that this writer (hi, it’s me) personally uses—it has great features too, but many are paywalled (I’m mostly there just because I’ve been there nearly since its inception, so I’m baked into the community now): Chess.com

Want to know more?

You might like this book by Dr. Chapman, which we haven’t reviewed yet but it did inform large parts of today’s article:

Make Your Brain Smarter: Increase Your Brain’s Creativity, Energy, and Focus – by Dr. Sandra Chapman

Enjoy!

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  • Felt Time – by Dr. Marc Wittmann

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This book goes far beyond the obvious “time flies when you’re having fun / passes slowly when bored”, or “time seems quicker as we get older”. It does address those topics too, but even in doing so, unravels deeper intricacies within.

    The author, a research psychologist, includes plenty of reference to actual hard science here, and even beyond subjective self-reports. For example, you know how time seems to slow down upon immediate apparent threat of violent death (e.g. while crashing, while falling, or other more “violent human” options)? We learn of an experiment conducted in an amusement park, where during a fear-inducing (but actually safe) plummet, subjective time slows down yes, but measures of objective perception and cognition remained the same. So much for adrenal superpowers when it comes to the brain!

    We also learn about what we can change, to change our perception of time—in either direction, which is a neat collection of tricks to know.

    The style is on the dryer end of pop-sci; we suspect that being translated from German didn’t help its levity. That said, it’s not scientifically dense either (i.e. not a lot of jargon), though it does have many references (which we like to see).

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    Click here to check out Felt Time, and make yours count!

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  • Tooth Remineralization: How To Heal Your Teeth Naturally

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    Dr. Michelle Jorgensen, dentist, explains:

    The bare-bones details:

    Teeth cannot be regrown (yet!) but can be remineralized, which simply involves restoring lost minerals. When we’re talking about health, “minerals” is usually used to mean elemental minerals, like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, etc, but the specific mineral that’s needed here is hydroxyapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral, the same as is found in bones).

    Not only can acids from food and bacteria dissolve the minerals from the teeth, but also, the body itself may extract minerals from the teeth if it needs them for other functions it considers more critical and/or more urgent.

    Cavities occur when acids create porous holes in teeth by dissolving minerals, which allows bacteria to invade, which means more acid, and cavities.

    Remineralization can be achieved by doing the following things:

    • Use hydroxyapatite-based products (tooth powder, mouthwash).
    • Improve gut health to ensure proper mineral absorption.
    • Reduce acidic food and drink intake.
    • Maintain good oral hygiene to prevent bacteria build-up.
    • Eat foods rich in vitamins A, D, E, and K, which help direct minerals to teeth and bones.

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  • Tips for Improving Memory

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Q&A with 10almonds Subscribers!

    Q: Any tips, other than supplements, for improving memory?

    A: So many tips! Certainly enough to do a main feature on, so again maybe we’ll do that in another issue soon. Meanwhile, here are the absolute most critical things for you to know, understand, and apply:

    • Memory is a muscle. Not literally, but in the sense that it will grow stronger if exercised and will atrophy if neglected.
    • Counterpart of the above: your memory is not a finite vessel. You can’t “fill it up with useless things”, so no need to fear doing so.
    • Your memory is the product of countless connections in your brain. The more connections lead to a given memory, the more memorable it will be. What use is this knowledge to you? It means that if you want to remember something, try to make as many connections to it as possible, so:
      • Involve as many senses as possible.
      • When you learn things, try to learn them in context. Then when your mind has reason to think about the context, it’ll be more likely to remember the thing itself too.
    • Rehearsal matters. A lot. This means repeatedly going over something in your head. This brings about the neural equivalent of “muscle memory”.
    • Enjoy yourself if you can. The more fun something is, the more you will mentally rehearse it, and the more mental connections you’ll make to it.

    Have a question you’d like to see answered here? Hit reply to this email, or use the feedback widget at the bottom! We always love to hear from you

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    The Neuroscientist In The Gym

    This is Dr. Wendy Suzuki. She’s a neuroscientist, and an expert in the neurobiology of memory, as well as neuroplasticity, and the role of exercise in neuroprotection.

    We’ve sneakily semi-featured her before when we shared her Big Think talk:

    Brain Benefits In Three Months… Through Walking?

    Today we’re going to expand on that a little!

    A Quick Recap

    To share the absolute key points of that already fairly streamlined rundown:

    • Exercise boosts levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin (and, which wasn’t mentioned there, noradrenaline)
      • These are responsible for motivation, happiness, and focus (amongst other things)
    • Persistent exercise boosts certain regions of the brain in particular, most notably the pre-frontal cortex and the hippocampi*
      • These are responsible for planning and memory (amongst other things)

    Dr. Suzuki advocates for stepping up your exercise routine if you can, with more exercise generally being better than less (unless you have some special medical reason why that’s not the case for you).

    *often referred to in the singular as the hippocampus, but you have one on each side of your brain (unless a serious accident/incident destroyed one, but you’ll know if that applies to you, unless you lost both, in which case you will not remember about it).

    What kind(s) of workout?

    While a varied workout is best for overall health, for these brain benefits specifically, what’s most important is that it raises your heart rate.

    This is why in her Big Think talk we shared before, she talks about the benefits of taking a brisk walk daily. See also:

    Walking, Better

    If that’s not your thing, though (and/or is for whatever reason an inaccessible form of exercise for you), there is almost certainly some kind of High Intensity Interval Training that is a possibility for you. That might sound intimidating, but if you have a bit of floor and can exercise for one minute at a time, then HIIT is an option for you:

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    Dr. Suzuki herself is an ardent fan of “intenSati” which blends cardio workouts with yoga for holistic mind-and-body fitness. In fact, she loves it so much that she became a certified exercise instructor:

    Wendy Suzuki | IntenSati

    How much is enough?

    It’s natural to want to know the minimum we can do to get results, but Dr. Suzuki would like us to bear in mind that when it comes to our time spent exercising, it’s not so much an expense of time as an investment in time:

    ❝Exercise is something that when you spend time on it, it will buy you time when you start to work❞

    ~ Dr. Wendy Suzuki

    Read more: A Neuroscientist Experimented on Her Students and Found a Powerful Way to Improve Brain Function

    Ok, but we really want to know how much!

    Dr. Suzuki recommends at least three to four 30-minute exercise sessions per week.

    Note: this adds up to less than the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, but high-intensity exercise counts for twice the minutes for these purposes, e.g. 1 minute of high-intensity exercise is worth 2 minutes of moderate exercise.

    How soon will we see benefits?

    Benefits start immediately, but stack up cumulatively with continued long-term exercise:

    ❝My lab showed that a single workout can improve your ability to shift and focus attention, and that focus improvement will last for at least two hours. ❞

    ~ Dr. Wendy Suzuki

    …which is a great start, but what’s more exciting is…

    ❝The more you’re working out, the bigger and stronger your hippocampus and prefrontal cortex gets. Why is that important?

    Because the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus are the two areas that are most susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases and normal cognitive decline in aging. ❞

    ~ Dr. Wendy Suzuki

    In other words, while improving your heart rate through regular exercise will help prevent neurodegeneration by the usual mechanism of reducing neuroinflammation… It’ll also build the parts of your brain most susceptible to decline, meaning that when/if decline sets in, it’ll take a lot longer to get to a critical level of degradation, because it had more to start with.

    Read more:

    Inspir Modern Senior Living | Dr. Wendy Suzuki Boosts Brain Health with Exercise

    Want more from Dr. Suzuki?

    You might enjoy her TED talk:

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    Prefer text? TED.com has a transcript for you

    Prefer lots of text? You might like her book, which we haven’t reviewed yet but will soon:

    Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better – by Dr. Wendy Suzuki

    Enjoy!

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  • 10 Mistakes To Sabotage Your Ozempic Progress

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    1. Increasing the dose too quickly: avoid cranking doses up too high too quickly, to prevent severe nausea, appetite suppression, and muscle loss. It’s worth being aware that high doses without proper management can lead to metabolic health disasters.
    2. Pushing through side effects: severe nausea or vomiting means you probably have an unhelpfully high dose; consult your prescribing doctor—it’s easy to feel “more is better; I don’t want to have less!”, but there really is a sweet spot, and if you’re not in it, then adjustments are needed in order to find it.
    3. Eating nutritionally scant food: reducing the quantity of unhealthy food isn’t enough—please prioritize nutrient-rich foods instead. Remember, “it’s not the calories in your food; it’s the food in your calories”.
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    5. Neglecting muscle protection: especially women, especially middle-aged or older, are at higher risk of osteoporosis and should maintain muscle mass (strong muscles and strong bones go together, by necessity). So, eat protein and do resistance training!
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    7. Not addressing metabolic health first: GLP-1 drugs are less effective in people with poor baseline metabolic health, so there’s a bit of a catch-22 here, but it’s important to be aware of. Fortunately, Ozempic and adopting a healthy lifestyle will each make the other work better.
    8. Neglecting comprehensive treatment plans: in other words, going through the motions of a holistic protocol and then expecting Ozempic to do all the work.
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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • Nobody’s Sleeping – by Dr. Bijoy John

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    Firstly, let’s mention: yes, for the sake of being methodical and comprehensive this book does give the same baseline advice as every other sleep book out there. However, it gives something else, too:

    It goes beyond that baseline, to a) give more personalized advice for various demographics (e.g. per age, sex, health conditions, etc) and b) give direction for further personalizing one’s own sleep improvement journey, by troubleshooting and fixing things that may pertain to you very specifically and not to most people.

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