Canny Minds Blog » 19-29 http://www.cannyminds.com/blog Brain stimulating articles and news Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:57:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Lovely Bones http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/27/lovely-bones/ http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/27/lovely-bones/#comments Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:17:44 +0000 Jenny http://cannyminds.com/blog/?p=1183 My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer. This is Susie Salmon. Watching from heaven, Susie sees her happy, suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings grow up, fall in love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But life is not quite finished with Susie yet …”The Lovely Bones” is a luminous and astonishing novel about life and death, forgiveness and vengeance, memory and forgetting – but, above all, about finding light in the darkest of places.

‘Spare, beautiful and brutal prose …”The Lovely Bones” is compulsive enough to read in a single sitting, brilliantly intelligent, elegantly constructed and ultimately intriguing.’ – “The Times”.

‘Moving and compelling …It will put an imperceptible but stealthily insistent hold on you. I sat down in the morning to read the first couple of pages; five hours later, I was still there, book in hand, transfixed.’ – Maggie O’Farrell, “Sunday Telegraph”.

Let us know what you thought by commenting below.

If you would like to buy ‘Lovely Bones’ click here.

]]> http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/27/lovely-bones/feed/ 0 Crosswords and Sudoku’s burn up to 90 calories per hour http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/26/crosswords-and-sudoku%e2%80%99s-burn-up-to-90-calories-per-hour/ http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/26/crosswords-and-sudoku%e2%80%99s-burn-up-to-90-calories-per-hour/#comments Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:26:06 +0000 Jenny http://cannyminds.com/blog/?p=1176 Brain training experts confirmed today that mental exercise such as crosswords and Sudokus can burn an average of 90 calories every hour.  So you can now enjoy a chocolate biscuit and a puzzle while burning the equivalent calories.

Mental agility expert Tim Forrester from brain training website Cannyminds.com said: “Our brains require 0.1 calories every minute simply to survive.  When we do something challenging such as a puzzle or a quiz we burn through 1.5 calories every minute.”

Snacks you can enjoy which have the same calories as an hour’s brain workout include:

  • A chocolate chip cookie = 56 calories
  • A jammy dodger = 85 calories
  • A custard cream = 57 calories
  • A chocolate hobnob = 79 calories

But if you carried on for two hours with a puzzle you could enjoy:

  • A pack of Hula Hoops = 175 calories
  • A bag of maltesers = 186 calories
  • A crème egg = 173 calories
  • A bag of jelly babies = 180 calories

If you take time out in the evening with a quiz or crossword, you can enjoy:

  • A pint of bitter = 182 calories
  • A 120ml glass of white wine = 89 calories
  • A Glass of champagne = 89 calories

The brain is made up of millions of neurons which communicate with other neurons and transmit messages to and from body tissues. Neurons produce chemicals called neurotransmitters to relay their signals. To produce neurotransmitters, neurons extract 75% of the sugar glucose, available calories and 20% of the oxygen from the blood. So undertaking activity such as difficult crosswords or challenging sudokus means your brain will need more glucose.

Eight-time World Memory Champion and Canny Minds Memory Expert Dominic O’Brien said: “Just as you need to continually exercise your body to stay fit and healthy you also need to exercise your brain and memory to remain mentally agile.” 

www.Cannyminds.com is the UK’s leading online brain training portal with books, DVDs, audio books, games and puzzles for all ages.  As well as an online shop it also offers independent articles and advice along with an interactive games room which includes puzzles and quizzes developed by Mensa puzzle editor Philip Carter.

Photo courtesy of PetitPlat by sk

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]]> http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/26/crosswords-and-sudoku%e2%80%99s-burn-up-to-90-calories-per-hour/feed/ 1 The Colour Test! http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/18/the-colour-test/ http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/18/the-colour-test/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:22:49 +0000 Jenny http://cannyminds.com/blog/?p=1172 These are the things we’re supposed to do to  remove the cholesterol around our brain and try to slow up Alzheimer’s  Disease. This is a great test…see how many times it takes you to get  100%! – it takes an average of 5 times.

Click below to start the test:

<http://www.humorsphere.com/fun/8787/colortest.swf>

]]> http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/11/18/the-colour-test/feed/ 4 Playing a musical instrument makes you brainier http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/10/28/playing-a-musical-instrument-makes-you-brainier/ http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/10/28/playing-a-musical-instrument-makes-you-brainier/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:53:26 +0000 Jenny http://cannyminds.com/blog/?p=1142 New research suggests that regularly playing an instrument changes the shape and power of the brain and may be used in therapy to improve cognitive skills.

It can even increase IQ by seven points in both children and adults, according to researchers.
Experts said there is growing evidence that musicians have structurally and functionally different brains compared with non-musicians – in particular, the areas of the brain used in processing and playing music.

These parts of the brain that control motor skills, hearing, storing audio information and memory become larger and more active when a person learns how to play an instrument and can apparently improve day to day actions such as being alert, planning and emotional perception
The full research is published in the online publication Faculty of 1000 Biology Reports.

Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent, Daily Telegraph

October 28 2009 

To buy music products from Canny Minds, click here

Photo Courtesy of  MinivanNinja

]]> http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/10/28/playing-a-musical-instrument-makes-you-brainier/feed/ 3 Canny tip #8: Get Yourself Heard http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/10/07/canny-tip-8-get-yourself-heard/ http://www.cannyminds.com/blog/2009/10/07/canny-tip-8-get-yourself-heard/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:29:45 +0000 Jenny http://cannyminds.com/blog/?p=1013 A series of eight tips produced by The University of Warwick, are offered as quick reference guides to the simple application of general best practice techniques. Whilst originally developed for students, they could be used by anyone.

Why?

  • Your voice is a valuable and powerful tool.
  • Use it to tell others your views and discuss your ideas during lectures, seminars, presentations, speeches, interviews and everyday life.

How?

  • Your posture is very important! Stand with you legs a little apart, to create a strong base. Straighten your back, drop your shoulders and lower your chin.
  • Let you chest expand freely; your voice is powered by your air supply.
  • Make sure you open your mouth, to let the sound out!

Nervous?

  • Don’t underestimate the importance of how you say what you say; a strong voice and good posture signal a confident person.
  • Looking and sounding confident when you speak will help your nerves disappear.
  • You may even begin to ENJOY yourself!

Keep going!

  • Be sure to practice, until the voice techniques you’ve learnt become part of your daily routine.

Interested in this topic? Click here for more related content.

Visit the University of Warwick website

Photo courtesy of db*photography

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