Prime Your Gray Cells

Wiring your brain for happiness and success

by Teresa Aubele, Ph.D., and Susan Reynolds

Super Bowl: Battle of the Quarterback Brains

Both quarterbacks obviously have superior ability to absorb information, process stimuli, and integrate information faster than most of us, and both are able to overrule their emotions under the gun—so which brain wins the trophy? Read More

Can You Prime Your Brain to Get Rich?

Thanks to millions of years of evolution, we are highly intelligent biological organisms, but when it comes to making financial decisions, we can be unduly influenced by ancient brain skills, such as hair-trigger responses to perceived fear. Read More

New Year, New Brain

If you've created resolutions or a game plan or a list of goals you'd like to achieve in the new year, your brain stands ready to become your strongest ally in making them happen. By fulfilling 5 simple resolutions, you can significantly boost your brain's firepower. Read More

Why a Sugar High Leads to a Brain Low

Excessive glucose in the form of refined sugar can be very detrimental to your brain, ultimately affecting your attention span, your short-term memory, and your mood stability. It also damages cells everywhere in the body, especially those in the brain. Read More

The Skinny on Brain Fats

Approximately 60 percent of your brain matter consists of fats that create all the cell membranes in your body. Do you know what kinds of fat your brain needs to function at its peak capacity, and to create all the cell membranes in your body? If not, read on . . . Read More

Have You Fed Your Brain Today?

One of the easiest ways to recognize nutrition deficiency is not from a change in body activity but from a change in mental functioning. This is because the frontal lobes, the area of the brain that acts like the CEO of you, are particularly sensitive to falling glucose levels. Read More

Plastic Is Fantastic . . . for Your Brain

For centuries, scientists believed that the human brain and its connections were formed during gestation and infancy, and remained pretty much unchanged after childhood. In the last decade, however, researchers have found significant evidence that something called neuroplasticity continues throughout our lives. Read More

Happy Brain, Happy Life

Focusing on negative thoughts effectively saps your brain of its positive forcefulness, slows it down, and can go as far as dimming your brain’s ability to function, even creating depression. Thinking happy, optimistic thoughts decreases cortisol and produces serotonin, which creates a sense of well-being and helps your brain function at peak capacity. Read More

Are You Smothering Your Brain’s True Genius?

Your brain needs time to subconsciously integrate new information with existing information and make novel connections or identify hidden patterns. Being bombarded by TMI or multi-tasking clearly impinges on your ability to think creatively. Read More

Is Your Brain Asleep on the Job?

Your brain is capable of neuroplasticity, the ability to change itself, throughout your lifetime. You are not stuck with the brain you were born with and have the ability to consciously cultivate (by using your mind) which parts of your brain you wish to strengthen, rewire, or even regenerate. Read More

Does Coffee Perk Up Your Brain . . . or Not?

If you like coffee, like we do, you probably justify excessive consumption by saying, and perhaps believing, that it fires up your brain, making you more productive and, well, smarter. You think the shot of caffeine you get from coffee is the perfect pick-me-up drug . . . but is it? Read More

What Was Happening in Anthony Weiner’s Brain?

While there’s no way to know what former Congressman Anthony Weiner was thinking—or if he was thinking—it is possible to understand how his brain contributed to his demise. Basically, the man had an electrochemical itch, one that he compulsively sought to scratch. Read More