Water your Brain, it's a Smart move

You can increase brain power by drinking eight, 8-ounce glasses of water a day, rubbing the skin between your toes, chewing peppermint gum and coming up with wrong answers. Research says so.

Water purifies the blood going to your brain, which has more fluid than any other organ. The foot massage nearly triples blood flow to the brain. The scent of peppermint increase positives brain waves for learning. And testing different ideas some of them incorrect, builds the brain far more than knowing the right answers. While brain research is still in its infancy, it clearly shows that the first three years of life are critical, says early childhood educator Fred Barnes, as between the fourth and seventh months of pregnancy, for example, 15 million brain cells develop every minute.

Tremendous damage can be caused by alcohol, tobacco, poor nutrition, prescription, illegal drugs and radiation.

Once the child is born, parents and caregivers can best help a child’s developing brain by talking a lot, reading aloud, playing classical music daily and turning off the television. Hearing music and language changes the structure of a young child’s brain, improving the ability to learn math, reading and other skills later.

Similarly, if parts of the brain aren’t used, they die. When researchers covered a baby chick’s or kitten’s eye, when brain connections should form for vision, the chick remained blind in that eye even after it was uncovered.

Barnes also shared with the group these points based on brain research:

Foreign languages should be learned young, long before middle school or high school classes

Keep stringing beads, clay and other manipulative available. Small muscle exercise stimulates brain growth.

Adults should understand that children have different learning styles. According to research seven multiple intelligences, including spatial, linguistic and musical.

Kids need enough sleep to let their brain review what they’ve learned. Most adolescents, in particular, are sleep-deprived; they aren’t biologically programmed to awake early.

Emotion is closely tied to learning. Adults should help toddlers and preschooers learn to deal with their emotions and get along with others.

Barnes, who founded and continues to spend five hours a day at an on campus child care center, says even two-year-oldies can start learning to work out conflicts peacefully with other children

Kids, like adults, should be encouraged to drink lots of water no juices or carbonated drinks. By the time you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated, which is hazardous to the brain.

“A glass of water, in five minutes, will bring down the anxiety level of child,” says Barnes. So sip your way to intelligence, with water, the wonder drug.