Concentration
Concentration My friend Yuki posted on her blog about some TV program she watched all about the ability to concentrate.

One thing that stuck out was that according to the program if you don't concentrate on something very often your ability to concentrate at all gets less and less.

She also said the program said that to concentrate you needed Alpha 2 brainwaves. Alpha 1 being for relaxing and Alpha 3 being when you are nervous. They then gave out 4 things to help you produce Alpha 2 brainwaves.

1) Look at something yellow. They claim looking at yellow produces alpha 2 waves. Maybe I should set my desktop background to something yellow or my window theme?

2) Listen to music with a 116 beats per minute because 116 beats per minute matches Alpha 2 waves. I wonder if it's really 116 beats per minute only or if it's 116+. I generally find that I can concentrate better with a techno, drum and bass, type of music playing that has no lyrics. If there are lyrics I'll get distracted listening to them. If the music is too slow like jazz or classic I'll get lulled to sleep.

3) Drink Ryokucha which is a kind of Japanese green tea (note, there is more than one kind of green Japanese tea. Maccha, Ryokucha, etc). According to the program in the order of effect are ryokucha, coffee, water, orange juice, milk. It wasn't clear to me if those were the top 5 drinks for concentration or if they were just examples with Ryokucha being the best and milk being the worst. It's hard to imagine milk being good for concentration since warm milk is something you drink to go to sleep. The claimed the tannin in the ryokucha was specifically good for your brain.

4) Slap your face They claimed you see this a lot in sports. Why it works I guess they didn't say although it seems pretty obvious. I know when trying to wake up in front of the mirror I've done it without thinking about it.

She also posted a link to this very interesting page with more info.

That page actually has some contradictory info. Specifically it says caffeine is bad for the brain. That: "Caffeine constricts blood vessels and has been shown to decrease brain activity". That's in contrast to it being the #2 drink above.

It says people with less than 7 hours of sleep a day showed less brain activity.

It mentions diet, too many simple carbs will slow down your brain and that certain kinds of foods help.

It also mentioned the use it or lose it idea. You need to be learning something constantly or it will actually get harder and harder to learn anything.

Probably most interestingly for many it mentions sex as important. If that's the case does that mean I'd be a genious if I had a girlfriend? Anyone out there want to help me find out Actually, the page only gives info for women in that area.

As far as music, that one claims rap = worst, rock = bad, classical = better than no music. No mention of techno

Comments:

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I read an interesting article in National Geographic recently about the effects of caffeine on the brain.  That article said nothing about caffeine having any negative effects other than the fact that it is addictive in that if you consume a lot of it regularly, your brain starts to need it in order to feel fully alert.  They showed some interesting brain scans to support the claim that people who are heavy caffeine users feel groggy and "out of it" until they've had their "fix" -- it took a large dose to get their brain activity to look the same as a non-caffeine user's.

I can fully attest that the part about "use it or lose it" is definitely true for me.  I have worked as a programmer for a long time but over the last few years, I haven't really learned anything new with respect to my job -- it's just been the same old stuff all the time and I've been in a huge rut.  Now that we're switching to a new system at our company that I have to learn and modify, I am having a hell of a time getting "back in the flow".  5-6 years ago, I would have just eaten it up in no time and thought it was trivial, but now I just can't seem to concentrate.  Part of it may be emotional in that I feel sort of depressed and burned out, but I definitely think there is some truth to the theory that not exercising your brain makes it weaker...

posted by bionicroachJanuary 18, 2005 at 10:08

Caffine in tea [ e ]

Actually, Japanese green tea contains caffine as well, so even their #1 recommended drink must be bad for you.

posted by VorteksJanuary 18, 2005 at 10:23

Not that I doubt the scientific accuracy of Japanese programs or anything... [ e ]

But that sounds more like what my Grandmother would come up with, rather than, say, a bona fide scientist...
"rap = worst, rock = bad, classical = better"? no come on...

posted by drDaveJanuary 18, 2005 at 11:20

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I can believe the concentration part. I can barely read a few pages of a book and I used to be a voracious (sp?) reader. This kind of reminds me of the half-hour infomercial for Ryokko Aojiru that's aired on a local San Fran. channel.

posted by LeoJanuary 18, 2005 at 11:40

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Brain exercises; how I loathe it, especially after a 'big' holiday such as Christmas. You seem to get lazier if you don't do something useful, which is pretty damn hard.

posted by KevJanuary 18, 2005 at 12:19

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"Probably most interestingly for many it mentions sex as important. ... Actually, the page only gives info for women in that area. "

As far as I can tell, it works for men as well. :) Back in college, it was always much easier to pass a test if there was a party 1-2 days before and I met some cute girls - even if it involved some serious drinking!

posted by NeKoJanuary 18, 2005 at 12:40

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Saw the show.

The drinks were random, so yes, milk is bad for concentration.

True, green tea contains caffeine, but not as much as coffee. Apparently a little bit of caffeine is good for concentration (and as for caffeine constricting blood flow to the brain, isn't it more correct to say that too much caffeine constricts blood flow?). The reason green tea is the best is because of the tannins, which coffee doesn't have (and if ryoku-cha is the best, I'd imagine that all teas, whether green or black, would still be better than coffee).

Of the types of music tested, the best was marching band music!

posted by AmyJanuary 19, 2005 at 20:45

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I enjoyed your blog immensely. You are welcome to http://sevencastles.blogchin
a.com
, my Shanghai blog featuring news and views of great interest

posted by ZhangLipingMarch 12, 2005 at 21:31

Green tea - what's in it? [ e ]

When i started drinking green tea for health i found this page really helpful it explains what (nutrients, amono acids, caffeine etc) is in the different types of japanese green tea depending on the type you drink and how its processed

http://greentealovers.com/gr
eenteahealthcatechin.htm

posted by JonOctober 28, 2005 at 12:14