Good afternoon, folks. 

It's not a secret that a human brain is one of the most complicated things on this planet. Many scientists try to investigate its secrets but still we know just some facts about it. But what we know for sure, that the human brain is a kind of thing that should be trained and developed every day. 

I found an interesting article but it was on my native language so I decided to translate it to you. Let's discuss: how does your brain fitness look like? 

This article was suggested by Daniil Dekhanov and I did the short English version from the original article. 

"All things that we used to do in our life lead to the brain degradation processes. Reading newspapers, watching movies, habitual actions... Yes, all these lead to the brain degradation. 

Your brain is a lazy jerk, and that is why it tries to reduce the energy expenses on this or that activity by creating specific "macroses" - your pattern programs. 

At the beginning of the 19th century biologist Richard Simon called these programs "engramms" - the physical habit/memory trace that was left by the repeated impulse from outside. You can imagine it like a tiny road that is left by our neural processing elements in the human brain when the repeated action is made by a person. The longer you do it, the less energy expenses are made by our brain.

From the one hand, it's a super ability of our bodies - why should you spent the energy on the repeated actions? But there is another side of this thing - your brain starts losing its flexibility. 

Try to remember the way to your office or university. If you go the same road during the 6 months, your actions become automatic and that's why you can do other parallel activities like reading, listening to music, etc. 

Why do you need to change anything? The answer lies in the fact that our life is a source of endless changes that can't be controlled by us. We can adapt to some of them, but the only one who can survive in in "chameleon's racings" is the person that can change his colors faster than others and get the tasty insect. 

That's why your brain flexibility should be supported and trained by you every day. Imagine that your brain looks like beton that sooner or later will face its setting. 

Your life task is to mix this "brain beton" in order to stop its setting. When we relax and start using these engramms, the part of our brain start turning into the stone and we even can't see it. 

So, what can you do?

Here are 10 effective things that can help you! 

1. Listen to yourself. When you feel any discomfort that something is wrong (for example, your favorite site changed its design or your favorite yoghurt has disappeared from the nearest shop), catch this feeling and start examining it. Why don't you try other yoghurts or try to make your own. 

2. Don't re-read the books in your library. Don't watch movies twice or more. It's a very pleasant feeling when you go back to the cozy inner world of the persons you already know. There are no surprises and you know the happy end of the story. But at the same time you take a chance for your brain to open new books and movies that can open something brand-new for you. 

3. Find new routes. Try to find new routes for your habitual way home and to other buildings. Try to find new shops, cinemas and other dots on your life map. It can take extra time but it can be bring you extra bonuses (for example, lower prices and no people in the shop). 

4. Find new music. Even if you have 10000 tunes on your iPod, you usually listen to 50-100 of them because it's so comfortable to listen to the well-known tunes.

5. Find new friends and mates. 
It's good that you have real friends in your life with whom you can gather every Friday and discuss football matches or a new dress. It's comfortable for us from the psychological point of view. 

6. Have your own kids. They are the real brain-shakers and can always help you to be in a good brain shape. If you can't have them, buy a dog at least :) 

7. Never criticize. "Oh, what a terrible design!", "These chairs are awful!" and other critical feedbacks from people in Facebook, from surrounded people and so on can strongly prevent you from changes. 

Your reactions should look like "Oh! So you have a new menu. That's great because I'm fed up with the old one". 

8. Don't put labels on people. Of course, it's very comfortable to assess a person without knowing its thoughts, life and experience or motives for actions. Did she have many men in her life? What a slut. Did he drink some wine with his friends? What an alcoholic! 

It's so easy to use these patterns that your brain even don't spend the energy on getting knowing other people. Better use labels!:) 

9. Try to have different aromas. No matter that evolution has almost made our smelling abilities weak but anyway different aromas still influence on us. If you have your favorite aroma that you haven't changed for years, try to change it. And do it every year. 

10. Learn foreign languages. And you don't need to fall in love with a Chinese woman. Learning foreign words and phrases is the most effect thing for the brain's flexibility.

So, guys, what do you do to make your brain flexible?:) How many of these 10 rules do you use in your real life? 

Let's discuss :) 

Best regards, professor Bee