Classics - Brain Boosters

 Hello Everyone

 Have you made any New Year’s resolutions?  Are you reading all of the good motivational books (including mine) to get you going?

Well, the research indicates that I, like many other self-help writers, might have to move aside whilst you take on some of the greatest writers.  Evidently, for English speakers it would be the works of Shakespeare and Wordsworth. Other countries have their own classics – the key point is that they are incredible brain boosters.

Academics from Liverpool University found that reading the works of some of the great writers benefitted the mind by focussing the readers’ attention and creating moments of self-analysis.

 Brain scans of those reading the classics showed that as the brain took on more challenging work such as prose and poetry there was a greater level of electrical activity.  This activity increased as the brain encountered unusual words, surprising phrases or difficult sentence structures.

The research found that poetry, in particular, increased activity in the right hemisphere of the brain, an area concerned with ”autobiographical memory”.  Triggering this area helped the reader to reflect or reappraise their own experiences in light of what they had read.  According to the academics, this meant the classics were more helpful than self-help books.

 Literature has the power to shift mental pathways, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections!

Perhaps this article might convince you to add to your resolutions some of the classics from your own culture.

 Read! Live! Love!

Roz Townsend www.roztownsend.com

Reference:

Julie Henry  ‘Classic way to turbo-boost the brain’

Telegraph London January 2013