Dear Fabulous Traveler ,

Researchers have been searching for decades for the magic pill that will enhance your cognitive abilities. Brain training apps have promised to be fountains of youth that can improve your brain function with only a few minutes of training each day.

Articles in the New York Times whisper of the secret drugs students are taking in order to come out on top in the cut-throat competition of American universities. And, of course, meditation is now gaining popularity as an excellent brain training regimen.

We’ve spent hours combing through the claims and evidence so you don’t have to. Here are my conclusions on each of the proposed cognitive enhancers, the verdict on the most effective ways of improving your brain’s function.

Methods to Improve Brain Function

Brain training

Perhaps you have an app or two on your phone that promises enhanced memory and supreme focus in return for a few minutes of training each day. Some of these apps even present studies proving the positive effects of their training on the brain.

Unfortunately, the jury is still out on this as the evidence is limited. The only large study, done on adults without dementia, failed to show practical enhancements as a result of the training.

The challenge is proving that better performance on a certain memory game within the app transfers to an improved real-world memory. Can learning to match pairs of cards really help you remember your history lessons?

Verdict: Evidence of the effects, positive or negative, of cognitive training is still very limited. Beware of apps that promise amazing results in just a few minutes a day.

Drugs

The most common chemical cognitive enhancer used by humans to date is caffeine. However, two new classes of drugs have been presented as “safe” stimulants.

The most well-known drugs are Modafinil (also known as Provigil) and Ritalin. Studies have shown some benefits, but they were also unable to show that these new drugs are more effective than caffeine.

Verdict: Caffeine is a legally available stimulant, and studies have not proven that Modafinil or Ritalin will make your brain healthier or improve long-term cognitive function. Because we don’t know all of their effects yet, it’s probably safer for you to stick with coffee and tea for now.

Meditation

There is some evidence that meditation can help with cognitive function and memory in particular. But the studies in question aren’t conclusive and the results are preliminary. There hasn’t yet been a large-scale study on the benefits of meditation for your brain.

Verdict: Meditation should be learned and is easy to practice. Even if there isn’t concrete evidence right now, here at Fabulous we suggest you start a meditation routine to help deal with everyday anxiety and to improve awareness.

Exercise

The evidence for the positive effect of exercise on your brain is much more established than all the studies regarding drugs, meditation, and brain training combined.

Exercise has been shown to help grow new brain cells, which fortunately contradicts the old belief that growing new brain cells was impossible in humans.

Verdict: Exercise is, in fact, the magic pill you’re looking for to enhance your brain.Whether you’re young or old, fit or even suffering from a neurodegenerative disorder, aerobic exercise is the best way to improve brain health and daily function.

So if you have to choose only one activity to enhance your cognitive function, stick with exercising.

This Week’s Plan

In Fabulous, we have created a 10-minute do-it-anywhere exercise routine that you can find in the Exercise section. This time-efficient workout is designed to simultaneously enhance strength and cardiorespiratory fitness.

Exercise hard enough and deplete your energy stores fast enough, and you can get remarkable benefits in a fraction of the time of a full-length workout.

In addition to the 7-minute exercise, try to fit some endurance training into your week. One study has shown that distance running is a much more effective way of creating new brain cells than any other form of exercising.

Your one-time action

Take a look at the 10 Minute Do-Anywhere Intense Workout filed under the exercise habit or in the Guided Activity section. With this workout you will exercise vigorously every day during the next week.

Also, schedule in a form of endurance training sometime this week for at least 45 minutes. We suggest long-distance running. If you can’t run for any reason, you can replace it with any other activity that’s based on long-term endurance, like vigorous walking or a long and active yoga session.

Add this into your calendar now as a way of committing to yourself.

Your goal

During the next week, start your day with a vigorous exercise session. Try to make it through the whole 10-minute session we’ve created.

At the end of the week, go out for some endurance training, like distance running or long vigorous walks. Aim for at least 45 minutes.

Tap below if you accept this new challenge:

What We Are Doing

In Fabulous, we believe in only adopting the most effective ways to improve yourself. All scientific evidence points to exercise as the most powerful way to enhance your brain capacity. We’re going to help you start integrating that now!

Wishing you a great exercise session!