大脑估计是我们体内最重要的器官。它异常复杂，能够帮助我们思考、说话、感觉和移动。毫无疑问我们应该像爱护眼睛一样爱护大脑，我们需要不断地锻炼大脑并使它保持健康。
大脑由860亿神经细胞组成，当我们逐渐变老部分神经细胞会随之死亡。在一些极端的案例中，大脑中不同区域的神经细胞损伤死亡，从而导致痴呆，也就是患者无法完整实现大脑功能。
通过学习各种增加记忆力和智力的方法来锻炼大脑是不错的选择。我就爱通过谜语和数独来拓展大脑能力。也有证据显示，学习外语能够促进大脑发育。神经精神学家，凯瑟琳博士认为，双语是保护大脑的一个因素，因为双语“包括了大量的变换，这似乎可以锻炼到大脑中的执行部分。这部分大脑皮层得到了一定的增强和改善，当发生中风时甚至有抵挡部分大脑损伤的作用”。
即使不会外语，你还可以这么做：假如你是右撇子，那么可以左手刷牙等来锻炼大脑——或者其他觉得很有挑战性的任务，比如记忆一串词语（例如购物单之类）。
尝试上述种种技巧的主要目的在于刺激大脑。这也是凯瑟琳博士所描述的“建立认知储备能力”——建立额外的能力帮助大脑抵抗记忆衰退和思维退化。她说，“只要人们去学个外语或者其他刺激大脑的事情，都会给予大脑一定程度的保护。”当我老了，这些措施能让大脑喘上一口气！
我看过的研究中最棒的一点是吃巧克力也许可以增强获取和利用知识的能力——也就是增强认知能力。可能这对身体其他部分并不算健康，但至少能使宝宝变得聪明！你觉得呢？
Our brain is probably the most important organ in our body. It's an incredibly complex thing that helps us think, speak, feel and move. It's no wonder we need to look after it and just like the rest of our body, we need to keep it exercised to keep it healthy.
Our brain is made up of 86 billion neurons – or nerve cells – but as we get older some of these slowly die off. In extreme cases, nerve cells in different areas of the brain become damaged and eventually die causing a condition called dementia where a person is unable to perform certain mental functions.
It's a good idea to train our brain by learning ways to increase our memory or intelligence. I like to stretch my brain by doing a crossword or a Sudoku puzzle. There's also evidence that learning a second language can boost your brainpower. Dr Catherine Loveday, who's a neuropsychologist, thinks being bilingual is a protective factor for the brain because it "involves a lot of switchings and that seems to exercise the sort of executive parts of our brain. Those parts of the brain are kind of stronger and fitter when it comes to resisting some kind of damage from a stroke."
But if you're not bilingual there are other ways to stretch your brain: If you're right handed, doing tasks like brushing your teeth with your left hand will improve your brain – or something I find very challenging, memorising a list of words, such as a shopping list.
The main aim of trying these skills is to stimulate the brain. This is something Dr. Loveday describes as building up our cognitive reserve – that's building up extra abilities to help protect the brain against declining memory or thinking. She says "even if people take up languages or take up other things later in life it will give them a degree of protection." As I get older, that has put my mind at rest!
The best bit of research I have read is that eating chocolate may enhance our ability to acquire and utilise knowledge – that's our cognitive performance. It may not be healthy for the rest of my body but at least it might make me a brain box! What do you think?
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