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Brain Training Helps David Land His Dream Job

Like a lot of kids, David played sports in school. But concussions sustained on the wrestling mat and gridiron hurt his ability to perform well in school and even in his career. After graduating from a police academy, David was rejected by 56 police departments because his test scores were too low. The 32-year-old husband and father began to wonder if his dream job would ever turn into reality.

David explains what happened next in a video testimonial that was voted the winning entry in a quarterly contest sponsored by LearningRx.

LearningRx is the largest one-on-one brain training company in the world, with nearly 80 centers across the country. Their clinically proven programs consist of intense mental exercises—done one-on-one with a personal trainer—that stimulate the brain to strengthen existing neural connections and even create new ones. The results?  Kids and adults who go through their programs experience dramatic and measurable improvements in how fast and efficiently they can think, read, learn, focus and remember.

David contacted the LearningRx Brain Training Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He worked with a professional brain trainer for 12 weeks. He calls his improvements after brain training “amazing.”

“At first I looked at my trainer and I’m like, ‘You’re crazy. There’s no way I’m going to be able to do this stuff,” he says of the day he began the program. “But on my last day of training, we went back and repeated the exercises I’d done on that first day, and I just sat back and said, ‘I had a problem with that?’ It’s amazing how fast I progressed and how much I could comprehend at the end. I was amazed.”

Clients of all ages turn to personal brain training, and include kids and adults with learning struggles; people with ADHD, dyslexia and autism; high achieving students and career adults who want even sharper mental performance; senior adults looking to improve memory and stay mentally sharp; and victims of strokes or traumatic brain injuries who need to regain lost brain skills.

In his contest-winning video, David describes the improvements in his memory and mental skills that allowed him to –finally!—land the job of his dreams. In the final week of his 12-week brain training program, David tested with yet another police department. This time he landed the job, and was sworn into service on January 3rd.

Click here to watch the winning video. 

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The Benefits of Holiday Laughter

Whether you’re riding in a one-horse sleigh, sledding, caroling, baking cookies or chillin’ with family and friends, the holidays brim with opportunities for lots of laughter.

What’s all that joviality doing to your brain?

Laughing stimulates a part of your brain called the nucleus accumbens, which then releases the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine. This creates a brain-chemical chain reaction that elevates your mood, makes you feel connected to those around you, reduces stress & pain, and even boosts your immunity!

 

 

 

 

Here are some other interesting things you may not know about laughter: 

  • When you laugh, you use 15 different facial muscles
  • The average grown up laughs approximately 17 times every day
  • We are 30 times more likely to laugh when we’re with other people than when we are by ourselves
  • Laughing causes the inner lining of blood vessels to relax and expand, increasing blood flow to your entire body.

Finally, a good belly laugh burns 3.5 calories. Which is a good thing to remember as we’re eating all those holiday goodies. 

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Brain Awareness Week

Brain Awareness Week (BAW) this March 14 – 20 is the worldwide campaign to increase awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. One of the many global events scheduled during this 16th annual BAW is the National Brain Bee at the University of Maryland, Baltimore on March 18 and 19. The Bee is designed to stimulate high school students to learn about neuroscience with the lofty goal of inspiring them to go on to serve the world as brain researchers.

Like spelling bees, kids first compete at the local level, and then move on to the national and international competition. The high school contestants answer questions about electroencephalographs, dendrites, peptides, positron emission topography, netrins and semaphorins, and much more. One of the study guides is the 74-page 2008 edition of Brain Facts, published by The Society for Neuroscience.

Looking for a shorter update on some of the most important brain facts? Check out the LearningRx Brain Awareness Quiz. LearningRx created the fun and informative quiz in hopes that people will learn – and share – some of the most important things researchers have already discovered and proven about the brain. Much of the quiz focuses on the brain’s amazing ability to change and improve at any age.

LearningRx helps brains change every day! A study of test results for more than 2,500 LearningRx students from 2009 shows LearningRx brain training brought significant improvement, with students gaining an average of 15 IQ points.

LearningRx Vice President of Research and Development Tanya Mitchell says this remains one of the most important messages to spread during Brain Awareness Week. “People need to know they don’t have to settle for the mental capacity they’re born with. Strengthening cognitive skills leads to a smarter, faster, more efficient brain, a higher IQ, and all the benefits that tend to go along with it: more confidence, a competitive edge in school or the job market and eventually, a higher-paying career.”

And it’s even better if that career ends up being that of a world-serving brain researcher.

Want to learn more about the brain this Brain Awareness Week? Start by taking our Brain Awareness Quiz!

Read Across America Day

It’s Read Across America Day – a day set aside to encourage every person in America to read or be read to for fun. This annual nationwide observance coincides with the birthday of Dr. Seuss, the American writer best known for creating children’s books and inspiring the love of reading in four generations of kids.

The beloved Doc died in 1991, six years before the first Read Across America Day, and while he would most likely have been tickled with the event, the state of reading in America may have him rolling over in his grave.

A 2007 report by the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), shows reading literacy has dropped since Seuss was alive. To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence gathered statistics from more than 40 studies on the reading skills and habits of Americans of all ages. The report unveiled trends that Americans are reading less, reading less well, and graduating from school less prepared.

According to the official website of Dr. Seuss, a few weeks before his death, when asked if there was anything he might have left unsaid, Seuss replied, “Any message or slogan? Whenever things go a bit sour in a job I’m doing, I always tell myself, ‘You can do better than this.’ The best slogan I can think of to leave with the kids of the U.S.A. would be ‘We can…and we’ve got to…do better than this.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Presidents’ Day Video

President’s Day holds special meaning for us at LearningRx – not because it means a great mattress sale or getting President’s Day off. It’s because for our students and graduates, it’s the perfect opportunity to share some of the better brain power that comes from LearningRx brain training.

Memorizing all the U.S. presidents in order is one of the first things our students master at LearningRx. Then we train them to be able to recite the presidents quickly, and backwards, while blocking out distractions, and while doing other mental and physical tasks at the same time. It’s pretty impressive. So we wanted to share it.

In preparation for this coming President’s Day on February 21, we created a President’s Day video contest. We asked our LearningRx graduates and students to create a video that shows them reciting the presidents in a way that also demonstrates their newly strengthened ability to block out distractions, stay on task, and perform another challenge (or two).

The results are amazing! The videos show kids reciting the presidents while swimming and dancing and practicing baton and ballet and gymnastics, and hitting baseballs flying at them (and not missing a single ball!) After watching many great performances, the winner of the LearningRx President’s Day Video Contest is now official: 11-year-old Travis Coron who trained at LearningRx Chester in New Jersey. Read the rest of this entry »

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Equality in Education

Whatever you believe about social equality, it cannot be denied that education is a major factor.

A recent report from The Economist shows the effect education has on life. Better brains get better jobs. A better job means more money. More money means the ability to send your children to a better school, and the cycle continues.

Even among people who appear to “beat” the odds—folks who rise from humble beginnings to the highest eschalon of society—brain power is often a factor. As The Economist points out, “People from humble origins sometimes rise to the top. Barack Obama was raised by a single mother. Lloyd Blankfein, the boss of Goldman Sachs, is the son of a clerk. What such people usually have in common is uncommon intelligence.”

Is an expensive education the only way to get a better brain? Or are there alternatives?

The vision of Dr. Ken Gibson, founder of LearningRx, is to make cognitive training available to everyone. The one-on-one training offered by 70 LearningRx brain training centers across the country not only strengthens cognitive skills such as attention, focus and mental processing, it also increases intelligence. In fact, students who receive LearningRx brain training increase their IQ by an average of 15-20 points. In an effort to help as many people as possible experience the benefits of a better brain, LearningRx is pursuing a partnership with the National Science Foundation and Virginia State University to study innovative approaches to improve the academic performance of minority students at selected inner-city schools. In an address to our congress (read it here) the Principal Investigator for the case, Dr. Oliver Hill, says this:

We have been using the procedures developed by an educational firm called LearningRx, which runs cognitive learning centers around the country. The data collected in these centers over the last few years Read the rest of this entry »

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2010 LearningRx Student of the Year

Congratulations to Summer Russell, LearningRx Student of the Year, and to our two finalists, Camille Simmons and Adam Hill. To watch their inspiring stories, please click on the videos below!


Summer Russell, LearningRx Student of the Year 2010, was trained at our Little Rock, AR LearningRx Center.


Camille Simmons, LearningRx Student of the Year 2010 “Runner-up”, was trained at our Bossier City, LA LearningRx Center.


Adam was trained at our Virginia Beach Town Center, VA LearningRx Center.

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