ABC News Program 20/20 Interview Dr. Oz and Roisen -
Nintendo Real Brain Age Game
June 25th 2006
The ABC News program 20/20 recently asked the question: “A lot of people believe that we use only 10 percent of our brain. Is that true?” According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, co author of "You: The Owner's Manual", "It's not true. In fact, you'd be in big trouble if you only used 10 percent. The reality is that we use all of our brain, but we don't use it all the time.
Most experts agree that memory exercises can help keep your mind nimble and young, so to speak. According to Dr. Oz, about three quarters of all humans will experience some sort of loss of mental acuity starting at the age of 40. The news program says it is not Alzheimer’s disease, but just “middle age memory loss”.
Roizen says that you can take pills and drugs, but at the end of the day the most valuable thing you can do for your brain is to exercise it. They call it brain aerobics. He says that data now indicate that one hour’s worth of games per day for 40 weeks can make your brain’s “real age” 10 years younger.
Oz gave a couple examples of brain exercises including getting lost in a foreign city and crossword puzzles. The new Nintendo “Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes A Day” game is another method of challenging your brain daily in an effort to keep it young.