Keeping the Mind Elastic: Clarendon Tutors Bring STRETCH™ to Auriens

In the following article, Orlando Simon, Director and co-founder of Clarendon Tutors, shares simple steps to keep your mind elastic and engaged - elements underpinning the STRETCH ™ programme, a kind of physio for the brain. Developed with neuroscientists at UCL and independently studied by Imperial, the STRETCH ™ programme is an evidence-based cognitive training programme designed to actively target each part of the brain.

The brain is a wondrous thing. Each lobe, each area within that lobe, each neuron within that area is perfectly designed for a specific function.

Imagine you arrive at a party and see a man across the room whose face looks vaguely familiar. You stare at him, trying to place that familiar face; this is the Fusiform Face Area, responsible for facial recognition, found within the temporal lobe. He’s waving at you. Oh bugger. You recognise him now - your anterior temporal lobes kick into gear to recall that this is David, your sister’s ex-husband. Be kind to yourself, though; they were only married for 22 years. You lean in to greet him. He’s still wearing the same atrocious aftershave after all these years, the smell of which transports you back to the taxi ride the four of you shared home from the Royal Opera House, when David had drunk too much champagne and put his hand on your knee, mistaking you for your sister. This type of episodic memory, mixed with smell, is your hippocampus working in concert with your limbic system. You’ve never had much to say to David, given that you’re not interested in golf or M&As, so you suggest a dance. As your arms, your legs, and your hips move in harmony with the beat of the live salsa band, this is now your cerebellum.

How do we keep this symphonic brainpower humming harmoniously?

There are some general rules and some specific techniques. When it comes to exercising the brain, it’s important to engage as many parts of it as possible. We are all drawn to the things we are good at and enjoy. Some are terrific at cryptic crosswords; others could tell a Koenig from a de Klee in a flash. These areas of the brain become the ones we tend to use most - like the rooms in our house we’re most proud of and spend the most time in. However, cognitively speaking, we must also maintain the rooms we are less fond of, like the storage space in the attic that has turned into a rubbish tip. For me, this would be anything visual; my wife would be the first to point out that I don’t have the best aesthetic sense, but this is all the more reason for me to exercise the parts of my brain involved in visual processing.

By activating the neural pathways in every part of our brain, we stimulate our cognitive health, keeping those pathways strong and resilient for as long as possible. The STRETCH ™ programme does this with games that target specific parts of the brain: chess for the prefrontal cortex, interpreting Shakespeare for Broca’s area in the frontal lobe, and analysing Mozart’s melodies for the temporal lobe.
 
If this can all be done with a smile and a laugh, amongst peers - which is very much the case for our Auriens pioneers - then the cognitive benefits are amplified beyond measure.

So next time you run into someone dreadful from your past, your brain will be sparking quickly enough to recognise them immediately - or, even better, to pretend that you don’t.

To book a session or learn more about STRETCH ™ at Auriens, please contact Orlando Simon on 0207 206 2569 or email: osimon@clarendontutors.com