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Top 10 Brain Training Apps

 

Performance is the main reason for pressure and stress in today’s high-paced world. We are
constantly on the spotlight when it comes to getting whichever task done as quickly and efficiently
as possible that we often forget to take care of ourselves. We are always on the clock and this takes
a huge toll on our overall health and energy levels.
This is not something you should worry too much about though. There is no need to think you are
going crazy, let alone to start knocking on your friendly neighborhood therapist’s door. All you need
is a little motivation. The following list will run you through 10 great apps to help you keep the juices
flowing and your mental health as sharp as ever.

1. Lumosity
Lumosity is one of the most respected, well known and consolidated brain training and mental
fitness programs in the market today. What makes Lumosity stand out is its games that mostly focus
on improving one’s memory and problem-solving skills while also working on your attention span.
You can either play the game directly on their website or through their free apps for either iOS or
Android. Lumosity also provides a meditation and mindfulness app called Lumosity Mind. As an
interesting sidenote, studies performed on children with cancer-related brain injuries have shown
developments in memory and executive function after undergoing Lumosity-like brain training.

2. Sudoku
There is nothing wrong with going with a golden oldie and pen and paper favorite like Sudoku. With
no need for fancy graphics nor flashy animations, Sudoku is one of those puzzle games that will get
your brain focused for hours. Sudoku hasn’t lost any of its appeal and it isn’t hard to find a huge
variety of apps to choose from with a countless supply of variations to go with it. Not only does
Sudoku provide brain training, as it relies on short-term memory, it is also a great way of passing
the time and provides you with that added ego-boost every time you complete a puzzle!

3. CogniFit Brain Fitness
Created with the priceless contribution of neuroscientists, this entertaining app is aimed at
improving a user’s levels of memory and concentration. Apart from being able to track your progress
as you go, you can also challenge your friends in an ever-satisfying battle of the brains! What is really
appealing about the app is that it adjusts the difficulty level based on your overall performance and
results. CogniFit Brain Fitness isn’t time consuming and you will start seeing results with a few 20-
to-30-minute sessions per week.

4. Eidetic
Eidetic is a memory enhancement app that uses the repetition technique to aid users in memorizing
important information such as phone numbers, credit card details, passwords or even specific
words. Apart from this Eidetic also notifies you when it is test time, in an attempt to help you retain
information in your long-term memory. Eidetic is a very interesting app for older adults, particularly
those who are beginning to notice memory lapses. Apart from being free, this app is very userfriendly.

5. Braingle
Braingle prides itself in having the largest collection of brain teasers available with over 15,000
puzzles and games. Different from other apps, that focus on memory and reaction-based tests,
Braingle’s approach to help maintain brain sharpness is through the use of riddles, codes and
ciphers, trivia quizzes and optical illusions. You can even play against your friends and family which
adds a lot of interactivity to this already unique product.

6. Personal Zen
Personal Zen’s goal is to reduce stress and increase the user’s well-being. According to the creators,
a 5–10-minute use may improve well-being while a continuous interaction of up to 40 minutes per
week may assist in significantly reducing your stress level. Another very important aspect of this app
is that it trains the brain to focus on positive aspects and provides strategies on keeping out
negativity that can have an unpleasant impact on your mental capabilities.

7. Elevate
Alongside Lumosity, Elevate is widely considered as one of the top 2 brain training apps today. With
over 35 games that track five different types of mental development, it is easy to see why Elevate is
an app to consider. Elevate pays special attention to reading, writing, speaking and math apart from
allowing you to customize your training and focus on whichever subjects you would prefer to pay
more attention to. As with most other brain games, you can track your progress to see how your
skills are improving. The app is free for both iOS and Android.

8. Peak
Peak is an iOS and Android oriented app that looks gorgeous with its very visually pleasing design,
game layout and highly intuitive flow. Peak delivers brain games to work on focus, memory,
problem-solving, mental agility as well as other cognitive functions. Its competitive side is also a plus
as you can challenge other users and are able to compare your progress with Peak’s ever-growing
community. Should you have an Apple Watch, you can seamlessly integrate the app with it. Peak is
free to use and offers a subscription model should you be interested in trying some of its more
advanced features.

9. Crosswords
Alongside Sudoku, Crosswords are a classic brain trainer that combines not only verbal language but
also memory. This is possibly the most recognized form of brain training and surely the one we all
grew up doing, be it printed in the last pages of newspapers, magazines or in dedicated exercise
books. Crossword puzzles are easily found online via free or very cheap apps.

10. Happy Neuron
Happy Neuron splits its games and activities into five important brain areas: memory, attention,
language, executive functions, and visual/spatial, all based on scientific research. As is the case with
other renowned brain training apps, it tailors the training to your personal needs and tracks your
progress. Happy Neuron offers a free trial so you can test their product before purchasing it. The
monthly subscription is well worthwhile, allowing you to access its full content via their site and/or
Android app.

The Smartest People You Have Never Heard of

 

Trying to come up with a list of the smartest people who ever stepped foot on the planet is
anything but an easy task to accomplish. Intelligence is highly subjective and so are the skills that
define someone as smart. Being intelligent is one thing, using that intelligence to in some way
advance humanity, is something entirely different. At an IQ level, anything above 140 is generally
considered near genius. Nonetheless, here is a list of some of the brainiest unsung humans who
ever lived.

William Sidis

William_Sidis

William James Sidis was an American child prodigy said to have an IQ between 250 and 300,
possibly the highest score ever. Apart from his above-average math skills, which allowed William
to join Harvard at the age of 11, he also spoke 40 languages. Sadly, William did not live up to
expectations and matured into an average human being, landing mediocre jobs and getting into
trouble with the law on several occasions.

 

Judit Polgár

Judit Polgár
With an IQ of 170, Judit Polgár was a Hungarian chess player who is widely considered to be the
best female chess player of all time. At the age of 15 years and 4 months, Polgár won the title of
Grandmaster, at the time the youngest to have done so. She is also the youngest person to ever
break into the FIDE top 100 players rating list. She was the top-rated woman in the world from
January 1989 until her retirement on 13 August 2014.

 

Philip Emeagwali

Philip Emeagwali is a Nigerian computer scientist who won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize for priceperformance in high-performance computing applications, by using an innovative mathematical
formula and applying it in an oil reservoir modeling calculation. With an IQ of 190, Philip was
voted as the greatest African scientist of all time. As an interesting sidenote, his math work is
often considered as being influential in the construction of the internet.

 

Srinivasa Ramanujan


Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician who made significant contributions to
analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions, together with solutions to
mathematical problems then deemed unknowable. Ramanujan, who had almost no proper
training in mathematics, initially developed his own research in isolation. His estimated IQ was
185.

 

Hypatia of Alexandria

Hypatia was a Greek astronomer, philosopher and mathematician who lived in Egypt, then part
of the Eastern Roman Empire. Although heralded by Pandrosion, another Alexandrine female
mathematician, she is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded.
With an estimated IQ of 170-190, she was brutally murdered by a group of Christian fanatics
after being accused of witchcraft.

 

Gottfried Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a renowned German polymath and one of the most significant
logicians, mathematicians and natural philosophers of the Enlightenment and is best known for
inventing calculus. In philosophy, Leibniz is most illustrious for his optimism – his conclusion that
our universe is, in a limited sense, the best possible one that God could have created. Leibniz’s
IQ estimates range from 182 to 205.

 

Andrew Wiles


Sir Andrew John Wiles is an English mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at
the University of Oxford, specialized in number theory. In 1995, Wiles verified a 358-year-old
mathematical theory called Fermat’s Last Theorem, which until then was registered in the
Guinness Book of World Records as the “most difficult math problem” in the world. He was
appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000. Sir Andrew Wiles is
said to have an IQ of 170.

 

Emanuel Swedenborg


Emanuel Swedenborg was a Swedish theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He is best
known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven and Hell. In 1741 he began to experience dreams
and visions which concluded in a “spiritual arising” in which he received a revelation that he was
appointed by Jesus Christ to write The Heavenly Doctrine to reform Christianity.

 

Christopher Hirata


Christopher Hirata is an American cosmologist and astrophysicist who was hired by NASA at the
age of 16 to do some research on the colonization of Mars. Christopher was only 13 when this
child prodigy won the gold medal in 1996 at the International Physics Olympiad. He also received
his PhD under the supervision of Uroš Seljak in 2005 from Princeton University in Astrophysics.

 

Kim Ung-Yong


Kim Ung-Yong is a South Korean professor and former child prodigy said to hold the highest IQ
score (210) according to the Guinness World Records. At the age of one, Kim had learned both
the Korean alphabet and 1,000 Chinese characters by studying the Thousand Character Classic,
a 6th-century Chinese poem. At three years old, he began to solve calculus problems. At 5, Kim
had acquired astonishing linguistic skills and could speak Korean, English, French, German and
Japanese.

 

Ainan Cawley


Ainan Celeste Cawley is a Singaporean boy prodigy who, according to his parents, had said his
first word when he was two weeks old, could walk at six months of age and build difficult
sentences by his first birthday. Cawley gave his first public speech at the age of six and at seven
years and one month of age, he had passed the GCSE chemistry and studied chemistry at the
Singapore Polytechnic a year later. At the age of 9, he was able to recite pi to 518 decimal places
and could remember the periodic table.

 

Christopher Langan


Christopher Michael Langan is an American autodidact who is considered an intellectual prodigy.
ABC’s 20/20 estimated that Langan’s IQ is anywhere between 195 and 210 dubbing him what
most journalists consider as the smartest man in America. Growing up, Christopher Langan
quickly showed above-average skills: he could speak at six months of age, read by his third
birthday and even question the existence of God by age five. He obtained a perfect score on his
SAT, despite having fallen asleep during the test. He is an avid learner, regardless of the subject,
and can study math, languages and philosophy for long periods of time each day.