Recovering from a stroke

[Dan Hutchins]

Hi all,

I am new to this group. I am a 50 year old male. About a year ago I suffered from a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, which is a type of stroke. I was hospitalized for three weeks, then spent three months recuperating at home and attending outpatient occupational rehabilitation. This past July I went for a neuropsychological exam, and my results in the various domains were all over the map, from borderline/below average to high average/superior depending on the domain.

I have come to the dual n-back as a possible way of shoring-up my weaknesses through enhancing my working memory. I prefer to use a laptop for practice rather than a smartphone or tablet, and purchased the dual n-back app from Train of Though as it appears to be the only one available for a Mac computer. I had no trouble mastering 1-back and received a perfect score in under three sessions, but once I advanced to 2-back my performance faltered to 41% or less consistently. I am trying to find a training strategy that will allow me to slowly make gains. Does anyone have any advice?

Thank you for your time.

Dan

[Pontus Granström]

Whats your intake of omega3 fatty acids?

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[Dan Hutchins]

I usually take 720 mg EPA and 480 mg DHA every morning.

[Pontus Granström]

Well,

Our recommendation has always been cardio+nback+omega3s, I dont know how well you are able to exercise but at least to me it's effective. Failing 2-back is quite common the only way to improve is to stick at it. Sugar and coffee might be worth to try for a short term boost but "improving the circuits" might take longer.

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[Dan Hutchins]

Thanks King Of The Stars,

I currently perform cardio three times a week. I jog a little over five miles on these days, but also occasionally perform sprints/HIIT. As a brain hemorrhage is by definition a brain bleed, I'll need to check with my doctor before increasing my omega 3 intake as omega 3 is a blood thinner, and that could be a problem if I spring another leak, though I'm told my risk of that is no more than anyone else's.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Best,

Dan

[Pontus Granström]

I always do n-back before and after cardio as they work synergistically due to the release of BDNF-neutrophins during cardio. I eat 3g omega-3s everyday with 5000iu vitamin-d. Been doing this routine for 15 years in various doses and combinations. Currently I do 80 min running with n-back and stretch afterwards.

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[William]

Wow King of The Stars that's crazy you've been doing N-back for 15 years.

How much smarter are you and what N-back level have you reached?

[Pontus Granström]

My highest was nine, today I do level 6 and 7 almost every day and before/after running.

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[fruitsnackattack]

Why not try working up to Quad, after 15 years you should've been on Quad 5 minimum, Get a move on man. 

[Pontus Granström]

I do hyper n-back now, so I switched, however n-back as warmup is different from n-back as "reaching maximum level". I done quad also but I think more complex n-back is more important than just more stimuli, like output gating, stroop, 3d etc.

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[Bunny Bun]

Hi KOTS,
I have been seeing you on this forum for the last good 10 years.You mentioned that you trained and reach triple n back around 10 years.
It seems as if you have been quite positive about the entire brain training phenomenon(at least till 2018).
If you can, will you please summarize your gains and try to quantify them?
Where did you start and where are you now?

[Pontus Granström]

Well I started as everyone else with completing the "regular course". My IQ-score increased quite dramatically and I got less anxiety in test situations. I can easily say that nback helped me through my last courses at the university. N-back helps people regulate especially in situations where working memory demands are high, this is just as important as this "G" business.  People who dismiss brain training often do it on simplistic "knee jerk" reactions rather than to look 

at the full spectrum of cognitive performance. Since I have been training for 10+ years its hard to go far back, but I clearly remember that the increased and sustained updating while problem solving helped me a lot, especially in mathematics.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brain-training/d28ef36e-0cd0-400f-b909-f0fd6c8a0c71n%40googlegroups.com.

[unknown player]

Hey King of the Stars, I have a few questions for you:
1) what are some things you wish you knew before you started your brain training?

2) knowing what you know now, if you were to start your dual n back training over again how would you do it?