A sleep-deprived brain is an addled brain...

I've now spent an entire week with Brain Age on the DS and let me say it was worth every penny of the $20 it cost me. I "play" it on the way in to work every morning and arrive considerably more awake and aware as a result. I'd go into detail about each activity, but really that's not all that interesting when you don't have the option of trying it out (who wants to talk about speed math and reading aloud anyway?).

What I will mention, however, is the strong indication for how important sleep is to effective thought. I started last week with a Brain Age Check and clocked in at 32 years old (+8 years). Not horrible for a first attempt, given that I was multiplication-table-retarded and couldn't remember half of what I should remember, and this was after a very draining day at work. Two days later I did another Check and ended up at 37 (+13!). Now we're getting awful. Another Check on Friday netted 44 (+20!). Good god. I hadn't slept well (or much) all week and was getting progressively exhausted as the week went on -- culminating in a three-alarm (energy drinks x3) Friday -- so while +20 is really horrendous I justified it by noting how exhausted and unfocused I was while taking the Brain Age Check.

Lucky for me, when I took it on Sunday morning after two nights of 10 hour sleep, my justification was proven valid. With proper rest I ended up at 26 brain-years (+2).

Moral of the story? Buy a DS, and get some good quality sleep.

(the moral of every story starts with "Buy a DS" -- you won't regret it!)