The brain is the place to begin when it comes to solving these issues
Living in a hectic, fast-paced city like Hong Kong, urban diseases are incredibly easy to catch. These days, people routinely succumb to and develop anxiety, insomnia, eating disorders, fatigue, muscle pain and headaches. These may not be major problems for an individual but can certainly hinder workplace efficiency and the ability to learn, ultimately pushing up stress levels in a society that is already highly competitive and stressful.
Dr. Caroline Kwok, founder of MegaBrain, reckons that the brain is the place to begin when it comes to solving these issues. By working on the brain, we can improve mental and physical health, even unlocking hidden potential never before imagined. Take learning for instance. Past research on learning behaviors reported that the ability for humans to learn could slow down and deteriorate by adulthood. On the other hand, based on the results from years of brain research and experiments of many experts, it is found that we can continue to learn right up to old age, even moments before death. Through MegaBrain, Dr. Kwok is able to push these concepts forward by setting up large scale efficiency trainings for corporate employees, heuristic educational classes for children, while continuing to research on related topics.
For years, doctors and researchers alike have carried out endless research on the human brain. Under the influence of Western practices, most medical treatments are focused on fixing symptoms of illnesses after they have taken affect. Though people sometimes are affected by different diseases or viruses, Dr. Kwok has a different take. To a certain extent, she believes health problems of an individual originate from the brain. As long as one takes care of the brain's health, some issues of the body and mind will eventually resolve on their own.
The brain is the center of everything
For both adults and children, problems can be greatly improved by utilizing the brain. Such is the key mission of MegaBrain, an organization set up by Dr. Kwok to treat young kids, gifted children and adults. According to her theory, she provides programs by developing a concept which explains that people's general health is dependent on four major systems, including the thinking system managed by the cerebrum, the sensory system steered by the cerebellum, and the feeling system (limbic system), and the physical state and attention system controlled by the brain stem. Among them, the cerebellum and brain stem rarely get noticed. Dr. Kwok is therefore researching appropriate lifestyles and training methods to optimize the functions of these 4 systems.
Dr. Kwok also believes changing one's lifestyle for the long term is the key to maintaining and improving mental health. The crash-course style trainings - often requested by companies and parents - are not effective. "Learning is the accumulation of a database. Students are encouraged to learn in a wide range of fields and break away from the vertical mode of professional training, enlarging their view and scope of knowledge. This is the solution to trigger imagination and creativity, thereby allowing the brain to absorb knowledge on a continuous basis," says Dr. Kwok. To live wisely is to learn widely; learning is an inherent ability we all have.
Sensory response is a direct reflex from the brain, bypassing the thinking process. Of our five senses, Dr. Kwok believes listening is the most influential to our brain. We ought to train ourselves to be selective in reading and listening to materials and try to avoid listening to repetitive and negative news and information, or sad songs. We should read constructively, especially books and articles that aim to give positive encouragement; or we can listen to psychoacoustic theme music which also helps improve moods.
Proper management of our lifestyles is also important. From the observations obtained during a group training session, Dr. Kwok discovered that even a slight improvement of an individual's sleeping quality will improve their health, moods and even ability to work. City dwellers often overlook the importance of sleep and are too busy to care about the quality of diet. Furthermore, some people have gotten caught up in the slimming craze, unwisely going on unhealthy diets that lead malnutrition problems. Adding more vegetables as well as Omega 3-rich food into a diet is another extremely beneficial way for maintaining healthy brains. Unfortunately, these two factors important for living a healthy lifestyle often gets lost because of the busy lives that Hong Kong people lead.
Dr. Kwok sincerely believes that, by optimizing and keeping our brain healthy, we can improve our personality and increase our potential in all facets of life. Take a full-day workshop she once hosted for instance. There was a sales field student who was under-performing. After a day of training, and executing a 30-day lifestyle program designed and instructed by Dr. Kwok, the sales field student discovered he was able to improve his efficiency at work, as well as his sales performance. "Often our brain reminds and urges us to do things," she explained. "When we educate, it is very important to provide precise information. For instance, when the government publicizes the dangers of smoking, it must support its view with concrete facts and figures. This way the message can penetrate into the mind and turn into an automatic alert."
"For many corporate leaders, such concepts were way too forward," Dr. Kwok said, noting the initial resistance she faced when introducing her concepts during corporate training courses. A decade ago, most corporate managers cared only about marketing strategies and reaching sales targets; rarely did they notice the effect of an employee's physical and mental health on business performance. Only when the concept of "Emotional Quotient" become popular in the late 1980s did they begin to show interest in their workers' emotional heath.
Dr. Caroline Kwok received her doctorate in education at the Brigham Young University in the United States. Upon returning to Hong Kong, she founded MegaBrain and co-founded the non-profit organization, House of Learning. She was also a member of Gifted Education Committee at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as the Hong Kong representative of the World Council of Gifted and Talented Children.
(Last updated: 21st November, 2006)
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