What's your Calendar, Real, and Brain Age?

[Luigison]

   Calendar Age is your chronological age according to the calendar.  That is, based on your birthday.  For example, I was born on Jan. 11th, 1973.  Since today is Apr. 11th, 2006 I am approx. 33.3 years old.  This could be given in years, months, and/or days, but I gave it in decimal years for easier comparison to the other ages.

   Real Age is your bodies apparent age as compared to the age of others whose body is in your condition.  For example, a thirty year old drug addict may have a much older Real Age because of the havoc the drugs are doing to their body, while a thirty year old athelete may have a much younger Real Age due to their excellent health.  To find your Real Age take the survey at http://www.realage.com.  BTW, my Real Age so far is 35.5, but I haven't completed all of the survey.

   Brain Age is your brain's age based on a series of daily tests using Nintendo's 'Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day' for the Nintendo DS.  Brain Age has a North American release date of Apr. 17th, 2006.  Until then you can try the demo at a local store:  http://www.nintendo.com/dsdownloadstation/  I downloaded it at Best Buy, buy my local Game Crazy also had a demo station.

   In the Brain Age demo the first time I did the Stroop test (say the color of the word, not the word) I scored in the 80's, the second time got in the 70's, and the third time I got in the 60's.  In the training (addition and multiplication) I typically scored in 'walking speed', but got 'bicycle speed' at least once.  I need to relearn some of my multiplication tables.  The Suduoku in Brain Age is the quickest and easiest way to 'play' Sudoku I've ever seen. 

   To test your brain speed go to http://www.positscience.com/programs/brainspeed.php  Be sure your speakers are on and you don't have too many distracting sounds.

Luigison's ages as of Apr. 17, 2006
 Calendar Age: 33.3
 Real Age: 34.7
 Brain Speed:  Thirty something ms (top 10 percent for my age).
 Brain Age:
   Day     Age     Check                      Sudoku
     1        80        Stroop only               -
     2        39        Random, Speak        -
     3        29        Select, No Speak      -
     4        34        Random, Speak        -
     5        34        Random, Speak        - 
     6        36        Random, Speak        26%
     7        26        Random, No Speak   -
     8        34        Random, Speak        39%
     9        20        Random, No Speak   -
   10        20        Random, No Speak   41%
   11        --                                         42%
   12        21        Select, No Speak      44%  Uggh, 05:30 is too early to play Brain Age.
   13
   14        20        Random, No Speak    47%

Sapphira's ages as of Apr. 11, 2006
    * Calendar Age: 19.6
    * Real Age: 22.8
    * Brain Age: [unkown] (sic.)
    * Brain Speed: 29 ms

Chupperson Weird
   Brain Speed: 25 ms

Insane Steve
   Calendar Age: 19.4
   Real Age: 14.3
   Brain Speed: 27 ms

Hirocon
   Calendar age: 20
   Real age: 25, old enough to drink!
   Brain age: I don't own a DS yet...

Koopaslaya
 Brain Speed: 44 Miliseconds 

bobman37
 Brain Age (demo): 50
 Sudoku: Jet speed
 Training (mathematical test): Walking speed

   Reply with your info and I'll put it in the this post so we can compare each other's ages.

[Sapphira]

Nifty thread idea!

Sapphira's ages as of Apr. 11, 2006

• Calendar Age: 19.6
• Real Age: 22.8
• Brain Age: [unknown]

What's making my Real Age younger:

• Good sleep levels
• Vehicle size
• Dog ownership
• Limited or no secondhand smoke exposure
• Parents relationship
• No drinking and driving
• Ideal blood pressure
• Diverse diet
• Healthy resting heart rate
• Cell phone use
• Good oral hygiene
• Safety belt or airbag usage
• Nonsmoker

What's making my Real Age older:

• Medication use
• Low vegetable intake
• Low fruit servings
• Low unsaturated fat
• Lack of flexibility exercises
• Workout schedule
• Potassium levels
• Low grain intake
• Low omega-3 intake
• Folic acid intake
• Daily vitamin
• Flossing habits
• Driving speeds  <-- (Riding with Jenni is dangerous >_>; )
• High red meat intake
• Lack of daily breakfast
• Calcium intake
• Vitamin E intake
• Vitamin C intake
• Have cholesterol level measured <-- (Uh, my cholesterol is fine; how am I supposed to remember the exact numbers?)
• Social network and stress
• Strength training level

I find it really lame that my "age" increases because of not enough food/vitamin intake; as it said, a diverse diet is in my favor, but there's no way I could eat as many servings of food that they said I should. I don't have an appetite like that.

Actually, my "real" age was 16.7 until I got to the exercise section, so these other things didn't seem to influence much... >_>;

I couldn't do the Brain Age test yet, but I did find this (the lower the score, the better), and according to it:

• Brain speed:  29 ms

P.S. IMO, this thread makes more sense in GC, despite there being a video game being involved a little.

[Koopaslaya]

People below the age of 20 are not able to take the "real age" test.

[Luigison]

People below the age of 20 are not able to take the "real age" test.

Then how'd Sapphira take it?

[Sapphira]

Maybe they only go by birthyear, not birthdate. According to my birthyear alone, I'm "20".
Hmm. If you're (you being anyone planning to take it) younger than 20, try changing your birthyear to 1986 and take it anyway.

[Chupperson Weird]

I had 25ms auditory processing speed.

[bobman37]

I'll keep my real/calendar age private, but I did indeed download Brain Age at my local Best Buy. Unfortunately, I can't remember what score I got for the color-saying part, but I got walking speed on the multiplication tables. The only thing I have to complain about in the Sudoku part of it is how they require you to write your fours in a certain way, which is not the way I normally write my fours. It isn't a big deal, and I realize that's how it has to be in order to be sure about what number you're writing, but I just thought I'd point it out.

[Hirocon]

Thank you very much for creating this thread.  I was very interested in purchasing Brain Age, but now that you've told me about the stroop test, I will know to stay away.  I am color-blind, you see.  I don't want to buy a game of which I can't make full use.

[Luigison]

What type/degree of colorblindness?  They supposedly picked colors that were easy to pick apart.  Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black.  Anyway, you can tell Brain Age not to have the color test since it uses voice recognition.

[Insane Steve]

I haven't taken the RealAge thing yet, but my brain processing speed is 27 ms with a background fan. At 12:30 AM. After a day of nothing but terribly blah economics studying. Neat test.

[Hirocon]

What type/degree of colorblindness?  They supposedly picked colors that were easy to pick apart.  Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black.  Anyway, you can tell Brain Age not to have the color test since it uses voice recognition.

I don't know, exactly.  I've taken lots of color-blindness tests, but they have given inconsistent results.  And now that I think about it, Nintendo is usually pretty good at picking easily distinguishable colors.  I've had huge problems with many puzzle games, but never with any game made by Nintendo.  I should probably take a look at some screenshots before entirely dismissing Brain Age. *goes to find screenshots*

[Luigison]

Heh.  I just cheated the Stroop test by putting a semi opaque piece of plastic over the screens and it said my brain was in its 40's.  Even with cheating my brains still old.

[Luigison]

   I update some of my info in the first post above.  I'm much better at the brain training and sudoku.  I don't remember my exact scores, but my brain speed was in the seventies the first time I checked it without understanding how it worked or being able to hear well. Then it was in the thirties or so (top 10 percent for my age).  RealAge info follows.

   Making me younger:
Limited or no secondhand smoke exposure
Medication use
Happy marriage
Correct fruit servings
Folic acid intake
Daily vitamin
No drinking and driving
Cell phone use
Ideal BMI
Good oral hygiene
Safety belt or airbag usage
Ex-smoker
Low red meat intake
Diverse diet
Calcium intake
Vitamin E intake
Vitamin C intake

   Making me older:
Lycopene levels
Lack of daily breakfast
Blood pressure control
Low unsaturated fat
Lack of flexibility exercises
Driving speeds
Have cholesterol level measured
Potassium levels
Low grain intake
Low vegetable intake
Low omega-3 intake
Strength training level
Social network and stress
Vehicle size
Workout schedule
Flossing habits

   I disagree with a lot of that and need to update more.  I know I get plenty omega-3 fatty acids (salmon and pills) and lycopene (tomatoes and ketchup) for example.

[Luigison]

Thank you very much for creating this thread.  I was very interested in purchasing Brain Age, but now that you've told me about the stroop test, I will know to stay away.  I am color-blind, you see.  I don't want to buy a game of which I can't make full use.

Here's some quotes from the Nsider forums that might help you:

I only have this image.

In the game, the stroop test isnt required to determine your Brain Age. You can take different tests that dont have to do with the colors of the words. Im not colorblind, but there are only 2 tests that have you use colors, and they dont have to be taken when determining your brain age.

I'm colorblind, and own this game, and I can personally tell you it is not a problem. They choose very good colors for the test (Black, Red, Blue, and Yellow). It is not a problem when you need to distinguish between the colors, so don't fear! It is actually very easy :)

[Luigison]

[15:43] <Luigison> Wow!  Guess what FedEx just delivered from Golin Harris?
[15:44] <Luigison> Brain Age

I'll post more later.

Edit:
D'oh.  I got a brain age of 80 the first time I checked.  This could have at least partially been because it wasn't understand when I said 'red'.  Later in a larger/different room it had no problems.  It only records once per day so 80 is my brain age for now.  It lets you recheck without saving though.  The second time I check I got 30, and the third time I got 23 (select button cheat).  The 80 was just from the Stroop test.  The 30 was for three tests inlcuding a reading outloud exercise.  I read slow outload.  The 23 was with the select button cheat doing a word memory, connect maze, and number cruncher tests.

Edit 2:
Did anyone else get a free copy of Brain Age? 

[Hirocon]

Calendar age: 20
Real age: 25, old enough to drink!
Brain age: I don't own a DS yet...

[Koopaslaya]

Brain Speed: 44 Miliseconds

[Luigison]

I updated Hirocon's, Koopaslaya's, and my info.  Anyone else? 

[Insane Steve]

I took the real age. It said I was 14.3 years old.

...

I don't want to be 14 again. I HATED early adolescence. Apparantly, what prevents me from becoming pre-pubescent is that I don't eat breakfast, I eat a lot of red meat per week, and don't take very good care of my teeth. I also do practically nothing but aerobic exercise, so I need to strength train more. It says I'm slightly overweight though. Which isn't true -- At 6'0" 170 lbs, my BMI is at about 23, and 25 is the border for being overweight for males. (For females, in today's society, it's probably somewhere around 6.)

What helps me is that fact that I consume inconceivable amounts of ketchup ('sup lycopene). DDR ITG helps a LOT, also. And I have a dog. A very evil dog that I don't know who she helps me out, but whatever.

For what it's worth, my Actual age is 19.4.

I need to get a copy of Brain Age one of these days.

[Lizard Dude]

Explain in more detail how you consume inconceivable amounts of ketchup.

[Insane Steve]

I just do. I eat french fries almost every day (thanks, college), and on average consume 2 dozen packets of ketchup for, say, a large fry at McDonald's. I can also drink ketchup.

I'm not sure what the average weekly tally is. Also, maybe "inconceivable" was a somewhat strong word.

[Luigison]

I got rocket speed (perfect) on head count again today.  That's the second time in a row.  The first time I played head count I thought, "that's impossible", but a couple of days later and I can do it perfectly. 

[Lizard Dude]

Would you say you "trained" your "brain" in "minutes" a "day"?

[Luigison]

I've only trained on head count three or four times and it was only minutes a day.  Anyway, my trick is to say out loud the number of people in the house after each pass of people, and intead of counting each person I count them in groups or simply by the differenc that gp in/out.  In other words if a group of five go in the house I just see that there are five with out counting each one and say out loud the number of people in the house (five plus number any already there).  And if some come in and go out at about the same time I don't bother counting all of them, for example if a group of three go in and a group of two come out I add one to the number previously in the house and say the answer out loud.

Edit:  I decided to practice number writing recognition with quick training mode and got walking speed.  I touched the walking dude and he whistled the beginning of the Mario theme song.  Cool.

[Chupperson Weird]

ALLUSION

[Luigison]

Wow! I got a Brain Age of twenty!  I did it on random, can't speak though. The stroop test usually brings me down because of my southern drowl and I'm not a very fast reader even though I read a lot. I'm 33.3 years old (born Jan. 11th 1973).

[bobman37]

I just got back from Best Buy after playing the download version of Brain Age again. My brain age for the color-saying part was 50, actually, but part of my slowness might have been the fact that shouting "Yellow!" "Blue!" "Black!" into a little portable thing i'm holding sideways in front of a whole bunch of Best Buy goers is a little embarassing. My speed on Sudoku was Jet speed, and my mathematical test part was walking speed.

[Luigison]

Heh.  This thread is turning into a personal blog.  At first I couldn't believe that I was the only Fungi with the $20 Brain Age, but this fact goes along with Nintendo's intent with this nontradition edutainment type game.  It even had "for adults" in the title in Japan.  Being the oldest "adult" here Nintendo's plan makes sense. 

At first the doctor told me, "Your Brain Age is 78", then he corrected himself and said I had a Brain Age of 20.  That's two days in a row. 

I have now completed 41% of the sudoku puzzles.  I've read that Sudoku hard mode is unlocked at 42% and hope to be able to confirm that soon.  I've also heard that you have to get rocket speed at least once and complete all the intermediate puzzle.

I made perfect scores on Head Count two days in a row and now Hard Head Count is available.  I think this unlock was simply based on the number of stamps (days) I've played.  Anyway, it is really hard, but I wonder if I'll pick it up as fast as the normal mode.

bobman37, I put your scores in the first post. 

Does anyone plan on getting Brain Age?

[Lizard Dude]

Someday.

[bobman37]

After my last paycheck comes in, I might go on a mini Gaming Shopping Spree, which would consist of Brain Age, NSMB and Guitar Heros 1 and 2 (2 depending on release date)

[DeadAwake]

I plan on getting Brain Age in about 5-10 weeks... Maybe.  Like Lizard Dude, I'll stick with "someday".