Does Your Brain Need a Tune-Up?

Spending so much time on that road traveling for business that your brain's turning to mush? These brain exercises should help keep you at the top of your game.

Brain Age 2 $19.99 amazon.com

Upside: Quick, brain exercises
Downside: Vocal recognition needs work

This Nintendo DS sequel has a number of tweaks that users of the first edition will like. Plenty of Suduko and math games are abundant. However, in this version, after adding up a few numbers, one of the numbers is removed, thereby forcing you to jog your short-term memory in order to complete the calculation.

Another new addition is the Piano Player keyboard that asks you to tap along with the notes on a sheet of music. Brain Age and Brain Age 2 were created to "apply stored knowledge" in order to exercise or train your "prefrontal cortex" (located in the frontal lobe) of your brain.

Of note, the hand recognition has been tweaked and that is also a welcome change. There is nothing worse than getting the right answer and then finding out you have an 80-year old brain.

On the other hand, the voice recognition is good but could be better. I spoke a few answers into the program, but with a Chicago aaaaccent, the voice recognition did not pick up the correct answer. Folks from Iowa might have better luck getting recognized.

Deep Stress Relief $24.95/2 CD set brainsync.com

"Brain Sync programs use window frequencies -- extremely precise frequencies that resonate and impact the body at a cellular level." Brain Sync programs are a great way to escape, relax and rejuvenate on the road.