• Food

Your brain is the greediest organ in your body, with some quite specific dietary requirements. The brain is best fuelled by a steady supply of glucose, starting with breakfast. Other foods with a link to brain "fitness" include:

• Beans on toast is a good combination; the carbohydrates in toast boosts scores on cognitive tests, but beans are also a good source of fibre, and research has shown a link between a high-fibre diet and improved cognition.

• Marmite, a yeast extract is packed with B vitamins, whose brain-boosting powers have been demonstrated in many studies.

• Eggs are rich in choline, which your body uses to produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

• Salad - packed full of antioxidants, including beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, which have been shown to improve cognitive skills by helping to mop up damaging free radicals.

• Nuts - especially pecans, walnuts and almonds, are also a source of antioxidants.

• Yogurt contains the amino acid tyrosine, needed for the production of the neurotransmitters dopamine and noradrenalin, among others and that supplementing your intake can improve alertness and memory.

• Fish - brains are around 60 per cent fat, and trans-fats (found in abundance in cakes, pastries and biscuits) clog up the system, however, evidence is mounting in favour of omega-3 fatty acids. In other words, fish is the best brain food.

• Fruit - strawberries and blueberries seem to improve coordination, concentration and short-term memory.

• Games, fun, play and active participation

Making things enjoyable is motivating. Enjoyment does not mean trivialising but, obviously, if you're doing bereavement training, you'd have to be sensitive.

Competition, within a game format, is another way if engaging people. So, instead of a "boring" revision session, play a panel game with small prizes to see who remembers most.

Physical activity also addresses the needs of some learners to "feel" what it is they are learning - try learning to ride a bike by reading a book! Being active for short periods and raising heart beat also improves brain function and alertness.

• Resource-rich environment

The brain is used to multi-tasking (even men!) and if asked to concentrate on one thing for too long, will distract itself.

So, in a training room, have toys and food for people to "fiddle" with. Have "wallpaper" round the room for people to look at. By "wallpaper" I mean posters (A0 size) containing key words, graphics, models, etc., that are relevant to the training - I often use well-known cartoon figures.

Also allow people to manage their own time. Don't force people to sit still until you are ready to break, give them permission to get up and walk around, get a drink, go to the toilet, when they want to.

• Choice

Offer people different ways of learning. They will have differing preferences, strengths and weaknesses. So say something and write it up on the flip chart and do a team exercise about it and ask them to create something on their own. Repetition itself is an important principle in learning and so is working in these different modalities.

• Feedback

Make sure that people can contribute what they already know (better than spending the introductory session boring them to death with something they all know very well) and give you feedback on what they have learned. So, a revision exercise (an alternative to the panel game described above) might be to "create a poster advertising the X that we've just been learning about. This makes them re-cycle what they've learned (which aids internalisation) and tells you whether or not they've "got it".

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