The relationship between cooking and the prefrontal cortex is widely known in the world of brain science. Cooking in general has many processes such as: thinking about the menu, gathering the ingredients, washing, chopping, boiling, baking, frying and so forth. The process becomes further complicated by making several dishes at the same time and during the cooking process, the brain is constantly active. So, if you cook, for example, three times a day, then you have the opportunity to do brain training at least three times a day.
The graph below shows the result of a joint research project between Tohoku University and Osaka Gas in 2005. In the study, 2 hours of cooking practice and 3 hours of cooking at home was performed for 3 months. As shown in the graph, the result of cooking for 3 months showed that the function of the prefrontal cortex was improved together with an increase in thinking and overall work performance.
In addition, mothers and their children (3rd to 5th grade) who participated in cooking school once a week and cooked at home for 15 to 30 minutes a day for 3 days or more a week, was also compared to mothers and children who continued their normal routines for 3 months.
The result of this study showed that children who experienced cooking significantly improved their ability to guess, manipulate spatial information and ability to recognize figures. It was predicted that there would be no difference for mothers who cooked regularly, but it was found that their ability to manipulate spatial information and cognitive function also improved.
Although it may be difficult to cook three meals a day, we cannot survive without eating, so why not change some daily routines to including some “cooking time” for the benefit of improving cognitive health.