Sharpening the Senses?

[Ghost]

Ghost here,

The five senses, sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Most of us are fortunate enough to possess all five, but are they in top shape?

Is your vision as crisp as it should be?

Can you hear that pindrop noise?

How does the food you eat smell, or taste? Is it weaker than you remember it?

We can strengthen our bodies, our minds, but can be sharpen our senses?

Take an example from me:

My vision, while not bad, is less clear than it was 3 months ago. My smell has all but disappeared.

Can senses be trained? If I was to step outside and focus on objects at different ranges, would my vision sharpen after hours of staring at a screen?

So if you have input, not just for me, but for the good of us all, please share.

=====EDIT======

This site may help. First on google search. http://ririanproject.com/2006/11/15/how-to-sharpen-your-senses/

Also on a side note, in my personal experience using music, games in conjunction with ear/headphones may actually train the ears.

With proper sound they can passively train the ears. I noticed that I was more attuned to hearing small noises after playing with headphones. Not sure why, but since I stopped playing hearing has degraded.

[leadchipmunk]

To answer your questions in order.

Are they in top shape? No

Vision? Not too bad, I don't need glasses, but things are a little blurry around 30 to 40 feet and further. I can still ping a target the size of someone's head at 100 feet singlehanded with a pistol, so I guess it isn't too bad.

Hear a pindrop? No, I have problems with the wax in my ears that build up and after while, it gets so bad that the slightest movement of my head feels like someone stuck an icepick in one ear and out the other.

Food smell/taste? Really good. I have a good nose, and really good taste, I can usually pick out ingredients pretty well. But I cannot taste sour, haven't been able to for many years.

Sharpen our senses? I really hope so, I'd love some information on this, I'm willing to give it a try. I think they can be trained, but I have no idea of how to go about that. I know there was a thread somewhere here that was about re-training your eyes.

--EDIT--

Found it, it was just under this one.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/community/showthread.php?8465-Training-the-eyes

[Ryan Sannar]

Posting to follow

[tigersheart]

yes the senses can be trained.

I am sure there are many ways, but here is a simple exercise you can do at any time.

Stop what you are doing and focus on one sense as fully as you can. A very good time to do this is the moment you wake up.

For example, you just wake up(or anytime you want), keep your eyes closed, and focus on your hearing. Do NOT 'name' what you hear...don't say to yourself .."oh that is a dog barking", or "that is water dripping"....just relax and listen to everything.

Next day, instead of your hearing, focus on the sense of smell...once again, don't name...just sense it.

then eyes, touch, etc. Does not have to be when you wake up...take a minute break when at work, lean back in your chair, or against a wall, and relax your mind and do the exercise...what can I hear/taste/smell/feel...etc

you can do this for all senses, but keep in mind to not focus on one sound/sight/taste/smell/etc Don't focus on that dog barking and ignore the other sounds going on is what I mean.

[leadchipmunk]

That sounds like fun. If I remember tomorrow morning, I'm going to do it.

Another thing I remember reading about a long time ago was the complete opposite. If you deprive yourself temporarily of one sense, you can work on focusing the other 4. So, one day for like an hour or so, put ear plugs in or put on a blindfold and try to focus on using the other senses. Not too sure how you could do that for taste and touch. Maybe full body suit and covering your mouth in wax?

[Church]

It's not training your senses so much as training your brain to use them more fully. Blind people often experience this with hearing and their ability to create sort of mental maps of familiar areas. Almost like Dare Devil but not so amped up. I've even seen specials about blind people that can play video games and mountain bike and skateboard despite having no conventional sight.

This is something I work on at night when it's dark, I just close my eyes and try get where I'm going without sight. When it's really sunny out I'll often close my eyes and only open them for a second, like a reverse blink sort of deal, I used to be veering off course after a pass or two, but now I can make about five steps without going very far off course. I suck at it but I haven't been doing it that long. But this is definitely something I'll enjoy training just to see "what if?".

[Church]

Just after waking up this morning I tried to shut up and listen. It was amazing! I can't believe how much of the world I tune out all the time! Very cool.