The brain is always active, even during sleep. However, certain activities can engage the brain in new ways, potentially leading to improvements in memory, cognitive function, or creativity.
Although the brain gets plenty of exercise every day, certain activities may help boost brain function and connectivity. This in turn may help protect the brain from age-related degeneration.
Brain exercises may help boost and maintain brain function. Memory games, learning new skills, crosswords, and even video games may help.
Brain exercises that may help boost memory, cognition, and creativity are:
Meditation:
Meditation involves focusing attention in a calm, controlled way. Meditating may have multiple benefits for both the brain and the body. It can benefit the brain by slowing brain ageing and increasing the brain’s ability to process information.
Visualising:
Visualisation involves forming a mental image to represent information. The mental image may be in the form of pictures or animated scenes. Visualisation helps people organise information and make appropriate decisions.
People can practise visualisation in their day-to-day lives. The key is to imagine the scenes vividly and in as much detail as possible.
Playing games:
Playing card games or board games can be a fun way to socialise or pass the time. These activities may also be beneficial for the brain. Studies have found a link between playing games and a decreased risk of cognitive impairment in older adults.
Challenging your taste buds:
When eating, try to identify individual ingredients in your meal, including subtle herbs and spices.
Completing jigsaw puzzles:
Completing a jigsaw puzzle can be a good way to pass the time and may also benefit the brain. Studies show that puzzles activate many cognitive functions, including:
Perception, mental rotation, and reasoning
The study concluded that doing jigsaw puzzles regularly and throughout life may protect against the effects of brain agsing.
Playing Sudoku:
Number puzzles, such as Sudoku, can be a fun way to challenge the brain. They may also improve cognitive function in some people. Adults aged between 50 and 93 years found that those who practised number puzzles more frequently tended to have better cognitive function.
Playing chess:
A meta-analysis notes that chess and other cognitive leisure activities may lead to improvements in Memory, executive functioning, (which is the ability to monitor and adapt behaviour to meet set goals), and information processing speed
Playing chequers:
There is certainly a connection between regular participation in chequers or other cognitively stimulating games and larger brain volume and improved markers of cognitive health in people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Practising crossword puzzles:
Crossword puzzles are a popular activity that may stimulate the brain. Crossword puzzles may delay the onset of memory decline in people with preclinical dementia.
Socialising:
Enjoying the company of friends may be a mentally engaging leisure activity and may help preserve cognitive function. People with more frequent social contact were less likely to experience cognitive decline and dementia.
Some social activities that may help stimulate the brain include: Participating in discussions, playing games, and taking part in social sports.
Learning new skills:
Learning new skills engages the brain in different ways and may help improve brain function. A trusted source of older adults found that learning a new and cognitively demanding skill, such as quilting or photography, enhanced memory function.
Learning a new language:
“Bilingualism” refers to the ability to speak two languages. Bilingualism increases and strengthens connectivity between different areas of the brain. The researchers propose that this enhanced connectivity may play a role in delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Listening to music:
A study found that listening to music a person enjoys engages and connects different parts of the brain. The researchers propose that this may lead to improvements in cognitive function and overall well-being.
Learning a musical instrument:
Learning an instrument exercises parts of the brain that are responsible for coordination. According to a study playing an instrument may benefit cognitive development in a young brain and help protect against cognitive impairment in an ageing brain
Exercising regularly
Regular physical exercise is beneficial for both the brain and the body. Exercise improves the following aspects of brain health:
- memory
- cognition
- motor coordination
Engaging in sports:
Certain sports are both physically and mentally demanding. Some require a range of cognitive skills, such as:
- sustained attention
- planning
- multitasking and
- the ability to adapt rapidly to changing situations
Athletes who participate in high-demand sports tend to have improved attention and faster information processing speeds.
Conclusion:
Brain exercises can be as simple as actively engaging the brain in everyday tasks. Others are targeted workouts for the brain, specifically designed to enhance memory, cognition, or creativity.
Exercising the brain may help improve brain function and boost connectivity between the different areas. This may help protect the brain from age-related degeneration. People are likely to differ in terms of the brain exercises they find most enjoyable.
Therefore, it may be a good idaea to try a range of brain-training activities at first and to stick with those that provide the most enjoyment or reward!
