How Can Brain Exercises Help You?

Everyone knows that in order to keep your body in shape and performing at its best, you need to eat right and exercise regularly. If you fail to provide your body with the fuel and activity that it needs, it can prematurely break down and become a magnet for debilitating issues such as obesity, disease, and ailments that can greatly decrease your quality of life. While this is common knowledge, not nearly as many people consider that they need to care for their brain in much the same way.

Why you need to train your brain

According to research, the average person’s brain reaches its functioning peak between the ages of 16 and 25. After that period your brain enters slow decline that methodically chips away at your memory, concentration, focus, creativity, and cognitive functions in general. By the time most people enter old age, their brain performs significantly slower and their cognitive functions are greatly affected with a noticeable decline in the areas of memory and concentration.

While that sounds dire, the good news is that there are a variety of brain exercises that can be utilized to keep your brain functioning at a high level and fight off the effects of aging. If you treat your brain with the same level of care you give your body – fueling it with healthy foods and supplements and exercising it regularly – then it can stay sharp and avoid potentially debilitating disease or dysfunction. The key is identifying the cognitive areas in which you need to improve and then engaging regularly in exercises that strengthen or benefit the areas in which you struggle. Below are some popular brain exercises that cover a variety of different areas of brain health and will effectively keep your brain performing to the peak of its abilities.

Helpful brain exercises

Physical Exercise: What’s good for the body is also good for the mind. Researchers have consistently found that physical activity can improve cognitive functions. When you exercise certain hormones increase naturally, and those same hormones are also beneficial for your memory. Specifically, aerobic or endurance exercises are the most effective in improving your brain, as they release a molecule that helps to protect the brain from deterioration and improves understanding. Furthermore, there have been studies that found good exercise habits and good motor skills to be in conjunction with one another.

Learning a new language: Taking up a new language forces your brain to concentrate on reading and listening, and provides stimulation, particularly in the area of memory. Essentially, learning a new language challenges your brain to recognize, recall, communicate, and determine meaning in an entirely new environment, which translates to your ability to problem solve and find meaning in other areas of your life. Additionally, studies have shown that a large vocabulary will help to fend off cognitive impairment.

Figure out math problems in your head: These days when we need to figure out a math problem most of us will reach for our cell phones to use the calculator function. At the very least we may grab some scratch paper and attempt to work out the answer by writing it out. But studies suggest that one method of keeping your brain fresh is to attempt to figure out math problems just using your brain. Doing so forces you keep your problem-solving skills fresh, and retain information and specific figures in your head as you attempt to navigate the answer.

Testing your memory: Every once in a while, it is beneficial to make your brain work a little harder than is necessary. Many people go to the grocery store with a list written out so they don’t forget to get all the items they need, but occasionally it is healthy to leave the list at home and challenge your brain to remember all the items you need. Another example would be attempting to remember directions without the aid of a map or GPS (but keep those handy in case you get lost). Challenging your brain in such a way forces your memory to stay active and prevents against memory atrophy.

Meditation: One of the worst enemies of your brain and cognitive functions is stress. Stress can keep you, and your brain, constantly distracted and preoccupied, taking a significant toll over the years on your ability to focus, remember, concentrate, or even relax. Meditation is one of the most effective ways of battling stress, and by slowing down or containing your stress levels, you can utilize your brain to address other issues. Also, one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy is to allow it to relax at certain times throughout the day, and there is no better method of getting your mind to relax than meditation. Furthermore, meditation also protects against age-related brain dysfunctions and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.