While most of us are quite aware of the necessity to exercise and maintain our bodies in the best condition possible, relatively few of us are aware that the same is true for our minds.
Like all of our other muscles, the brain needs to be trained through easy activities that can improve memory, focus, and other cognitive abilities.
Here are 7 brain exercises to improve concentration and keep your mind sharp
- Puzzles
Puzzles are a great way to keep your brain active while having fun. They stimulate the brain and encourage problem-solving skills, as well as help, improve mental speed. They also help with short-term memory so they can be good for people with memory problems, so get out that jigsaw puzzle, sudoku, crossword, and get to solving.
- Learn to play a musical instrument
Many of you love to listen to music but it would be even better for your brain if you learned how to play a musical instrument. Learning a new instrument helps to improve hand-eye coordination as well as fine motor skills. Learning new things keeps your brain challenged and improves brain function.
- Use your less dominant side
This is a good idea for keeping your brain active while doing simple everyday tasks. Using your less dominant side enhances creativity because it interrupts the predictability the brain has formed by doing tasks with only one side. It also buildes new connections between brain cells so if you usually brush with your right hand, try it with your left, if you usually write with your left try to do so with your right.
- Draw maps of places from memory
This is an easy and good exercise to enhance your memory. Challenge your brain to draw a map of your neighborhood, office layout, or a new place you visited.
You can even try drawing maps of less familiar places like different countries or continents. You will be quite surprised by what you miss and get right.
- Work out math problems using your head
Solving math problems in your head helps to improve your brain’s mental speed. The more complex the problem you solve the better. You can even do this while carrying out your other day-to-day tasks, just to make it more challenging.
- Meditation
Meditation is all very popular these days because of the psychological benefits it has, but it is also a good activity for enhancing concentration, and memory, as well as helping to reduce stress, which can interfere with brain efficiency and functions.
- Journaling
We all know the importance of journaling for our mental health, especially when dealing with anxiety and depression but journaling is also good for strengthening brain activity.
It boosts your working memory and comprehension skills, especially when done by writing using pen and paper.
Conclusions
We must take care of our brains in the same way that we take care of our bodies to ensure that they continue to operate properly as we age.
Remember to include brain workouts like the ones listed above in your daily health routine as they might improve your brain abilities.
