New research suggests that our cognitive skills can start declining by age 30, if not earlier.
If maintaining your health as you get older is one of your top priorities, it’s important to include mental workouts in your exercise regime as well as physical activity to keep your brain sharp.
Read on to discover 10 simple mental exercises you can start today.
1. Solve puzzles
Whether you prefer to put together a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle or do a daily crossword, regularly solving puzzles can help to improve your short-term memory and strengthen connections in your brain.
Plus, your brain releases a rush of dopamine – a happy and motivating hormone – every time you overcome a challenge.
2. Get on the dancefloor
Learning new dance moves can increase your brain’s processing speed and memory, as well as being a fun way to keep up your physical health.
Teaching your body to move in new ways by heading to your nearest Zumba class or grabbing a partner and learning to ballroom dance can help you keep your brain and body sharp.
3. Learn a new skill
You can learn new skills at any age, and no matter what you choose to improve, learning new things can strengthen the connections in your brain and boost your memory.
Some ideas for new skills could include how to:
- Ride a horse
- Repair your car
- Play a new sport
- Cook or bake a complicated recipe.
If you want to train your brain but haven’t found a new skill that you want to invest time in yet, then teaching other people your existing skills can also be a great mental workout.
4. Meditate
You might already know that regularly meditating can improve your mental health by reducing stress and anxiety, but it can also help to fine-tune your memory and improve your brain’s ability to process information.
5. Try new things
Regularly having novel experiences can help you avoid living your life on autopilot and release bursts of dopamine to improve your mood.
Trying something new can be as complicated as travelling to a new country, or as simple as eating a new food or taking a new route to a place you visit regularly.
6. Learn a new language
A 2012 study overwhelmingly proved that there are many cognitive benefits to being able to speak more than one language, including:
- Better memory
- Higher level of creativity
- Improved visual-spatial skills.
It’s never too late to learn a new language, and learning British Sign Language or Braille could even help you if you suffer from a loss of hearing or sight later in life.
7. Switch hands
Using your non-dominant hand to do common tasks such as brushing your teeth, eating, or using a computer mouse will force you to pay more attention to tasks you would do on autopilot and results in increased brain activity.
Although it might feel difficult at first, switching hands will give your brain a great workout and can also help you navigate life more freely as you can use either hand to do basic tasks.
8. Read books aloud
Reading out loud engages your imagination differently from reading words on a page. In fact, it activates an entirely new region of your brain.
So, the next time you pick up a book, why not read it out loud to your significant other or children and grandchildren?
And if there’s no one around to read to, you can also try switching to audiobooks to reap the cognitive benefits.
9. Use all your senses at once
A 2015 report found that using all five of your senses at once can strengthen your brain.
Finding activities where you are smelling, touching, tasting, seeing, and hearing all at the same time sounds more difficult than it is. Travelling to a new place or baking can be equally as effective as a mental workout.
10. Stop relying on technology
As technology has improved, we have increasingly come to rely on it. And now that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can do even simple tasks like answering questions or writing emails for us, letting technology do the hard work feels like a simple choice.
However, using your brain instead of your phone or computer for as many tasks as possible can help you retain basic mental skills like spelling, maths, and problem-solving for longer.
For example, avoiding your calculator or spellchecker can help you to improve your maths and grammar skills, and if you want to challenge yourself, you could even try avoiding your GPS and relying on paper maps or your memory instead.