Brain Training - 10 Activities to Stimulate the Mind!

Introduction

We all know the benefits of exercise for the body, it keeps us active and our hearts healthy. But the brain also requires exercise to improve memory, focus and daily function.

By keeping your mind healthy and sharp doing daily activities it can boost concentration and help improve quality of life, motivation and accomplishment. It is also an effective tool to help combat depression.

To guarantee our minds are working at their full potential, we require daily mental work outs. Fortunately, exercising the mind can be an enjoyable and simple experience thanks to activities and games which you can do with friends and family or on your own.

We have found a number of games and tasks for brain training especially befitting for older people, why not try them out and see if you can boost your brain power!

Jigsaw Puzzles

Not only a great way to relax Jigsaw puzzles increase problem solving and memory skills since they require you to analyse all of the different colours within pictures and shapes to understand where they fit within the larger image.

Video Games

Games aren't just for the kids! Platforming video games like Super Mario are great for the mind, research has shown they can help to avoid cognitive impairment. You require forward planning, quick responses, and need to remember which buttons/keys to press when playing. They also make players switch quickly between tasks, which can help mental flexibility and multi-tasking skills.

Board Games

Invite the family round for a game of scrabble - this board game requires logic to create words from tiles already on the board and the seven you have. It is also amusing to see what kind of words other people come up with during the game! Boggle is also an enjoyable word game that you can play with others or on your own. Trivia games like Linkee and Trivial pursuit are terrific options as trivia is a fantastic way of stimulating the mind and improving recall skills associated with memory.

Online Word Games

You can find a wide range of word games online from a quick google search. The most popular at the moment is Wordle, which is a word guessing game, and you get six opportunities to find the correct 5 letter word. With each guess you are identified which letters are correct or in the correct place. There is a new word to guess each day!

Card Games

Card games can also be enjoyed with others or on your own, a quick game of cards such as Memory or Solitaire can stimulate thinking skills and improve memory.

Dancing

Learning new dance moves can enhance the processing speed and memory of the brain. You can dance in a group such as Zumba or Salsa classes and you can also enjoy it as a solo activity, even from a sitting position, see if you can remember the moves to the Macarena!

Cooking

Following a recipe is an activity that challenges multiple areas of the brain at once. When cooking, you will need to read instructions, plan ahead, measure your ingredients and be aware of timing. Once served you should gain a sense of satisfaction from completing a new recipe you have prepared from scratch, which will hopefully taste good too!

Crafting

Crafting items is a fun way to get the imagination working and can help with dexterity in fingers and hands. You can create objects for the home or gifts for loved ones. It doesn’t need to be an expensive activity; you can paint rocks to make garden markers or jazz up your existing plant pots with a pop of colour. Alternatively, knitting, sewing and crocheting are popular needle crafts which can also be done in the comfort of an armchair which require minimal equipment. You could also get the grandchildren involved and create sock puppets out of old socks and felt.

Gardening

If you’re a fan of the outdoors then this activity is ideal, take some time to take pleasure from the basic tasks of seed planting and watering to tending to flowers, bushes, herbs and even vegetables and fruits. Gardening arouses the senses and provides the added benefit of exercise and increases your vitamin D intake. If you don’t have a garden or allotment space you could set up a small herb garden on one of your windowsills and enjoy the fruits of your labour with some fresh basil for your pasta dishes!

Writing

Writing can keep your creativity flowing and the mind engaged. Writing out special memories is an enjoyable pastime which can boost recall and can then be looked back on now and then. Another form is letter writing, pick a family member or friend and write them a good old-fashioned letter detailing the events of the week, this stimulates short term memory. A great way to give your mental agility a boost is to plan and write out a short story.

Keeping the mind active is valuable, as we've shared there are so many ways to stimulate the brain!