Some brain exercises can be as simple as an intelligent
conversation or reading something new. Others can be more
involved, like doing crossword puzzles or solving lateral
thinking puzzles. Here are some general brain exercises you can
do anywhere, followed by a few ideas for exercising specific
areas of brain function.
Some Simple Brain Exercises
An entertaining brain exercise is to invent things in your mind.
You can use many techniques for doing this. It can be as simple
as looking at things and asking "How could this be better?"
Consider a clock, for example, and you might wonder if it would
be better if you didn't have to look at it. Maybe a clock that
periodically announced the time and even reminded you of
appointments might be useful.
Other brain exercises involve puzzle solving. These can range
from crossword puzzles to difficult lateral thinking puzzles,
but a simpler, fun version of the latter, is the basic riddle.
For example, "Why wasn't Bertha put in jail after killing dozens
of people?" Because she was a hurricane. Whether riddles are
easy or difficult, they get your mind thinking in new
directions, and this is good for getting your mind out of it's
"ruts.".
Inventing jokes is one of the more difficult brain exercises,
especially if you haven't done it before. Just take a topic or a
word at random, and find a way to make a joke with it. The word
"Justice," for example, could become "What's the one place in
the world you can find justice?" In the dictionary! If you draw
a blank after five or ten minutes, move on to the next word or
topic.
Brain Exercises For Specific Areas
You may want to work on a particular area of your brainpower.
Some of us have trouble with visual imagination, for example. To
be architects, we would want to improve that. This can be done
by concentrating on scenes in one's mind. Imagine walking
through your home, for example, and repeat the process until you
can easily "see" everything in each room.
For better concentration, practice identifying "mind"
irritations. Anything that's going on just below the surface is
sapping your ability to concentrate. Become aware of these
things, and you can put them on a list or otherwise dismiss
them. More formal meditation practices can help with this, but
simple mindfulness exercises may be enough to let your natural
powers of concentration function.
Simple brain exercises to strengthen your memory can be the
repetitive use of any memory techniques. For example, mentally
placing a list of items to be remembered at predetermined
locations in your house, and seeing them there in an unusual way
(think cucumbers dancing in the microwave), is one such
technique. Just imagining where you'll see a person next, and
calling to them by name in your imagination is a good way to
remember names.
get a little wild to develop your creativity. See things and
imagine something absurd, like flying lights. For more than just
an exercise in imagination, though, you have to create some
sense of the image. For this example, I'm thinking there might
be a market for little lights on helium balloons. With a more or
less neutral buoyancy for the balloons, a party could be full of
colorful, floating, moving lights.
Recent research makes it clear that exercising your brain makes
it work better. A more active brain has even been shown to
postpone or reduce the incidence of age-related decline of
mental function. So why not start today with some simple brain
exercises?
About the author:
Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower and related topics
for years. For more on
How To Increase Brain
Power, and to get the Brain Power Newsletter and other free
gifts, visit:
http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com
