Call Us 866-924-2442
logo new
 
  • About Us
    • Our Culture
    • Our Caregivers
    • Our Management Team
    • Industry Statistics
  • Careers
  • Services
    • Coordination of Care
    • Elderly Care Services
    • Hiring an Agency vs.
      Direct Caregiver
    • Benefits Outweigh Cost
    • Personal Care
    • Skilled Nursing Therapy
    • Senior In Home Care
    • Alzheimer’s and Dementia
  • Programs
    • ENSUREPrograms
      • ENSUREConnect
      • ENSURECheck
    • Temperature Screening Services
      • Event Screening
    • Veterans Aid & Attendance
  • Blogs
    • Lifestyle
    • Franchising
    • Newsroom
  • Hand in Hand Newsletter
  • Franchise Opportunities
  • Ask a Question

Blog

Home Brain Health 5 Ways to Exercise Your Brain—and Why It’s Important

5 Ways to Exercise Your Brain—and Why It’s Important

April 23, 2020slorenz

Most people have a pretty good understanding that staying healthy typically requires some sort of exercise—even if it’s gentle chair exercises, light walking, or stretching—and eating right.  But did you know that you should actually be exercising your brain too?

Mental fitness includes your brain health and also your emotional health, and keeping it in tip-top shape helps you do things like:

  • Slow down
  • Destress
  • Decompress
  • Boost a declining memory (or prevent it from getting to that point)

According to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, certain memory training exercises can increase “fluid intelligence,” the ability to reason and solve new problems.

Exercising your brain helps activate neurons and parts of your brain that you may not be using regularly.  Think about if you just sat and watched TV all day without really doing anything to have to think.  You’re not activating different parts of your brain, which means those parts of your brain tend to be slower to respond.  This leads to slower responses in conversation, reactions to outside stimuli, memory impairment, and even brain fog.

How Do I Exercise My Brain?

Exercising your brain seems like a strange concept, considering it feels like thinking all day would be enough exercise.  But the problem is, when all you’re doing is thinking about what you’re watching on TV or about your daily worries, you’re actually only using one side of your brain.

To get a good hard brain sweat in, make a point to do one or more of these things at least once a day:

  1. Do crossword puzzles – Whether it’s in the daily newspaper or in a crossword puzzle book full of them, doing a crossword will stimulate your brain, increase your vocabulary, and help you use parts of your brain you don’t typically use in everyday tasks. If you’d prefer to do a crossword puzzle online, try USA Today’s puzzle games.
  2. Read a book – Grab a fiction book and escape to far-away places while trying to imagine what the worlds would look like visually, or pick up some non-fiction and learn a bunch of new things you’d always wanted to know more about. Since you can’t walk to the library right now, try ordering your books from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or you can get an ebook version for your Kindle or from Google Books.  This also gives you the option to read any book in large print if that’s your preference.
  3. Put together a jigsaw puzzle – You could try a 1000-piece, more complicated puzzle, or you could do something simpler and go for bigger pieces with nature scenes. Whatever you choose, when you do a puzzle, you’re using multiple cognitive abilities and is a protective factor for visuospatial cognitive aging.
  4. Play an instrument – Maybe you’ve played guitar your whole life, or maybe you have a passion for the piano, OR maybe you’ve never played an instrument for one second. No matter what the circumstances, playing an instrument helps you use the creative side of your brain, and if you’re learning a whole new instrument or some new songs, the concentration it takes to learn a new thing strengthens your brain!
  5. Learn a new language – Websites like duolingo and babbel allow you to learn a new language at your own pace. This makes your brain concentrate and focus on listening, which stimulates the brain.  It strengthens your vocabulary (in both languages) too!

You can do one of these activities if you decide you love it, or you can do a little of all of them, or maybe you have another brain-stimulating activity that you are passionate about and want to start back up.  It doesn’t matter what you do to stimulate your brain, just make sure you do it (and make sure you have fun with it too!).

Previous post On the Bright Side – Bluebirds Next post Get Moving—From Your Chair!

Newsletters

Facebook
Twitter

Categories

  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • Brain Health
  • Business Awards
  • Caregiving Tips
  • COVID-19
  • Elder Care
  • Healthy Aging
  • Homecare
  • In Home Care
  • Legal & Financial
  • Long Term Care
  • News
  • Planning Ahead
  • Respite Care
  • Safety
  • Senior Care
  • Summer
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Volunteering

Recent Posts

  • Sneaky Habits That Cause Caregiver Weight Gain
  • The Importance of Senior Vitamins and Minerals
  • Another Bowl, Please–Three Yummy Immune-Boosting Soup Recipes
  • Glaucoma—Signs and Care
  • 5 Simple Ways to Improve the Quality of Life for Your Loved One

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • May 2018
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • May 2012
chat-icon

Read Our Newsletter

Read More
apache_pb

Download Our Brochure

Download
logo

assisting hands

Assisting Hands Home Care provides elder care services and senior in home care services for families across the country.

  • 866-924-2442
  • support@assistinghands.com
  • 5700 East Franklin Rd Nampa ID 83687

Follow Us

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
Pinterest

Company

  • In Home Health Care, Elder Care & Senior Caregivers
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Services
  • Company News
  • Newsletter
  • Franchise Opportunities
  • Location List

Services

  • Hiring an Agency vs.
    Direct Caregiver
  • Senior In Home Care
  • Elderly Care Services
  • Coordination of Care
  • Personal Care
  • Skilled Nursing Therapy
  • Benefits Outweigh Cost

Legal

  • Site Terms
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Crunchbase

2020 Assisting Hands Home Care. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | Powered by Path