Everyone knows, as the old saying goes, “the mind is a terrible thing to waste,” and brain exercises can help keep your gray matter from the waste that can sometimes occur. “Use it or lose it” is especially appropriate here, just as it is in the pursuit of a physical fitness program. Unused muscles naturally begin to atrophy. The ‘muscle’ between your ears behaves similarly.
There are lots of ways to exercise your brain. You can play word games, for example, to stimulate cognitive thinking. Crosswords, word search and word jumbles not only exercise the brain but also are fun, challenging and relaxing for those who spend time doing them. Online word games come in many forms and are fun and free. There are also many cool puzzle games, children’s puzzles for the youngsters as well as various educational puzzles for all ages.
Daily brain training is a good habit to acquire, even if for just five or ten minutes a day. If you pick brain exercises that you find fun and challenging the time will fly by while, in the process, you enhance your memory and increase mind power.
Most experts agree that age memory loss comes as a result of disuse. Alzheimer research indicates the condition can be headed off through pursuing different memory improvement exercises. For most of us, as we age our brain functions slowly start to diminish. This needn’t necessarily happen. Just as a regular physical exercise program can keep your physical body in good shape well into your senior years, an effective mental exercise program will do the same for your brain. Use it or lose it!
Many people who work hard their whole lives, looking forward to that eventual break called ‘retirement’, soon learn that having nothing to do all day isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Unless the retiree stays active, both physically and mentally, retirement can be not only boring but also detrimental to one’s well-being. For this reason, many seniors are continuing their careers well into their seventies, remaining active doing something that continues to give them a feeling of purpose. In the current financial climate some may have no option but to keep working past normal retirement age. For some, this may actually provide health benefits in the long run.
Brain exercises can consist of something as simple as doing the daily crossword puzzle in the newspaper. While you’re on that page, it might not be a bad idea to read the comics too. As always, laughter continues to be the best medicine!