Our brains are the most critical organ in our entire body. They control everything we do, think, say, feel, and much more. Without a healthy working brain, our lives are compromised. If you’ve ever met anyone with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, you understand what we mean.
We work out all the muscles in our body with hopes of living longer, but what good will it do if you can’t remember anything? Brain exercises are a fun way to work out your mind.
One study showed, “Respondents who engaged in just one healthy behavior were 21% less likely to report memory problems, while those engaged in three healthy behaviors were 75% less likely to notice forgetfulness.”
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Can brain exercises help delay memory loss or dementia?
A study conducted in 2015 showed that there was “an improvement in different cognitive domains.” When adults were studied, they found brain exercises offered benefits after all and improved cognitive abilities. Maybe it can improve short-term memory.
Florian Schmiedek, a psychologist of the German Institute for International Educational Research in Frankfurt and co-authors, found that less than one-quarter of them used multiple outcome measures when it comes to brain training studies. And only 7% used latent variables in their studies.
What kinds of brain exercises should I do?
Below we put together a list of nine places where you can find games and puzzles that will enhance your cognitive functions. When you read through them, you’ll see that some focus on your memory and test those abilities while others assign tasks that will make you wonder, how does this help?
How does brain activity help?
The only way to describe it is to compare it to your muscles. If you never used them, they would be mushy and deteriorate. The same goes for your brain. That’s why things like reading, meditating, learning a new language, and games like the ones we’ve listed below are fantastic avenues to give your brain a workout.
Will more sleep help protect me from dementia?
As it turns out, sleep is a great way to battle the onset of dementia. One study conducted in both Toronto and Chicago found reduced the development of clinical Alzheimer’s.
Below are nine places you can go to and get started. Take control of your future by upgrading that processing speed. This is the first step toward brain health.
9 Brain Exercises to Boost Memory
1. Sudoku
The Swiss are the inventors of this popular game, which you may be familiar with if you’ve ever read a newspaper. It was invented in 1783 by Leonhard Euler, a mathematician. Sudoku is played on grids. There are eighty-one squares that make up nine large grids, which are made up of nine squares.
To complete the grid correctly, the player must place numbers 1 through 9 in a square without repeating it in the same row of the larger space. The player must use vigorous brain activity to complete a Sudoku square correctly, which is an excellent workout for your cognition. Like anything else, Sudoku takes practice to get right.
2. Luminosity
Since 2015, an app by the name of Luminosity has been helping people keep their brains sharp. They offer their users daily exercises for their minds by providing a fresh set of games every day to keep you challenged. The whole time they track your progress, which shows you how you’ve improved and where you need work.
Scientists who work for Luminosity take exercises focused on cognitive training and then create brain games for us, so we are having fun while giving our brain a workout and keeping score as you go. You can download it to your phone, tablet, or computer. Repetition and attention are the focuses of several activities.
3. Elevate
Here we have another app, which makes sense because games are more fun on our phones. This one set out to improve minds and has been doing so since 2014, making them a year older than Luminosity. They offer their users flexible training and the ability to customize their focus.
Elevate offers more than thirty-five games that target reading, writing, speaking, and math. They offer unlimited access to their users and will keep detailed measurements of your performance. You can access their app on your phone, tablet, and computer.
4. Crosswords
Crosswords are another game that goes back farther than the computer, and many people relate to the Sunday newspaper. At least those of us who remember newspapers. Invented by Arthur Wynne in 1913, crossword puzzles have been dazzling and challenging players for more than a century.
The idea of a crossword puzzle is to solve the clue in as many squares as possible, all while the letters of each word that goes across create words that do. If you don’t know how to play crossword puzzles, we recommend trying one out, and you’ll get the hang of it quickly.
5. Peak
In the world of phones, tablets, and the internet, it’s not surprising that most of the games available to you will be via the application. This is no different for Peak. This app offers you a daily routine that you will love, according to its users and reviews. They know that “your time is precious,” so they provide short games or “workouts” that are intense.
You will be offered a coach or personal train when using Peak, who is there to motivate you to keep moving forward. They also provide advanced training and Peak Pro for those who want to move forward with their cognitive activity.
6. Brain Age Concentration Training
Not all games have to be played on your devices. There is an entire industry built around gaming and the consoles offered on the market. This game is played on the Nintendo 3DS and offers Devilish Training exercises to improve concentration and memory.
The games alternate in difficulty and are based on real-time results. Creators want players to be continually challenged, and this game succeeds. It comes with Supplemental Training and Brain Training as well. When you reach a certain percentage of success, the difficulty level increases.
7. Happy Neuron
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Getting their start in 2000, Happy Neuron offers a network of scientific experts that create games with cognitive stimulation being the ultimate goal. Their website has three leading offers: My Happy Neuron, Happy Neuron Pro, and Happy Neuron Solutions.
When using their games, they offer personalized challenges that are fun while keeping track of your progress. It also challenges your logic and offers you coach guidance. They offer a seven-day free trial when you sign up.
8. Braingle
Here we have a website that offers you a brain teaser as soon as you get to their home page. Braingle offers puzzles, trivia, metallomics, games, and a community to help you if you need it. You can sign up for a free account and start your exercises right away.
Other offerings include optical illusions, codes & ciphers, a fact box (where you discover fascinating facts and take random quizzes), vocab builder, and flashcards to improve memory. There are card games, puzzle contests, and IQ tests.
9. Queendom
This self-proclaimed “land of tests” is spot on with that name. Queendom offers the user a “sheer choice of topics” that “will inspire you on the road to self-discovery.” A subsidiary of PsychTests, AIM Inc. offers emotional intelligence tests, analytical reasoning tests, interpersonal communications, careers, and more.
Are you assertive? A risk-taker? What is your sleep hygiene? No matter what part of your life you are looking to enhance in a cognitive sense, there’s a test here to help you get there.
Conclusion
These games are wonderful if you want to exercise your brain. Pair this with a healthy diet and you’ll be invincible. The key is to create a lifestyle that enhances your mind, body, and soul.
