Brain Activities

Providing the brain with new experiences that combine physical senses—vision, smell, touch, taste, and hearing—with emotional “sense” stimulates the connections between different brain areas, causes nerve cells to produce natural brain nutrients that dramatically help memory, and encourages surrounding brain cells to become more resilient and more resistant to the effects of aging.

Choose a variety of activities that you enjoy

For the best results, choose enjoyable activities that challenge your brain in a variety of ways.  attempting activities that you find very difficult, boring, or discourage, you may become yourself frustrated or overly stressed. This type of stressful brain activity may not be healthy for your brain.

With a variety of mentally stimulating activities, start at an easier level and move to more challenging levels as you build your skills, through repetitive practice.  This also helps you include new learning in your routine, which is important for building your brain reserve.

Throughout our lives, we are involved in different types of mentally stimulating activities.  Exercising your brain can help reduce your risk of developing dementia.

Formal education, working or running a family e.  What you do in your leisure time can keep your brain very active. If you are retired, you should think about new ways to give your brain a regular day-to-day workout.  There are many activities that involve mental stimulation and are challenging.  You could try:

• A hobby such as painting, carpentry, metal work, sewing, craft or collecting
• A short course such as woodwork, gardening, computers, cooking, mechanics or yoga
• Reading different styles of books, newspapers or magazines
• Writing poetry, essays or keeping a diary
• Doing jigsaw, crossword, number or word puzzles
• Playing board games or cards
• Learning to dance, play an instrument or speak a new language
• Going to the theatre, movies, museum, gallery or a concert
• Cooking a new recipe or building a model
• Joining a club or community group or volunteering
• Researching something you’re interested in on the internet or at your local library

Having a chat with a friend about current affairs involves brain exercise, so being social is of great benefit.  Choose activities that you enjoy and try to include a variety of differing activities to exercise different parts of your brain.

It is critical to challenge yourself regularly, always looking for ways to learn something new throughout life, to keep your brain sharp and to reduce your risk of dementia.