As the title implies, we’re going to talk about exercising your brain today. I had always thought that exercise referred to your muscles, like working out and whatnot, but apparently there’s more to it! But first off, why is this even useful? The phrase “use it or lose it” comes to mind. As we get older, there are several diseases we could list regarding the deterioration of the brain’s function, like dementia or alzheimers. But hope is not lost! There are five different parts of the brain that you can work on maintaining, or even improving, and possibly prevent some of these diseases as you age.
The first part of the brain we are going to cover is Attention. This way our ADD readers can at least learn about this (haha just kidding). Anyways, attention is very important. Attention boils down to concentration and focus, sometimes even several things all at once. As we get older, our ability to avoid distractions diminishes; we become more and more easily distracted. So what are some ways we can keep our sanity and remain focused as we age? It’s actually quite simple; you just multitask on a regular basis. You can listen to an audiobook as you are driving, sing as you are cooking, or listen to music as you are doing homework. If you already multitask regularly, like most mothers I know, then you are set.
This brings us to the next section: Memory. We all know a person who would forget their head if it wasn’t attached to them! Anyways, it is actually really simple to improve it. Just start doing things differently and avoid your usual routine. Take a different route to work, put your other shoes on first, or try doing things in the dark. These challenge your brain and get you to focus more on what you’re doing.
Executive Function. This is what you use to make decisions and hypothesize the possible outcomes. You can do this by playing video games. Yes! Finally there’s an excuse to play Zelda (besides the fact that it’s awesome). Having a conversation with your friend is also a good way to exercise this.
Visual-Spacial is next. This is your ability to analyze visual information, like colors or locations. One way you can improve this is to play memory games like Match Game or certain card games.
The last part is Language. This refers to our interaction with words and meanings, as well as fluency, grammar, and vocabulary. You can improve your language by strengthening your ability to speak. That is, start reading more. The best way to learn new words and their proper meanings is through context. This gives you the immediate knowledge on how it’s supposed to be used and a good ideas on what it means.
Well, I hope these tips help you to simply grow older, not crazier!