Most workouts, like cardio, can help with mood and stress, which is excellent for the mind. But a brain exercise can do more than that. For instance, you can improve focus, memory, and overall cognition with a few challenging mental activities. That’s why brain exercises should be as important as exercising the whole body.

So, whether you’re a student wanting to perform well, or an older adult looking for ways to keep the mind active, these brain exercises are perfect for you:

Easy Brain Exercises You Can Do

Playing Jigsaw Puzzles

Figuring out where puzzle pieces go together needs concentration, which exercises the brain. A study found that playing jigsaw puzzles helps improve cognition and spatial intelligence. Additionally, focusing on a jigsaw puzzle helps in short-term memory and problem-solving skills.

Puzzles force you to think of ways to solve the problem at hand. It requires you to be imaginative. So while you’re solving puzzles, you’re also increasing your creativity.

The good thing is that you can now play online on sites like Im-a-puzzle. There’s no need to think about the mess or the cost of new puzzles. With an online jigsaw puzzle, you can adjust the game’s difficulty level, play with different designs, or upload your preferred photo and transform it into a game.

Enhancing your Vocabulary

Building your vocabulary doesn’t just make you sound smart, but it also exercises your brain. By learning unfamiliar words, you stimulate your brain in different ways. You connect different scenarios when you hear a word you recognize. While this happens, you stimulate areas significant to your visual and auditory processing.

In addition, your brain associates other words that will go properly with the new words you learn, which creates new scenarios in your brain. Finally, it also helps improve memory.

You can try learning new words every day on sites like  Vocabulary.com or learn a new language, which is another way to level up this brain exercise.

Learning New Skills

Introducing a new challenge to your brain helps improve your mind and keep it active. One study found that a group of adults, who learned new skills, significantly improved on memory tests the researchers provided, even when they repeated the same test one year later.

You can play new musical instruments, repair electronics, or do arts and crafts. The good news is that the skills you can learn are limitless, and they all provide the same benefit for your brain.

Playing Music

Research shows that listening or playing music helps reduce anxiety and improve sleep, mood, mental alertness, and memory. In addition, a 2017 study found that listening to happy music, in particular, helps boost creative thinking and generate excellent problem-solving skills.

This brain exercise gives you all the more reason to crank up your favorite playlist while you work and pick up your instrument during breaks.

Meditation

Meditation is an old yet effective way to calm and exercise the brain. Studies show that mindfulness meditation helps increase mental flexibility and improve focus and empathy. Doing this every day can also reduce stress and anxiety. And all you need is a few minutes of your day in a quiet spot to get these benefits.

Train Your Brain

Brain exercises are good for you, especially as you get older. The good news is that you can do these brain exercises anywhere: in the comfort of your home, at school, or in the office. You’ll be surprised how a few minutes of your day can help your mind in so many ways in the long run. Stay physically and mentally healthy!