5 Brain Exercises to Keep Your Mind Sharp and Healthy
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Now more than ever, it is important to keep our minds sharp and agile. Many of us are experiencing unique, unprecedented lifestyle changes as we are altering our daily routines to make sure we stay safe and healthy, we protect our loved ones, and we still fulfill all of our responsibilities and obligations to maintain a semblance of normal life. Recent events have certainly been a challenge to many of us, and as we look to the future, hoping that this crisis will be behind us soon, it is important that we take the steps now to ensure we remain strong and healthy – mentally and physically.
Reports of emotional fatigue are extremely prevalent right now, as individuals are feeling a little stir-crazy as a result of staying home more often. Many are working from home, home-schooling, shopping online to stay home, and more. After months of being under one roof with work, family, pets, and all of your responsibilities, it is completely natural to feel fatigued and a bit stressed. It is okay – feeling this way is human.
To help you regain some emotional balance and to keep your mind healthy and sharp, you can engage in a few brain exercises each day. Believe it or not, these simple activities are not only good distractions and forms of entertainment, research shows that they also act as simple ways to combat fatigue, improve your memory, promote relaxation, and even help you feel more kind and thoughtful. Here are a few simple brain exercises to begin implementing today to help your mind stay agile and promote a sense of emotional peace, too.
Train Your Brain – 5 Fun Exercises
- Play a game of cards. This may sound silly – it’s just a game, right? Studies show that playing a game of cards like hearts, poker, solitaire, or bridge, can actually stimulate several cognitive functions that you do not utilize on a regular basis. One study even found that playing cards influenced several regions of the brain, leading to greater brain volume and activity. So, take that dusty deck of cards out of the drawer and deal up a brain-strengthening game of your choosing.
- Dance the night away. Take a few moments and look up a dance lesson of any kind. It can be a workout class like Zumba or a fully choreographed routine to one of your favorite songs – any instance of you learning dance moves will do. Some modern video games even have step-by-step dance instructions with a corresponding score, making this activity even more enjoyable! The act of physically moving your entire body while trying to learn a specific set of moves works wonders on your brain. You are engaging numerous connections between your brain and limbs, triggering coordination, and brain functions you typically do not use. You can improve your memory, your overall processing speed, and a secondary benefit – you get a great workout!
- Work on a puzzle. Taking time to focus on a puzzle of nearly any kind will engage several of the brain’s functions. Choose an image you really like, challenge yourself with a 3-D jigsaw puzzle, try a brain-challenging Rubix cube, or even give a sudoku number puzzle a try. Any of these brain-engaging puzzles will strengthen your brain, utilize multiple cognitive abilities including critical thinking, spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, and even slow down how quickly the brain ages. Plus, once you complete it, you will feel a truly satisfying sense of accomplishment.
- Engage all of your senses at once. There are many activities requiring you to use multiple senses simultaneously in order to fully enjoy the experience. For example, you can try a new recipe, following the instructions step-by-step. Make sure you intentionally engage all of your senses by watching what you do carefully (safety first!), feeling the texture of each ingredient, smelling each spice or seasoning, tasting your creation along the way, and listening to the sizzles or sounds that come along with preparing the recipe. You will benefit most from cooking or baking something completely new, challenging your mind and dexterity.
- Learn something new, then teach it to someone else. One of the best ways to awaken the brain’s untapped potential and create new thriving connections is to learn something new. Choose anything new that appeals to you – knitting, painting, drawing, cooking, wood-carving, pottery, calligraphy, swinging a baseball bat – just about any skill that is out of your comfort zone will do. Read about it, practice it, then, when you feel like you’ve got the hang of it, offer to teach it to someone else. The teaching aspect is another in-depth way to engage your brain and spark your use of memory, nimbleness, and verbal skills to explain it. You will not only walk away with a new skill, you will have exercised your brain, too!
Stay Healthy with The Hemp Doctor
At The Hemp Doctor, our primary goal is to help our family, our friends, and our valued customers live their very best, healthiest lives. In addition to selling some of the world’s most effective and pure hemp-derived wellness products, we are passionate about providing helpful educational information. Everything we do is with your wellness in mind, so we hope these fun brain exercises can help increase your mental agility while also improving how you process emotional fatigue during these challenging times.
If you are seeking additional all-natural support for the overworked mind and body, feel free to browse our wide inventory of organic hemp-derived wellness products! There truly is something for everyone. From CBD-infused chocolate and gum to nourishing body products, we have a unique innovation crafted with you and your daily needs in mind. Our products are third-party lab tested for quality assurance and backed by a complete money-back guarantee, so you can shop with confidence!
You can visit us in person at our Mooresville, NC shop, or conveniently shop online 24/7! Our website is full of helpful resources to support you on your wellness journey, as well as industry-leading customer service ready to answer any question you may have. See you soon!