8 Easy Brain Exercises to Keep Your Mind Healthy

Eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise helps you maintain your overall health and wellness. But, did you know that exercising your brain is just as important as exercising your body? Challenging your brain each day with a few easy brain exercises can do the trick.

Why Work Out Your Brain?

Getting daily physical activity keeps your muscles strong and healthy. Exercise can help improve your mobility, strengthen muscles, and help you maintain independence. The same can be said about your brain. Doing mental exercises can keep your brain healthy, improve your memory, and promote better mental health and wellness. The benefits of brain exercises include:

• a sharper mind
• improved memory
• increased mental health
• reduced risk of dementia

Spending just a few minutes a day exercising your brain can sharpen your thinking skills and help keep your mind healthy.

Brain Exercises for Seniors

There are no right or wrong exercises when it comes to cognitive activities. Any task that makes you think is good for your brain. These activities promote critical thinking and improve learning and memory. Find brain games you genuinely enjoy doing and mix it up when you get bored. These are just a few brain exercises to get you started.

Play Card and Board Games

Playing games is a perfect brain activity. Whether you play solitaire at home or meet with friends for weekly board game nights, you can stimulate your brain and have fun while doing it. Playing strategic games like chess improves your reasoning skills, and group board games challenges your brain to multitask.

Solve Puzzles

Puzzles give your brain a real workout. Whether you like word puzzles, number puzzles, logic puzzles, or jigsaw puzzles, these problem-solving activities can keep your brain buzzing. They can improve your problem-solving skills, help you think outside the box, and push you to look for patterns. Keeping your brain healthy is as easy as working on your daily crossword while drinking your morning coffee.

Start a New Hobby

Have you always wanted to learn a new language or take up knitting? Stretch your mental muscles by learning new skills. Birdwatching, gardening, cooking, painting, singing, and woodworking are a few examples of hobbies that can keep your brain active. Learning a new skill helps you pay attention to details and improve your memory.

Try Online and Mobile Games

Online games and mobile apps can boost brain health, and there are hundreds to choose from. You can find downloadable games that can challenge your memory skills and improve your critical thinking. Look for brain-boosting games like match-3 games, online puzzles, logic games, word search games, memory games, or any other online games that put a smile on your face.

You can find fun online games and brain teasers at improvememory.org. Many online games are easy to use, and you don’t have to be tech-savvy to enjoy playing games on your computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Read More

Exercising your brain doesn’t have to be complicated. Reading is a great way to stimulate your brain. Choose a book you enjoy, and work out your brain while relaxing on the couch.

Do Arts and Crafts

Making things with your hands is a great brain exercise. Crafting pushes you to think creatively and use your imagination. It also improves your dexterity and hand-eye coordination. Try creating gifts for family and friends or upcycling items around your home with a crafty touch.

Adult coloring books are another easy and inexpensive way to flex your creativity. Painting or experimenting with watercolors can also boost brain health.

Switch Hands

Here’s a fun brain exercise that’s a lot harder than you might think: do a simple task with your other hand. For example, try brushing your teeth or eating a meal with your non-dominant hand. Switching hands challenges your brain to build new connections and promotes neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt to changes.

Get Moving

Your brain is involved in every activity you do. Physical exercise can also boost your brain health, improve coordination, and sharpen your focus. Going for a walk in the park, joining a fitness class (like the SilverSneakers program), dancing, or doing yoga all combine physical and mental activity for even more health benefits.

Learn More About Brain-Boosting Activities

Your Medicare Advantage plan can help you get more active. If you’re a Clover Health member, find out how by giving us a call at 1-888-778-1478 (TTY 711). We’re available 8 am to 8 pm local time, 7 days a week.

Did you know that if you're a Clover Health member you can get rewarded for completing health-related tasks with our LiveHealthy Rewards program? Learn more here.

Published on 5/27/21

Photo credit: Getty