I don’t believe that with age comes illness and disease. I think that our state of health, as we age, has a lot to do with the way we take care of ourselves.

We need to stop using old age as an excuse to let ourselves go – both physically and mentally. We can stay sharp throughout life!

Those who know me know that I’m a huge advocate for regular physical activity. A healthy lifestyle should always include some level of exercise – the health promoting benefits are well known and documented.

And, just as it’s important to exercise your physical body, it’s also important to exercise your mental body, your brain.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Use it or lose it!”  This certainly holds truth for many things in life, and maintaining a healthy functioning brain is one of them.

Exercising Your Brain – Mental Fitness

A fun way to exercise your brain, is to play mind games.

Keep in mind that different activities and games will stimulate and engage different areas of the brain. For example, certain brain exercises will target the area of your brain that’s correlated to your memory. So, the important thing to remember is to play a variety of mind games.

Some examples include:

Logic and Reasoning (Sudoku)

Word Play (Rebus Puzzles)

Problem Solving (Eliminate Pieces)

Memory (Fruit Match) and Perception (Optical Illusions and Visual Perception Puzzles)

Creativity (Nine Magic Dots)

Math Play(Puzzles based on Math)

So, next time you’re bored and have a few minutes to spare, don’t get on Facebook. Play a mind game instead!

Best of Health,

Shahné

Do you have a favorite mind game?