Free Brain Training Tips

While many spend large amounts of time, money and energy on developing their physical strength, few realize that their mental capacity can be similarly developed and strengthened. We often feel like we are simply stuck with what we're given mentally, but that is not the case. While we all are born with certain innate cognitive abilities, there are a number of exercises you can engage in to increase your mental faculties just as you would your physical ones. Think of it as brain gym training.

Memory

Memory is a pivotal component of all cognitive activities, from reading to calculation and reasoning. There are many different types of memory at work in the brain. You need to train if you want to maintain an good memory. Luckily this is not difficult as it may seem at first. Acetylcholine, a chemical that helps build the brain, is enhanced every time you memorize the lyrics to a new song. This helps increase memory capacity. Other challenges that can help include using the non-dominant hand to perform mundane activities and performing daily tasks without the aid of light.

Concentration

Focus is essential to all cognitive tasks. The ability to sustain attention amidst external distractions aids greatly in the ability of the brain to take on new mental challenges. By simply changing up your routine, you can improve attention. Simple changes such as taking a new route to work or reorganizing your workspace can wake your brain up to stay attentive. As we age it can become easier to get distracted. By combining activities such as running while listening to podcasts or doing math in your head can push your brain to maintain optimal levels of concentrative ability.

Linguistic

Language activities can train up our ability to recognize patterns in speech and remember and understand words. They also can boost your fluency, grammatical skills and vocabulary. With sustained effort, you can broaden your knowledge of new words and increase the time of retrieval for familiar ones. Change up your reading so that you are exposed to new language patterns and words. This will increase your mental flexibility and word use, making language more fun and expressible.

Stay Sharp

These are a few things you can do to immediately begin developing and strengthening your brain. Brain gym training can be just as effective as a regular exercise or training at the gym, as your mind is just as necessary a tool in your daily functioning in life as your physical capacities. Keep your mind sharp so that you will be on top of your game and ahead of your peers even in old age. You can maintain your cognitive abilities longer than your physical ones, and in the long run your mind will be your greater asset.