Did you know?

1. Doing puzzles engage both the left and right hemispheres of your brain and help your visual and spatial reasoning, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
2. Continual learning engages various parts of the brain, enhancing your mental capabilities and helping ward off cognitive decline.
3. Cocoa flavanols are plant-based nutrients clinically proven to boost memory when consumed daily at high levels.

Ever forget where you parked your car or what you came into the room for? These little slip-ups can be traced back to lapses in memory. And memory, as well as emotions, creativity, and intelligence, begins with the brain, the body’s most complex organ. Whether you’re awake or sleeping, the brain is always active. But like your heart, lungs, muscles, and other parts of the body, it needs exercise to keep it functioning at its best.

What are brain exercises? Brain exercises, sometimes called brain training, are activities meant to improve your memory and cognitive function. These mental exercises can help sharpen your mind and fight memory loss at any age.

Brain Exercises

Ever wonder how to exercise your brain? Give your brain a workout with these ideas that can help train your mental muscle and memory.

Do a Jigsaw or Crossword Puzzle

Puzzles are not only a fun activity for the whole family; they are also a great way to train your brain. Puzzles, whether jigsaw or crossword, engage both the left and right hemispheres of your brain. The left controls logical and analytical thinking, while the right side controls creativity. As you try to fit in all the pieces or fill in all the spaces, puzzles are helping improve your visual and spatial reasoning, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.

Draw

Learned something new? Trying to remember something? Draw a picture of the information – no art skills required! Studies have shown that drawing enhanced memory in adults of all ages, including those with dementia. Researchers at the University of Waterloo found that drawing helped people retain new information better than other study techniques like rewriting notes. Why? The thought is that drawing incorporates various ways to represent the information, including visual, spatial, and verbal.

Build Your Vocabulary

Building your vocabulary can boost your memory. Research shows that vocabulary tasks utilize visual and auditory processing regions of the brain.2 Play vocabulary-building games to exercise your memory and recall-ability skills.

Learn or Teach a Skill

Always wanted to learn how to sew or be a better photographer? Trying out different hobbies and learning new skills can help improve your memory and focus. Continual learning engages various parts of the brain and strengthens the pathways between brain neurons in the brain, enhancing your mental capabilities and helping ward off cognitive decline that can happen with aging.

As for skills that you already have? Share your knowledge and teach someone else! You’ll be working on your own memory as you explain concepts.

Play Music & Listen To It Often

Researchers have studied the effects of music and memory, and the findings may be music to your ears: performing and listening to music have been found to have a positive impact on memory and reasoning. Music also reduces stress and improves mood which can influence cognition.

Get Moving & Dance

Dancing is not only a great exercise; it can also improve memory, attention, and focus. It doesn’t matter whether you dance in your living room, a ballroom, studio, or gym - just get moving! The body movements and emotional expression of dance support a variety of brain functions, including intellectual, motor, and emotional abilities.

Break Your Routine

You may think that doing the same thing, the same way, every day would benefit memory since it makes a task easier to remember. The truth is many daily tasks can be monotonous, and routines can put you in a rut. Research shows that changing your routine can stimulate the brain’s hippocampus, the part most responsible for memory.

For example, switch up your commute by taking a different route or transportation mode to get to work. Having new experiences, fresh perspectives, and a break from the typical, prevents burnout and the feeling that you’re working on “autopilot.”

Interested In Additional Ways To Keep Your Memory Sharp?

Brain workouts are great, but there’s another strategy for keeping your memory sharp: taking CocoaVia™ Memory+ supplement. Each serving of CocoaVia™ Memory+ delivers 750 mg of cocoa flavanols, plant-based nutrients proven to boost memory when consumed daily at high levels. One serving of CocoaVia™ Memory+ taken daily contains a level of cocoa flavanols clinically proven to improve memory and brain function in as little as eight to twelve weeks. Studies showed people experienced improvements in three types of memory: word recall, spatial memory, and long-term memory in 8-12 weeks. CocoaVia™ Memory+ is a smart complement to brain exercises. Shop Memory+ supplements today.