How to Strengthen Your Mind
Stick with hobbies that challenge you., Learn something new., Repeat things you want to memorize., Organize lists into groups., Create mental images to boost memory., Skip the brain-training apps., Postpone your brain's aging.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Stick with hobbies that challenge you.
If something you’re already doing consistently challenges you and keeps you engaged, it is strengthening your brain.
In fact, your brain requires challenging stimulation to continue becoming more powerful.
Hobbies that continually force you to do new things, like learning to play a new song, are ideal for working out your brain.An important distinction to consider: playing a difficult song that you’ve already memorized is much different than learning a new song.
Learning the new song will engage your brain more aggressively, and provide you with a better mental workout. -
Step 2: Learn something new.
Unfamiliar tasks force your brain to create new neural pathways that strengthen your ability to solve problems, execute tasks, and even process and recall information.
One way to ensure your brain is faced with new mental tasks is to start learning a new skill.
Ensure whatever skill you’re looking to pick up will be able to continually challenge you.
Further, make sure you’re interested enough to stick with it.Perhaps the best example is learning a new language.
Learning a new language is particularly challenging and mentally engaging. , Repeating something over and over to yourself is one of the surest ways to get it to stick in your memory.
The better you become at committing information to memory, the more capable your memory becomes generally.
Your memory is even more likely to be engaged if you paraphrase the information you want to memorize slightly differently as you’re repeating it.
For example, when you meet someone new, repeat their name back to them out loud.
Then repeat it several times over in your head.When someone or some new fact pops back into your mind, repeat it to yourself again several times over.
Each time, vary the thought slightly.
For instance, “Her name is Jenny” and “That gal’s name is Jenny.” , Even your grocery list can become a quick brain work out.
Our brain enjoys organizing and building associations, and asking it to do so provides the mental equivalent of dropping and doing twenty.
For instance, group the items on any list into like categories.
For instance, reorganize your grocery list so all the produce items are together, and all the canned goods in a different category.
This will specifically engage your short-term memory.This is also called “chunking.” Phone numbers are an example of how chunking can enhance your memory.
Think of how hard it would be to remember ten straight digits, as opposed a few at a time, separated by dashes. , Mnemonics are clues you can assign to certain information to help you remember something.
One of the most classic examples is visual imaging.
You want to remember who Michael Jordan is? Think a man wearing red shorts, floating through the air, ball cocked pack like a hatchet, legs spread to nearly a right angle.Imagining this image while thinking about the name Michael Jordan, for instance, makes it more likely that you remember the name.
Note colors and account for some three-dimensional depth.
Make the image as vivid as you can.
For instance, conjure another player, perhaps wearing a yellow jersey with a purple 8 on it, flopping and fading into the darkness.
Acronyms, such as “HOMES” to help remembers the names of each of North America’s Great Lakes, and rhymes are other mnemonics that can help you remember specific things, and increase your memory’s capacity overall. , There are plenty of claims made by apps and online companies about strengthening your brain.
Many will claim to improve your memory, attention span, ability to solve problems, and even boost your IQ.
Research on the efficacy of these apps indicates that they don’t do any of these things.
While you may get better at the particular sort of task the app asks you to perform, your intelligence, memory, and cognitive abilities are unlikely to be affected., Keep your mind active to help prevent the mental fogginess that many people experience as they age.
You can even postpone the symptoms of diseases such as Alzheimer's by keeping your brain engaged.
The steps in this section, as well as many in the following sections are important to keep your brain healthy as you age.If you're beginning to endure symptoms of mental decline, don't worry.
Following the steps throughout this article
- including eating healthy and exercising
- can help your mind get back on track! If you've been diagnosed with some form of dementia, you've likely noticed your mind begin to change substantially.
Fortunately, changing your behavior in the ways mentioned here can slow these changes.
Talk to your doctor about your medication options as well.
Consider taking part in a clinical trial to get access to the newest drugs. -
Step 3: Repeat things you want to memorize.
-
Step 4: Organize lists into groups.
-
Step 5: Create mental images to boost memory.
-
Step 6: Skip the brain-training apps.
-
Step 7: Postpone your brain's aging.
Detailed Guide
If something you’re already doing consistently challenges you and keeps you engaged, it is strengthening your brain.
In fact, your brain requires challenging stimulation to continue becoming more powerful.
Hobbies that continually force you to do new things, like learning to play a new song, are ideal for working out your brain.An important distinction to consider: playing a difficult song that you’ve already memorized is much different than learning a new song.
Learning the new song will engage your brain more aggressively, and provide you with a better mental workout.
Unfamiliar tasks force your brain to create new neural pathways that strengthen your ability to solve problems, execute tasks, and even process and recall information.
One way to ensure your brain is faced with new mental tasks is to start learning a new skill.
Ensure whatever skill you’re looking to pick up will be able to continually challenge you.
Further, make sure you’re interested enough to stick with it.Perhaps the best example is learning a new language.
Learning a new language is particularly challenging and mentally engaging. , Repeating something over and over to yourself is one of the surest ways to get it to stick in your memory.
The better you become at committing information to memory, the more capable your memory becomes generally.
Your memory is even more likely to be engaged if you paraphrase the information you want to memorize slightly differently as you’re repeating it.
For example, when you meet someone new, repeat their name back to them out loud.
Then repeat it several times over in your head.When someone or some new fact pops back into your mind, repeat it to yourself again several times over.
Each time, vary the thought slightly.
For instance, “Her name is Jenny” and “That gal’s name is Jenny.” , Even your grocery list can become a quick brain work out.
Our brain enjoys organizing and building associations, and asking it to do so provides the mental equivalent of dropping and doing twenty.
For instance, group the items on any list into like categories.
For instance, reorganize your grocery list so all the produce items are together, and all the canned goods in a different category.
This will specifically engage your short-term memory.This is also called “chunking.” Phone numbers are an example of how chunking can enhance your memory.
Think of how hard it would be to remember ten straight digits, as opposed a few at a time, separated by dashes. , Mnemonics are clues you can assign to certain information to help you remember something.
One of the most classic examples is visual imaging.
You want to remember who Michael Jordan is? Think a man wearing red shorts, floating through the air, ball cocked pack like a hatchet, legs spread to nearly a right angle.Imagining this image while thinking about the name Michael Jordan, for instance, makes it more likely that you remember the name.
Note colors and account for some three-dimensional depth.
Make the image as vivid as you can.
For instance, conjure another player, perhaps wearing a yellow jersey with a purple 8 on it, flopping and fading into the darkness.
Acronyms, such as “HOMES” to help remembers the names of each of North America’s Great Lakes, and rhymes are other mnemonics that can help you remember specific things, and increase your memory’s capacity overall. , There are plenty of claims made by apps and online companies about strengthening your brain.
Many will claim to improve your memory, attention span, ability to solve problems, and even boost your IQ.
Research on the efficacy of these apps indicates that they don’t do any of these things.
While you may get better at the particular sort of task the app asks you to perform, your intelligence, memory, and cognitive abilities are unlikely to be affected., Keep your mind active to help prevent the mental fogginess that many people experience as they age.
You can even postpone the symptoms of diseases such as Alzheimer's by keeping your brain engaged.
The steps in this section, as well as many in the following sections are important to keep your brain healthy as you age.If you're beginning to endure symptoms of mental decline, don't worry.
Following the steps throughout this article
- including eating healthy and exercising
- can help your mind get back on track! If you've been diagnosed with some form of dementia, you've likely noticed your mind begin to change substantially.
Fortunately, changing your behavior in the ways mentioned here can slow these changes.
Talk to your doctor about your medication options as well.
Consider taking part in a clinical trial to get access to the newest drugs.
About the Author
Jacqueline Perry
Specializes in breaking down complex DIY projects topics into simple steps.
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