Brain Games
With others
Individual
Physical
Cognitive
What brain exercises are there that can help maintain or restore health? I divide the types of exercises into two groups. Solitaire exercises such as games one plays by one’s self, and social exercises where others are involved. While both are important, eye to eye, face to face interaction with healthy people is essential to achieve full mental and emotional health. The best activity one can indulge in is face to face communication with healthy people. According to Life model:
“Right-hemisphere-to-right-hemisphere communication requires face-to-face interaction between two people. Right-hemisphere-to-right-hemisphere communication is so fast it completes six cycles of communication every second. This rapid and authentic communication creates a momentary mutual mind between the two brains. If one brain has a trained control center and the other does not, this right-hemisphere-to-right-hemisphere has very strong training effect on the untrained brain’s control center.”
Life Model also has a program called Thrive, where they say they have good results in “resynchronizing the brain.” In short, they say communication with others is essential. Their Thrive program is summarized as follows:
Simple things you can do to reduce the effects of traumatic events and memories
1. Before traumas happen and after traumas happen build joyful and permanent relationships with others. Share a mutual-mind moment with those who are joyful.
2. Share the pain face-to-face with someone you know and trust. Either will make the pain bigger or smaller than it is. Share the emotion and just be together. Seek to share a mutual-mind moment with those who are hurting. Do not stay alone or leave others alone in pain.
3. When emotions and trauma have left you without peace take your thoughts to God and ask God if they are the truth about you. Ask, “Is it true that I hurt about this because of (fill in your thought.)” Wait for God to answer. If you see someone else without peace in their pain help them, have a mutual-mind moment with God after they have had one with you.
4. Tell others the story of how you found peace or retrained your brain so they too can have hope.
These include card games and board games. Dominoes for example is a tremendous mathematical game. I was able to find a set of double 15s. That will exercise and stretch anyone’s brain. The point is in the fellowship, not the competition.
I once played a game of “Uno” with some Mexican friends. Before this, I would play with my sister and learned to hate the game. The instructions state that the object of the game is to get rid of your cards first. However, these two played a different and exiting game. The object of their game was to make the game last as long as possible. When I understood this, the game became fun.
I found a variety of one player exercises ranging from: Sudoku to drawing. One can find these online or in books. They include:
Recall games. Games like “Match” where you lay out a number of cards face down then turn them over two at a time, removing the cards as you find matches.
Make a list — of grocery items, things to do, or anything else that comes to mind — and memorize it. An hour or so later, see how many items you can recall. Make items on the list as challenging as possible for the greatest mental stimulation.
Do math in your head. Figure out problems without the aid of pencil, paper, or computer; you can make this more difficult — and athletic — by walking at the same time.
Draw a map from memory. After returning home from visiting a new place, try to draw a map of the area; repeat this exercise each time you visit a new location.
Learning to do new things challenges the coordination of the brain and body.
Learn to play a musical instrument or join a choir. Studies show that learning something new and complex over a longer period of time is ideal for the aging mind.
Take a cooking class. Learn how to cook a new cuisine. Cooking uses a number of senses: smell, touch, sight, and taste, which all involve different parts of the brain.
Refine your hand-eye abilities. Take up a new hobby that involves fine-motor skills, such as knitting, drawing, painting, assembling a puzzle, etc.
Learn a new sport. Start doing an athletic exercise that utilizes both mind and body, such as golf, or tennis.
Listening and hearing involve stimulating the brain. What’s more, a rich vocabulary has been linked to a reduced risk for cognitive decline.
Create word pictures. Look at an object for ten or fifteen minutes then try to describe it on paper.
Visualize the spelling of a word in your head, then try and think of any other words that begin (or end) with the same two letters.
Memorize passages from the Bible. This not only helps brain function and recall but will calm your soul and teaches truth, also.
Challenge your taste buds. When eating, try to identify individual ingredients in your meal, including subtle herbs and spices.
Brain Creativity
Being creative is a good thing; in fact it’s essential if we want to make your life better. Stimulating areas of your brain is a healthy process.
Other games:
Tower of Hanoi
Sudoku
Rubik’s Cube
Math Problems
Arrange numbers in the right order in a short time.
Other activities such as gardening, hiking, camping, dancing, and martial arts have proven to be beneficial in unexpected ways. Remember, exercises with others has a greater effect that exercising alone. Exercising alone is better than not exercising at all.