Exercise is good for the body, no doubt. But do you also know that it is even more beneficial to exercise your brain?
The brain is an essential part of the body. It is considered the control panel of the body. So it is good to take care of your brain just as you do to the body.
So here are some simple ways to exercise your mind and increase your cognitive function.
Use your weak Hand Often.
Exercising your brain is essential to avoid memory loss, and one of the ways to do this is by using your non-dominant hand often. When you use your weak hand, some part of your brain is stressed. Therefore, this strengthens the existing neural connections and grow new ones
Another benefit of using your non-dominant hand is that it unleashes creativity. You’ve always used your dominant hand right from childhood. It has been programmed to do your daily activities. Even without concentrating, you can write, brush your teeth, and do other things. It has become a part of you, and you are no longer pushing it to do what you want.
Like your body, if you keep peddling down the old neural path and stop exercising your brain, it becomes weak and leads to something else. But the moment you start training your mind to use the non-dominant hand, it starts to adapt and become smarter. And it continues to make use of other dormant parts of the brain, exercising the neural connections and growing new ones.
Turn Items Upside Down
Another way to exercise your brain is to do normal things abnormally. When you look at things the way they should be, like reading a book uprightly, the left hemisphere of the brain that is in charge of this activity takes charge leaving out the right ‘analytical’ side. This process is ineffective because it only exercises one aspect of the brain and leaving out the other side.
To exercise your brain effectively, abnormally do normal things, like reading a book upside down or read from the right to the left side, flip the clock and calendar upside down. Because this is not a usual process, the brain would have to process the information and therefore make use of the whole mind—both the verbal and the analytic part of the brain.
Shower with your eyes closed
The Tactile sense is one of the five senses of the body. It is also referred to as the sense of touch. Research showed that being in darkness or closing your eyes reduces the dominance of the visual perception over other senses. Staying in a dark room or closing your eyes can help train other senses.
For example, when you visit a dark room without any lighting source, you trace around with your hands to avoid injury. The reason for this is that your brain switched to the sense of touch when your sense of vision is not usable. This simple activity helps train the body because the tactical sensation helps intensify other brain areas.
Change Your Morning Schedule
Routine activities only make use of the old neural part that was created a long time ago. So when you perform your regular morning schedule, you are not exercising your brain—which is not good. If you want to exercise your mind, try doing different tasks some times.
For example, you can get a different beverage, try the bus instead of taking your vehicle, dress up at a different time, and get to work earlier than before. This will change the way the brain works and help trigger some part of it that is dormant.