What are some brain exercises for brain workout that really work?

After I had chemo, my short term memory was pretty funky and some of the synapses weren’t firing quite right. I did a lot of logic puzzles (there are lots of books of those) and crosswords, and I got Games magazine every month. It was a huge help to getting back some of the brain power.

Not to nitpick, but I think I should point out that the brain is not a muscle, it is an organ. The analogy of working it out to strengthen it still holds, but it seems a distinction worth noting.

The most effective mental exercises are those that engage both sides of the brain so anything that includes physical and mental skills works well. Juggling is actually considered to be one of the best mental exercises (far more effective than strictly intellectual pursuits like reading, doing puzzles, etc.)

Crosswords, sudoku, mensa games, strategy games…

Nintendo DSI, brain games. When I first started playing my brain age was 80. After 6 months I am now at 65 (yrs.). My goal is to at least reach 50 in another 6 months.

Have a look around this man’s site and books.

simply reading. . .

@AmWiser, how are you computing your brain age? I don’t understand the idea of brain age apart from actual physical (chronological) age. Are you talking about IQ?—mental age over chronological age?

@Jeruba, on the Nintendo DSI, one of my games is called Brain Age. After completing a series of tests you get a score that determines your brain age. By using Brain Age daily you exercise your brain and hopefully lower your DS Brain Age (according to Nintendo DSI).

Ah, I see. Thank you.

math puzzles

I’d simply like to reiterate the fact that combining physical and mental challenges together is far more effective as a brain exercise than simply doing puzzles. Remember that the brain controls (for all intents and purposes) everything we do. Doing only logic-based and deductive exercises is not a truly sufficient method of “exercising the brain”.

@crazyivan : Do you have any reason to believe that we didn’t see your other post?

@crazyivan some more such exercises other than juggling?
@AmWiser I don’t think any game would lower brain age something like that.It could be something like ‘levels’ or different ‘stages’. The next ‘stages’ or ‘levels’ might be depicted by showing lowering of brain age or that the next ‘level’ is tougher/difficult than the previous one.

@papayalily mensa games? Is it a particular type of games or a company that makes games?

@JilltheTooth Yes, the fact that every post beyond it contradicted it.

@gamefu91 Any type of learned skill, specifically those that require balance. Playing a musical instrument is a mental exercise vastly superior to all the puzzles in the world. Learning sleight of hand, riding a unicycle, balancing on one leg, dice-stacking, devil sticking, yo-yoing, etc. These are all extraordinarily useful mental exercises.

The best bet is to try a regiment that uses the two in unison. I have a friend that does crossword puzzles while he is on his treadmill. Listening to educational podcasts while jogging/biking/whatevering is another solid way to work the two sides of your brain in concert.

The larger point is that the brain is more than a computational engine and working out only part of it is very much like only working the muscles on one side of your body. The computational end can advance only so far if the physical end is not being exercised as well.

@gamefu91 Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. http://www.mensa.org/ A lot of their games/puzzles/what have you have been released – I know that a few are in the back of every Scientific American Mind issue.

@crazyivan : No one disagreed with you, and I’m not assuming that the OP is in poor physical shape.

@gamefu91: Word games, chess and other things you can do with other people are also good as you can’t predict how they will respond, so you have to think more flexibly.

Use the internet less!

No joke—internet overuse can have devastating effects on your cognition. Read “The Shallows” by Nicholas Carr.