10 Things ANYONE Can Do To Start Exercising Your Brain

In Tetris you have to try and piece together falling blocks. This can also have effects in piecing together ideas or incidences in your brain. Those with anxious or over stressed brains might find playing Tetris to be very relaxing because it's putting together events that happened in a healthy and complete way. And yes, you can play this on your smartphone!

Dancing isn't just for exercising your body, it also exercises your brain. Following a beat and coming up with creative moves keeps your brain focussed and in sync with either other people or the music. Being in rhythm with something else isn't necessarily something we can get from our smartphones. It has even been proven that dancing blends cerebral and cognitive thought processes with muscle memory and 'proprioception' held in the cerebellum.

Reading is of course great for brains because it keeps us focused and engaged on one thing for a long period of time. But if you really want to exercise your brain, try reading out loud. Reading out loud will keep us concentrating on the story more effectively and it will keep your awareness present on the book. Reading out loud also forces you to pay attention to grammar and certain pauses that you may skip over when reading.

Today, not only are we always on our phones, but we are less available for group activities with other people. Playing cards requires that your mind is totally engaged and it also requires interacting with other people. Not to mention, it can be pretty fun.

That's right! Comedy improv has been proven to reduce anxiety and depression and it is great for exercising your brain. There's nothing like being under that pressure cooker needing think of something on the spot. When we're on our phones, we have constant opportunities to think and ponder about our responses. But with improv, responses have to be quick fire.

Did you know that musical lyricist Stephen Sondheim does a crossword puzzle everyday? Crosswords are a great way to exercise important muscles in your brain as well to increase verbal skills. It also encourages creative cruciverbalism which is the ability to think creatively as well as strategically.

Learning music exercises your brain in many ways. But most importantly, it makes you become engaged in one thing. You're auditory, kinaesthetic and visual learning is engaged fully which can even make learning music very relaxing. It's even been proven that learning music can increase spatial and temporal skills, as well as increase your IQ.

The rubix cube isn't just for kids from the 80's, no siree. The rubix cube has a sort of addictive quality to it that will keep you occupied for hours. In playing with a rubix cube, you're entertaining possibilities, something that since the influx of smartphones, has become a little lost. Also, after you complete a cube, comes a well deserved wave of satisfaction which rewards your brain.

Fidget Spinners aren't just one of those toy fads. They're actually very helpful for increasing concentration and focus as well as reducing anxiety. Many people with ADHD use fidget spinners to focus when they need to. It has even been proven to activate the areas in the front of your brain which are responsible for sustained attention.

This may be a bit of an obvious one but meditation has so many benefits, it's almost hard to count them all. Often we can become stuck in this cycle or loop or being on our phone, going to work, being on our phone, making dinner, being on our phone, that we may slowly start to feel detached or disconnected from the world around us. Meditation can bring you back to that state of mindfulness and can interfere with that technology loop.