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The discussion of brain fitness has become a popular topic between the mass public and among brain health and fitness scientists. It is a growing “industry” that argues the validity in mental exercise. It proclaims that exercising the brain can create new neurons and re-program itself through new experiences. Basically, mental exercise is helping us to better understand our brain functions and to improve those functions. It is important for us to understand the effects of brain fitness.
With a quick online search, you can find countless of articles related to the brain and specifically, brain fitness. With so much information to digest, it becomes hard to separate truth from fiction. One thing that remains consistent throughout all different thoughts concerning brain fitness is that the stronger and healthier your brain is, the stronger your overall health becomes. Even still, how do you distinguish the reality about brain fitness from the myths about brain fitness? Here are a few statements you may have heard or read before that are actually completely false.
Just because you are young does not mean you would not benefit from mental exercise, and it certainly does not mean that you should not implement it in your daily life. You don’t need to wait until you are a senior citizen in order to work on improving your brain. Anyone and everyone profits from exercising their brain. And just like with most things in life, it’s better to start now than to put it off until later. You should be setting aside time on a daily basis to expose your brain to new and challenging mental exercises.
You can exercise your brain by learning a new skill or challenging yourself in a crossword puzzle.
You don’t need money to work out your brain. I’m sure you have used this excuse before when it comes to physical exercise. “If I had money like she does, I could pay for a personal trainer, and I’d always look great.” This follows the same type of logic. You don’t need to buy expensive equipment or computer software to train your brain. Stimulating your brain can be done from the comfort of your own home without having to spend much money. You can exercise your brain by learning a new skill, challenging yourself in a crossword puzzle or making a small change in the way you normally do things.
Finally, you CAN make a difference in your brain health. Your level of brain fitness does not fully rely on your genes. How you take care of your brain plays the biggest role in the strength of your brain. You have control of the fate of your brain fitness. So, do something about it. Exercise your brain by learning how to tell a story, by reading or by meditating.
No matter what you hear about brain fitness, one thing you should always remember is that exercising your brain will always be beneficial to your overall health. It is something you should devote some time to on a daily basis. One final thought to leave you with: Dr. Yaakov Stern, Division Leader of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of the Sergievsky Center at Columbia University states that people who are stimulating their minds on a regular basis have a reduced risk of getting Alzheimer’s.
