How to Challenge Your Brain

“Why should I challenge my brain?”, you ask. Well I believe there is a great need in this era for people to stretch the limits of the mind. Let me elaborate. Everywhere I look, I see people distracted by their tech devices. Whether it's smartphones, tablets, TV, hand-held games, or laptops, people are spending way too much time in front of screens. Most of the tasks done by these devices require little to no use of the brain. It does not take much exertion to binge watch videos, play mobile games, or scroll mindlessly through social media. Further more, these tasks eats away your time, shortens your attention span, damages your ability to focus, and hinders the use of your imagination. All these things can lead to a damaged, distracted, and fatigued brain. In this article, I will list four simple methods that anyone can use to actively use their minds to reach more potential. If your not already distracted, let's begin.

The first method I will cover is playing board games. Now why board games exactly? Aren't board games just for kids and are very simple to play? Well yes and no. A lot of games are fairly easy to play and don't take much effort. However, when you choose the right board games to play that features difficult settings, you might be on the right track. I'll give some examples. Board games such as Scrabble, Escape Rooms, Boggle, and Trivial Pursuit push you to use your mind to come up with answers and solve problems. Another similar method is playing role-playing games. These are slightly different to board games in that they require more creativity, imagination, and cognition to use.

The second method is listening to audio dramas. I covered this in a previous blog which you can check out later if you wish. Basically, audio dramas are recordings of actors portraying characters in a story. This is a really effective way of using your brain to the fullest potential. In audio dramas, you are in control as to how the setting looks and what the characters look like. This requires your full use of the imagination, as the story pulls you in. Granted, audio dramas are not really popular in this era. This is because our society has become more visually distracted. Most people now don't have the brainpower or a focused mind to create a world in their heads with these audio dramas. Plus with dramas spanning many genres, you are bound to find something of interest. These include science fiction, comedy, crime, historical, and biographies. So if you want to be fully immersed in a story that you can control, give audio dramas a go.

The third method is solving puzzles. To elaborate, these are table-top puzzles, logic puzzles, and brain teasers. I recommend these because they assist in improving problem-solving and attention-focusing skills. Their are a plethora of brain puzzle books available for you to try out. These books are filled with teasers and puzzles for you to solve, thus making your brain more focused and organized. They also can assist you in improving your memory. Your brain yearns to be challenged; give it puzzles to do the job.

The last method is pretty simple. Just read books. Their is nothing than can calm and organize the brain better than old-fashioned reading. As with audio dramas, reading requires imagination and deep, contemplative thought. As a matter of fact, reading can actually grow your brain over time. Don't make the excuse that you don't have time to read. If you have the time to scroll mindlessly through this blog or social media; then you can set aside one hour to read a day. By reading, you are building knowledge and experiences that can be useful for any area of your life.

I hope these few tips are useful for you as they are for me. Try them out and see what works for you.