Focus on Intellectual Health
We all know that our brains are SUPER important to function and live. But what can we do to enhance our intellectual health? Quite a bit actually!
In the past decades, brain/intellectual health has been more of a hot topic. This is of course because of increased onset of brain and memory conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Although there is not a lot of solid proof on how stimulating your brain intellectually will prevent you from getting a cognitive disease, it also doesn’t necessarily show that it DOESN’T. Studies do show that doing memory games can at least help you in the short term.
The brain is like a muscle in that the more you use it, the stronger it gets. If you choose to play word games, read, memory games or the like, you will notice over time that your brain does in fact work better. A fun example – do you still remember your childhood phone number? Most adults do! But asked to give the phone number of their 2 best friends today they probably have no clue! Why? We spent so much time as children remembering phone numbers because it made life easier than pulling out the rolodex. Plus, since you were dialing those numbers often, you committed them to memory. Now we have numbers programmed into our cell phones. We almost never have to look at the actual numbers, nor physically dial them in. In turn we don’t commit them to memory! Your brain is constantly making new connections and the ones you use the most will get stronger. Little things like learning phone numbers can definitely help overall intellectual health.
What is something you do on a daily basis that stimulates your brain? Do you have an app on your phone that has brain games or the like? Do you like word puzzles or crosswords? Are you an avid reader? Commit this month to doing something every day, even if only a few minutes, to keep your brain firing strong!