7 ways of mental training to exercise your brain

The human body is moldable. It is programmed to adapt to the environmental conditions in which it lives, just like the rest of the parts of our body. In our society, we have many facilities to direct the changes that we want to occur in our brains, so obtaining the maximum potential through mental training will depend on the challenges that we impose on ourselves and how we face those that are imposed.

Mental training is one of the resources we have at our disposal to improve or perfect one or more of our mental processes. It is possible to do this by executing mentally demanding tasks that, little by little, will improve our abilities.

Training cognitive abilities is very similar to training the body. Thus, to achieve improvements it is necessary to leave the comfort zone. Do it with effort but also with perseverance, to gradually increase the difficulty. Once we are used to a certain task, we do it automatically, becoming a routine instead of training. The following are mental training tips to exercise your brain and get its maximum potential.

1. Practice sports and physical activities

Aerobic physical exercise, which involves breathing, benefits brain capabilities. Above all, it improves those based on the interaction between the frontal and medial temporal lobes. It influences working memory and executive functions. The benefit of sport on cognition has a physiological explanation, and that is that it favors the production of neurotrophic agents.

Neurotrophic substances increase synaptic plasticity, neurogenesis and brain vascularization. It reduces the loss of brain volume in old age, especially in the hippocampus, involved in memory and learning. For exercise to be beneficial, it is important that it be given with some regularity, around thirty minutes a day.

Cardiovascular exercises can be adapted to each person’s abilities. If it is a person who has never exercised, he can start by walking at a good pace or playing fun sports like paddle tennis or swimming.

2. Train working memory

Exercising working memory is very useful when it comes to stimulating our cognitive abilities. There are a large number of exercises for this purpose. One of the tasks designed for this objective is the n-back. This task consists of observing a screen in which a figure appears and disappears, then appears again. You have to answer the question of whether it has appeared in the same place as the previous time.

Each time you can increase the difficulty of the task by asking, for example, if you made three presentations, the figure was in the same place. Requires recent information to be retained for a period of time and then compare it with current information. The interesting thing about this task is that evidence has been found of the transfer of its performance to other skills such as reasoning fluency.

Any task that requires the retention of auditory or visual information for a period of time in order to use it is exercising working memory and is a form of mental training. For example, listen to a series of numbers, and repeat it in reverse order. Usually, should be started with a medium run level to adapt it to our capacity. It is important to find the balance between being demanding but possible to do so as not to get frustrated.

3. Get out of the comfort zone

It consists of not accommodating. If we don’t do new things that are challenging, we don’t exercise our mind. Find hobbies that are intellectually challenging (like learning to play an instrument) is also mental training. For example, if we enjoy watching series, we would start by watching them in their original version with Spanish subtitles. Once we follow it without problems, we put on English subtitles, until we are able to do it without them.

Definitely, It’s about continuing to learn throughout life. We all assume that children are doing them daily, because that is what they should do at their age. Children also have an easier time learning and neuroplasticity is at its peak. But, as has been seen in recent times, it is never too late to learn.

Motivation is crucial so that we do not abandon the activity. Sudoku, word searches or group hobbies, which can be even more beneficial, such as playing chess. Social relationships also have a positive impact on a cognitive level.

4. Reading

It is one of the most effective forms of mental training, low cost and with great benefits. It is not necessary to use technology or obtain any high-cost tools, in addition, we can do it anywhere and it is a pleasant activity. The sooner we start the habit of reading, the better, that’s why It is important to instill it in the little ones since they learn to read with stories and short stories.

Reading brings into play many mental processes such as perception, memory and reasoning.. When we read we decode visual stimuli (letters, words, phrases) converting them into mental sounds to give them meaning. This action activates large areas of the cerebral cortex, which makes it a great mind stimulator.

Reading can unleash imagination, promote creativity and helps learn new vocabulary. It is a way to continue learning in an enjoyable and fun way. Among the factors that influence cognitive reserve, reading is one of the most important.

5. Live in complex and enriched environments

When we refer to non-human animals, an enriched environment is one that stimulates their mind. This is equally applicable to our species: an enriched environment would be one that is full of novelty and complexity, an environment in which there are changes and forces us to adapt.

For example, A child who grows up in an enriched environment is a child who has always been surrounded by new information and allowed to participate.. A family that plays the piano at home and teaches you, in which reading and critical thinking are encouraged, in which you are allowed to give your opinion and learn. An environment in which challenges are proposed in which you have to find your own solutions.

According to Stern, this type of complex environment provides subjects with two types of resources. On the one hand, it would provide us with the “hardware” with more synapses and greater dendritic arborization; and the “software”, which consists of having more adjusted cognitive abilities. In adulthood, Living in an enriched environment can be achieved by having an active life, both physically and mentally.

6. Enhance creativity

To improve our cognitive abilities, we must not only perform mental training through calculation exercises, mental flexibility, memory… exercises that focus on unleashing our creativity.

Carry out these types of activities helps induce greater mental flexibility and originality, being associated with the activation of specific neural networks. It has also been found that creativity positively influences resilience and thus copes with the losses and changes that inevitably accompany adulthood.

Creativity can have a positive impact on a cognitive level thanks to its influence at other levels such as motivation, the increase in social relationships or cognitive components. Any task that proposes getting out of the routine and involves meeting new people will have an impact on people’s quality of life, especially in the elderly.

7. Learn languages

Language is one of the most complex higher functions that involves more areas of the cerebral cortex. Innately, human beings have the ability to learn languages, especially in childhood, since the brain is more plastic than ever. However, we can learn languages ​​throughout our lives. Learning a new language is a good form of mental training.

Numerous studies have been carried out on the benefits of bilingualism, finding that it produces better selective attention and the habit of switching mental contents is more developed. Learning two languages ​​from the moment you learn to speak and using them in the family, social and educational spheres is the most beneficial. When learned after childhood, the second language will be subordinate to the first.

The only way to generate linguistic automatisms without having to translate everything simultaneously from the mother tongue is, not only by learning a language but by using it. Therefore, it is not enough to learn a language two hours a week, in which you normally learn grammar without using the language itself. It is better for our brain to use it by carrying out exchanges with natives, for example.

Conclusions

Cognitive stimulation and maintaining an active lifestyle can prevent neurodegenerative diseases or compensate for neurological injuries since it increases our cognitive reserve and compensatory mechanisms for damage are activated. It is not only important to perform mental training exercises in old age, but It is important to do it throughout the life cycle.

Escaping from routine, being an active person, eager to learn and discover things can help you get the most out of your mind. Setting yourself intellectual challenges, getting out of monotony and a sedentary lifestyle are the most effective forms of mental training.

In research on cognitive reserve, the main factors that influence brain plasticity are the work performed throughout life, the reading habit, years of education, and the social network one has. Hence the brain is molded from our first year of life until we die, which constitutes a window of opportunity to consciously intervene on its process architecture at any time.

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