Research has identified how important it is for aging humans to provide novel stimulation to our brain to maximize brain plasticity and possibly prevent and/or slow decline in cognitive ability. Listed below are 70 ideas for “brain stimulation.” They cover the spectrum of simple to complex. It is important to remember that the maximum benefit for brain stimulation consists of activities that are novel to the brain, dynamic, and require a person to do things out of the ordinary or to do the ordinary in different and new ways.
- Learn new card games and play with friends on a regular basis
- Play Sudoku
- Use your non-dominate hand to brush your teeth and to eat a meal with
- Shop at a different grocery store chain than the one you normally shop at
- Play Scrabble
- Lean a new language
- Go to museums
- Try following recipes to cook dishes you have never cooked before
- Play Boggle
- Watch foreign language movies with subtitles
- Assemble 500+ piece puzzles
- Count backwards from 100 by 7’s or any odd number combination, try doing as you walk
- Say the alphabet backwards, then try doing as you take a walk
- Take a walk and try to name something you see along the way using every letter of the alphabet
- Using the alphabet, name an animal for each letter.
- Learn to juggle
- Go to musicals/plays
- Take classes at a community college
- Attend lectures on topics of interest
- Practice doing Anagrams
- Drive a different route(s) to frequent destinations
- Join a book club
- Do word find/ search pages
- Volunteer
- Take an art class
- Practice writing lists/letters using your non-dominate hand
- Learn to use a smart phone
- Play video games
- Read magazine articles and then write down as many facts as you can remember from the articles
- Take a walk/exercise to increase the blood flow to your brain
- Supporting yourself, practice standing on your non-dominate leg while lifting your dominate leg off the floor
- Do ring toss/darts using your non-dominate arm
- Recall phone numbers from memory versus relying on your smart phone
- Learn sign language
- Don’t always rely on a calculator, do math calculations the old fashioned way
- Get a good night’s sleep
- Turn off the GPS
- Learn to eat using chop sticks, then learn to use with your non-dominate hand
- Do craft projects you have never done before
- Don’t rely on a grocery list, try recalling all of the items needed from memory
- Use a computer based cognitive training program
- Take online courses
- Practice meditation and Yoga
- Keep hydrated with water
- Eat based on a Mediterranean Diet
- Take cooking classes
- Make a list (at one time) of 100 things (ex. 100 things I am grateful for, 100 things I want to do before I die, etc.).
- Go barefoot outside
- Spell words backwards (ex.) stimulation = noitalumits
- Completely rearrange your kitchen
- Learn to speed read
- Learn to play a musical instrument
- Teach yourself Origami
- Keep a journal and at the end of the day try to record everything you can remember from that day
- Eat at various ethnic restaurants and try dishes you are not familiar with
- Learn about the brain, the parts, which part does what, etc.
- Stop and smell the flowers
- Have someone write words of different lengths on index cards. Hold a card up to a mirror and try to name the word as quickly as possible
- Try the games “Operation and/or Jenga.” When you are able to do with your dominate hand then use your non-dominate hand.
- Learn to knit or crochet
- Download or purchase a book of “connect the dots” Try doing them backward (highest to lowest number)
- Complete an “adult” coloring book
- Learn the 206 bones in the human body
- Take a wine tasting class
- Make a list of all the Homonyms you can think of
- Re-arrange your desk at work moving everything around and into new locations
- Buy a “brain games” book and work through the various brain games
- Play “Finding Waldo” it is just not for kids
- Go to a farmers market and make it a point each week to try something you have never tried before.
- Purchase a “Hoop N Loop” once you become proficient with your dominant hand use your non-dominant hand
