Living healthily is important and among the benefits of a healthy lifestyle are improved cognition and memory. People who exercise and nourish themselves properly often feel sharper.
This is, after all, among the main reasons many people stick with yoga and meditation routines. While most initially pursue yoga for purposes of physical fitness, and meditation in pursuit of a calm and peaceful state of mind, sharper thoughts are often among the positive effects experienced. Specifically, exercises like these give your better control over your sympathetic nervous system, or SNS. While the SNS is commonly equated with “fight or flight” reflexes, it ultimately corresponds with alertness and awareness. Meditation and yoga teach you to combine physical movements with mental focus in such a way as to improve alertness. This is why you may simply feel more “with it” when you’re regularly enjoying these exercises routines.
If being mentally sharp is one of your goals in exercise though, you can also pursue some unconventional ways of supplementing the workouts –– such as by playing games that get your mind working. Brain training games have become very popular, not least because the spread of mobile phones has made such apps easier to access. However, some of the best games for brain training are the age-old classics which anyone can play, without a phone or a computer.
Here are five games that can help sharpen your mind:
1. Sudoku
This is a challenging number puzzle game anyone can play by themselves. In order to complete each set, you will need to figure out how to strategically place each number in its proper position without any repetitions. To add a little pressure, a clock is on the screen timing how long it takes you to solve each puzzle. Sudoku is a great game for strengthening your memory, improving logic and exercising your problem-solving skills.
2. Blackjack
Besides being a fun game, blackjack is also great for sharpening the mind. Blackjack players must have fast math skills so they can add the sum total of cards without going bust. You’ll also strengthen your memory as you play because you will need to remember what cards have been dealt, which will automatically rule them out as a possible next card for you. The game goes fast, so you will need to think fast which also puts you under pressure to develop the right strategies to win in a short duration of time.
3. Chess
This game is an all-around mind sharpener, known for its many cognitive benefits. Whether you are playing an opponent, or against AI on a computer, you will engage in a challenging duel that usually ends when someone captures the opposing king. To do so, you will need to recognize your opponent’s patterns, anticipate moves, develop a strategic plan, foresee potential traps and stay focused. Chess also strengthens your ability to switch between defense and offense in-between moves. One second you could be the one attacking, and in a flash, you could ‘abort mission’ and retreat, thus tactical planning is essential in this game.
4. Poker
Poker is one of the most popular card games in the world. A key aspect of winning in poker is learning to play a balanced game. This means that you’re not just reacting or doing the same thing over and over again, but rather taking different situations into account, assessing your opponents, calculating odds and remembering rivals’ tendencies. You’re working on cognition in a variety of ways — exercising recall, math skills, social intelligence, and more. It is no wonder why poker is so popular – it is a game that sharpens mind skills!
5. Solitaire
This is a popular game people enjoy playing alone because it can help improve cognitive abilities and sharpen the mind. When you play, your strategic muscles are exercised because winning is not simply by luck. Winning at solitaire is a matter of understanding the nature of the game, learning the right moves, and executing them in a purposeful manner – you have to make order out of chaos. If you make the right choices, it could lead you to a personal victory.
It is interesting to note that playing games are no longer just for fun as it has been shown that there are games that –– much like yoga, meditation, and other exercise routines –– help us sharpen our cognitive skills. By doing so, we are actually making our minds sharper while keeping ourselves entertained. Try out these games listed above and see how they improve and sharpen your mind!