About Time: You Trained Your MindBy Angelica Malin
Recently Dr. Maura Boldrini, professor at Columbia University, published a study in the scientific journal Cell Stem Cell, which showed that the number of undeveloped neurons in an elderly brain is the same as younger people. The difference is rather in the vascularization and activation of these neurons. At brain level, people do not age, but because they tend to lose interest in new stimuli over time, they end up letting these neurons remain dormant, immature.
In view of this study, various theories about memory as understood to date should therefore be reviewed. However, the concept of mind training remains fundamental, especially after the age of 50. Maintaining mental agility is important for having a lively and active lifestyle and for keeping your mind young and fresh.
Sport for the brain
Improving cognitive performance is important, as it is in any sport. To do this you can perform various activities that, in principle, should take 10-15 hours a week to give results. To some, it may seem a lot of time, but in reality, spreading the exercises during various days of the week will rapidly create a routine. These simple operations are not only important to increase memory and the ability to learn, but also to protect the brain from drowsiness, or from aging.
To keep your brain active you need to use it in activities that require a high level of concentration. For example:
- Puzzles and crosswords
- Reading or studying
- Strategy games, puzzles and online casino games
- Playing, painting and using your imagination
- Learning new hobbies/activities or a new language.
Engaging in these types of entertainment means challenging your brain every day, keeping it lively and active. Online casino players in the UK get a lot of training just from playing, here you can find the list of the best online casinos in UK. Facing an unexpected new challenge means stimulating one’s mind to face new neural pathways.
Train your mind: avoid mental comfort
Research has shown that having an agile mind helps prevent the most common neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. It is, in fact, the state of mental comfort that creates the ideal conditions for the onset of problems. Activities such as those indicated allow us to “amaze” the brain, stimulating it with new things. The newer these will be, the greater the benefit to one’s brain, so it is good to go beyond your normal limits, breaking the daily routine. All this is useful to prevent cognitive “decline”.
In addition to these exercises, that can be demanding, there are also many little activities that cost nothing and can contribute to mental agility. A few small ways to “upset” one’s everyday life can be just changing your usual grocery store, taking a different road, walking the dog to a different park. Every change to one’s routine starts new brain paths and, something that is always good, makes life more stimulating in general. Just find one new thing every day to feel more energetic.
