Mental Workouts - Exercises For Your Brain

We live a life of repetitve tasks, repetitive images, and repetitive thought. Ask any bodybuilder what happens if you just work out the same muscles over and over again and ignore the others - some muscles will be perfectly sculpted while others would look better on the guy getting sand kicked in his face. It's the same with your brain, excercising different parts of the mind can help your overall mental clarity, alertness, and concentration.

Start slowly. Don't forget to stretch.

1. Say the alphabet out loud but instead of using the letters, name words that begin with each letter. For example: alphabet, books, cars, doors, equine.....

2. Now try the same thing backwards....zoo, yellow, x-ray, watermelon...

3. Count backwards (out loud) from 100 to 1 as quickly as you can.

4.Using pen and paper - make a list of 20 foods you like, numbering each one as you go...1-carrots, 2-broccoli, 3-cookies, 4-bread...

5. Do the same thing, but now number and write the names of 20 people you know. Try doing men and women seperately.

6. Now combine a few. Close your eyes and then repeat out loud the number, then a word starting with a letter and so on....1-alligator, 2-books, 3-candy, 4-dogs, 5-early.

7. Try doing the alphabet exercises using only verbs or only adjectives.

8. Silently try to name 10 words that begin with each letter of the alphabet.

****All stretched and warmed up!****

Changing an everyday routine can throw your mind for a loop but it also works out the areas of the brain responsible for imagination, creativity, and non-linear thinking.

1. Pour your morning beverage with your non-dominant hand.

2. Put your wristwatch on the wrong wrist for a day.

3. After using the bathroom, wipe with your non-usual hand. Then walk out of the bathroom backwards (probably want to save this one for home).

4. Lay your clothing out on your bed. Try changing the order of how you get dressed and notice which leg you put in to your pants first, then use the opposite leg next time.

5. Alter your usual route to school or work and take the different route every day for a week (trust me, this will really stretch your mind - Monday will be fun, Tuesday you'll forget, Wednesday you'll remember but feel put out, Thursday you'll remember and go the usual way anyway.....).

6. If you're watching television, try this: hold out your remote control as usual then flip it over (so the right way is still pointing to the TV, but you're looking at the back of the remote). Now, try to change channels.

7. Simple things, like rearranging your furniture or changing the pictures on your walls, can actually sharpen your mental focus. At least temporarily, until you subconsiously re-memorize it.