Port Landing at Fife Apartments has an awesome fitness center. In June, we invited you to get fit by visiting our weight room. We hope you’ve been enjoying it. Today, we’re inviting you to take fitness by a different approach: turn your apartment into a fitness center — not one for your body, but one for your brain.
We’re sharing a few exercises that will give your brain new experiences. These mental workouts will not only help keep your brain healthier, they can be finished a lot quicker than your normal workout routine; so, if you’ve only got a few minutes here or there, why not do a mental exercise?
The truth is, our muscles aren’t the only thing that we lose over time — our ability to perform mental tasks atrophies as well. As you try out these different exercises, remember that maintaining a healthy mental lifestyle is just as important as maintaining a healthy physical lifestyle.
One mental exercise that you can do every time you eat is challenge your taste buds. Every time you place something in your mouth, try to identify the different ingredients. What subtle spices and herbs do you taste? Is there more to that layer of meat and cheese than meets the eye?
You can also do math in your head. The next time you need to crunch numbers, avoid using a calculator even if the problem involves a lot of numbers. Try to solve it on your own without the aid of paper, pen, technology, and see what you come up with. Then, check your work when you’re done. Depending on how complex the problem is, you might not do well at first. The more you practice, however, the more you’ll improve. Doing math in your head is a great mental exercise, even if you’re just trying to remember how many months ago something happened. Solving these problems can prove to be more effective if done while jogging, walking, or some other physically demanding activity.
This next exercise might sound silly, but brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand is a great mental exercise. Use your non-dominant hand to clean dishes, pour drinks, open jars, write, and pretty much any other activity.
Drawing a map from memory — be it of your neighborhood, a local grocery store layout, or a city — is a great mental exercise. Try to be a detailed as possible, maybe even add a few plants or power lines if you can remember them.
If you’d like to read about some other brain training exercises, check out Brain Metrix.
Enjoy staying both physically and mentally active this month by trying out a few different exercises. Let us know how you stay active in Fife, Washington by sharing in the comments below. Thanks for reading today’s post!