Brain Games to Improve Cognitive Performance

Brain games to improve cognitive performance can be expensive. This is a guide to effective and cheap exercise for your brain.

Brain Games to Improve Cognitive Performance: Go

Go is said to be the world's oldest board game. Originating in China over 2,000 years ago, it's recently been the subject of studies that say it may help improve brain functions and even reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. It's as simple as two players placing stones on a board to capture the most territory. It's so complex that people devote a lifetime to learning its strategies. The world's top players include people who take a rational or intuitive approach so you can exercise your brain with Go no matter what your Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I find it helps my strategic thinking and concentration, and even makes me think about concepts like impermanence and attachment. There are websites, but playing Go online is like having sex online. You'd miss the social and sensual pleasures. It's better to start with an inexpensive set and upgrade if it works for you.

Brain Games to Improve Cognitive Performance: Sudoku

I don't want to interfere with anyone's enjoyment of Sudoku, and I confess I stink at it. Still, a New York Times op-ed "Exercise on the Brain" by two neuroscientists suggests what I always thought. Playing Sudoku may just make you better at Sudoku. They claim you have to exercise a broad range of abilities to get any benefits in terms of general mental fitness. They also say that physical exercise as simple as a quick walk may boost your mental performance more than expensive games. I'm no neuroscientist, but I think they make sense.

Brain Games to Improve Cognitive Performance: Word Games

I enjoy crossword puzzles and other word games. Even if advertisers may make excessive claims for the science behind their own games, there are so many free sources of word puzzles that I think they're a constructive pastime. I find the best word puzzles mentally challenging, and I definitely remember the solution better if I work at it instead of just reading it. I never understood the point to that word search game where people just circle the word in a table of letters, but I think most word games are helpful.

Brain games like Go can give you excellent mental exercise at little or no cost. Mental fitness is important but it doesn't have to be expensive.