Maintaining a strong mind is just like staying in shape, especially as you grow older. It involves continually practicing memory exercises to build your mental muscles. There are many techniques for enhancing cognitive function, including memory games. These games are designed to train your brain, sharpen your short and long-term memory, and even prevent cognitive diseases, all while having fun. They include:
Chess
Chess is often associated with hyper-intelligent individuals. This is because experienced players have stored strategies in their long-term memory, which helps them retain information for longer periods of time. On the other hand, newer players can rely on their short-term memory to analyze the board and make their next move immediately. Playing chess improves your cognitive function as a whole, including improving analytical growth, your IQ, creativity/originality, problem-solving skills, not to mention it also builds new memory paths.
Crossword Puzzles
Crossword puzzles have been the go-to cognitive exercise for a long time. The only problem is you can get too good at this game. Therefore, switch up the games you play to include other word-search games like Sudoku. These games constantly stimulate your mind and increase active brain cells, promoting a healthy mind.
Lumosity
Lumosity improves your memory by stimulating different parts of the brain. Lumosity is scientifically designed to help you pay more attention to the right things and ignore those that don’t help, allowing you to solve problems at hand much faster. This game has been shown to improve memory retention as one grows older. It’s available free on the Android Play Store and the iOS Store.
Poker
It takes a lot of study and alertness playing poker to actually be good at it. Imagine a player on Poker Rooms playing anywhere between 6–15 tables or even more at a time. His thinking is simply straight and to the point as he has to remember hand rankings for a better game. If you can be a successful poker player, then you are capable of bigger things in life since the game improves your long-term thinking abilities.