Welcome back! On the fourth day of the challenge, we will do a short and fun activity based on the concept. cognitive reserve.
Decades of research have shown that people with more years of educationmore cognitively demanding job or more a mentally stimulating hobby In everyone, the risk of cognitive impairment tends to decrease with age.
Experts believe this is partly due to cognitive affordance. Basically, the more brain power you accumulate over the years, the more you can lose before you experience damage. Researchers still disagree on how to measure cognitive reserve, but one theory is that better connections between different brain regions correspond to more cognitive reserve.
Building these connections requires stimulating the brain, said Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist at NYU Langone Health and founder and chief medical officer of telehealth platform Isaac Health. To do this, try activities that are “challenging enough that you need effort, but not so challenging that you don’t want to do it anymore.”
Speaking a second language has been shown to be good for cognition. playing a musical instrument, Museum visit and do handicrafts Like knitting or quilting. Reading is considered a mentally stimulating hobby, and experts say you can reap even greater benefits by joining a book club to socialize. Dr. Zaldy Tan, director of the Memory and Healthy Aging Program at Cedars-Sinai, said it’s better to listen to podcasts or attend in-person classes at a local college or community center to learn something new. This adds a social element and the added challenge of having to navigate your way there, he said.
no way a little research We discovered that playing board games like chess can be good for your brain. The same goes for doing crossword puzzle. Other types of puzzles, such as those found in riddle books or New York Times Games, can also provide cognitive benefits.
But there’s a problem. For the best brain training, the activity must be challenging as well as new. If you “play Wordle every day, it’s like you’re really good at Wordle, and the Wordle part of your brain has grown fantastically,” said Linda Selwa, MD, clinical professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School. “But the rest of your mind may still need work.”
So try playing unfamiliar games, Dr. Selwa said. “Novelty appears to promote brain remodeling and growth.”
Today I want you to step out of your cognitive comfort zone. Take an online class or visit a museum with a challenge partner. Or enjoy the new game below. Please share in the comments what innovative things you did today and we’ll see you tomorrow on day 5.
