13 games and strategies to exercise your mind

The mind. This concept, whose exact meaning and operation continue to be a reason for speculation and debate on both a scientific and philosophical level to this day, refers to the set of cognitive abilities available to a subject.

This set of skills is what allows us, among other things, to have our own identity, solve simple or complex problems, detect and process different information and adapt to the half.

However, these abilities are not stable from birth to death. For this reason it is of great importance to help develop them as much as possible. Therefore, this article is dedicated to visualizing a series of strategies and games to exercise the mind.

A question of brain plasticity

As we have commented, intellectual capacities are not an invariable element throughout life, but are modified according to our life experiences, the environment that surrounds us and the level of environmental stimulation at which let us have access.

This modification is mainly due to brain plasticity, the brain's ability to change its structure based on the needs of the body and its pattern of functioning, allowing the restructuring of the thinking organ through the creation of neuronal synapses. It is this creation of new neural networks and the strengthening of old ones that allows new ones to be learned and consolidated. knowledge, allowing from acquiring a new skill to overcoming and recovering normal functioning after an injury cerebral.

Although plasticity is much higher during growth stages such as childhood and later declines, it is a property that continues to exist at all ages, being especially important to maintain and apply it in the later stages of life in order to maintain well-being and the correct functioning of capacities intellectuals.

Neurogenesis: the ability to renew neurons

However, to produce promote the neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons) and / or a strengthening or expansion of synaptic or neural networks is not enough with perform a specific exercise on a single occasion, but the modification of one's skills and behaviors requires a habitual practice that allows the automation of new sequences of behavior and strategies, joining our repertoire habitual.

In other words, regular practice is necessary in order to improve or maintain our mental abilities, accompanying all this with a proper diet and a healthy lifestyle. And, of course, an excellent way to make the networks of neurons that populate our brain become flexible and easily adaptable to the new challenges of everyday life is to use games to exercise the mind: these will make our brain get used to creating a rich and varied network of interconnections, which will allow us to have greater flexibility mental.

Thirteen games to exercise the mind

Let's see next a series of games to exercise the mind.

1. Math training

The use of mathematics as a strategy to exercise the mind is known to many, including activities such as sudoku puzzles and other traditional games. However, this time the game is based on choosing a completely random number (for example 12,345) and starting from other numbers (for example 6, 7, 8 and 9) develop a series of mathematical strategies in order to arrive at the number initial. For this you can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, division... It can be complicated by requiring the use of concrete elements, such as requiring the use of square roots or elements more complex.

2. Find the pairs

Another game to exercise the mind, especially visuospatial memory, is the card pairs game.. It is based on unfolding on a table or flat surface a set of pairs of equal cards after shuffling them (the type of deck or even images in case of having them is indifferent although it is recommended to use images that are easy to remember). The game consists of visualizing the set of cards face up, visualizing the location of each pair of cards and after ten seconds of memorizing, turning them all over.

Then they have to turn over one of the cards and then remember where their partner was located and also turn it over. The game continues until all pairs of cards are found. This strategy for exercising the mind can be made difficult by making the images to remember or recognize are more complex, or by increasing the number of cards as the game ends and the start.

3. List of words

On this occasion, the aim is to train memory by adding a creation component. The game or strategy consists of the initial creation of a list of simple words, with a maximum of seven items. This list will be read by all the participants, and it can be read aloud by one of them, or each participant can be allowed ten seconds to memorize it. The game in question consists in that each participant will proceed to repeat the list of words in the same order in which they were issued in the list, adding at the end of it one more word of your own harvest.

The next individual has to remember and say aloud the list plus the word added by the previous one and in turn add another, and so on. The strategy for exercising the mind is based on the retention of information, with a component of distraction from having to imagine one more word and needing to pay attention to incorporate new ones words. Specifically, the working memory is exercised, especially the auditory one..

4. Find your symbol

This game to exercise memory is based on the sustained maintenance of attention. It can be used with symbols, words, letters or numbers. To carry it out, you simply have to use a varied set of symbols and signs, in which to look carefully for one or more specific items. Technically, the operation is almost identical to that of the classic alphabet soup. In addition to attention, in this game you can observe the processing speed of the subjects, if the time it takes to perform the task is measured.

5. Word game: word association

This game requires several participants. In it, the first of the subjects says a word, the next participant having to answer another which begins with the same syllable as the one said by the previous individual ended with. It can be complicated by adding rules such as the fact that they belong to the same lexical family or subject area, or even trying to give the whole the form of a story. Processing speed and mental agility are improved, as well as creativity.

• Related article: "14 keys to enhance your creativity"

6. Find the differences

In order to reinforce concentration, ability to discriminate stimuli and ability to focus on details, the game of finding the differences is very useful for exercising the mind. Its operation is based on the location of a certain number of differences between two images that appear to be the same.

7. Puzzles and the like

Carrying out a game or activity as well known as a puzzle is also a more than valid strategy to exercise the mind. Specifically, serves to exercise manipulative and visuospatial skills, by having to operate with the situation of the pieces and place them correctly so that the pieces fit together. To increase the complexity, you can gradually increase the number of pieces required, or move on to three-dimensional puzzles such as Rubik's cubes.

8. Making a story

This strategy for the exercise of the mind is simple but very useful **. It tries to stimulate creativity by creating a short story **, in which a series of specific words chosen beforehand must appear. These words may be known to the person performing the exercise or they may be unknown, in which case the challenge is greater both if it does not resort to external help (a dictionary for example) as if it does, allowing the development of strategies to compensate difficulties.

9. Riddles and dilemmas

This type of strategy to exercise the mind is rewarding and enjoyable for both adults and children. It is based on solving puzzles and dilemmas from the use of logic and creativity of the participants. Lateral thinking is also stimulated if questions that do not have a simple solution or that are completely correct or incorrect are used, seeking the generation of new strategies.

10. Debate

Although it may not seem like it, debate is one of the best games to exercise the mind. Participating in one on a regular basis allows you to train in argumentation and creation of coherent discourses. For example, it forces us to think of the best replies to the opponent's arguments, to prioritize some of our own arguments over others, to detect fallacies in the explanations of the other and avoid them in ourselves, etc.

11. Chess

Chess is the game paradigm in which the anticipation of possible future scenarios is of fundamental importance. It is a game in which you have to follow very specific rules, which makes chance lose protagonism, and that is why it is necessary to try to think of a series of possible movements both of the opposite and of ourselves.

12. Exquisite corpse

A group game in which each person takes turns doing the part of a drawing from what the person from the previous shift has drawn. It can also be done by writing parts of a story instead of drawing. A great way to work on creativity.

13. Rote count

This game is very simple and can also be played practically anywhere. When you stress in an area where there are a lot of objects or people, close your eyes and try to count the amount of some of these elements from memory.

Bibliographic references:

• Kolb, B.; Mohamed, A. & Gibb, R. (2010), The search for the factors that underlie brain plasticity in normal and damaged brain. Journal of Communication Disorders.

• Maroto, M.A. (2003). Memory, cognitive stimulation and maintenance program for the elderly. Institute of Public Health. Madrid.

• Martí, P.; Mercadal, M.; Cardona, J.; Ruiz, I.; Sagristá, M. and Mañós, Q. (2004). Non-pharmacological intervention in dementias and Alzheimer's disease: miscellaneous. In J, Deví., J, Deus, Dementias and Alzheimer's disease: a practical and interdisciplinary approach (559-587). Barcelona: Higher Institute of Psychological Studies.