Sometimes, turning on the television and bingeing a show you’ve seen a million times just doesn’t cut it anymore. We all need to do things that enrich, rather than degrade, our mental well-being. For many people, this includes the hobbies they indulge in. Certain hobbies can provide the right kind of stimulation to keep our brains sharp and our moods in better places. This article will show you a few great hobbies that can help improve brain function, so you have more to consider the next time you get bored.

Playing an Instrument

It’s been proven time and again how beneficial playing a musical instrument can be, especially for developing children. But you don’t have to be a child to benefit from learning this skill. Playing an instrument has been shown to increase the size of your corpus callosum, or the band of nerves that connects both sides of your brain, and it leads to increased confidence and self-esteem as well.

Games and Puzzles

This may sound like a broad category, and that’s because it is. There are a ton of ways that play, even as an adult, benefits our mental well-being. Playing the right kinds of board games, puzzles, and even video games can lead to a healthier mind that can handle more information at any given time. Playing games engages the neuroplasticity of our brains and allows us to make new connections and expand our way of thinking.

Meditation

If you’d like to take up a hobby that improves brain function without investing tons of time and money, meditation may be perfect for you. Meditation has been shown to develop compassion—for yourself and others—in our brains. It also allows you to center your thoughts on the present, reducing anxiety about the past and future. Meditating for even a few minutes a day can help your brain create more calming and useful brain waves than you would experience when going about your day normally.

Reading

It should come as no surprise that reading books is good for your brain’s functions. Reading engages our brains at times when we would normally just let our minds wander off. It also contributes to the development of fluid, emotional, and crystallized intelligence by creating new neural pathways in the brain. Reading can also stimulate your imagination for creative pursuits and even improve long-term memory.

Learning a New Language

Did you know that it’s been proven that people who speak more than one language have more gray matter in the language centers of their brains? This extra gray matter also contributes to better memory and better reasoning skills. By learning a new language, you’re exercising your brain by constantly having it decipher and translate old information in a new way.

 

Authored by Inspire Your Journey