A cognitive challenge It is any activity whose main objective is to improve some mental activity, such as memory, perception, attention, reasoning or logic. These are challenging activities, which force the person who performs them to work hard to find a solution or complete them satisfactorily.
In the same way that physical exercise is necessary to maintain body health, studies show that training the brain is also essential in preserving or even strengthening several important cognitive abilities. Therefore, a large number of specialists in this area have tried to find activities that can help in this objective..
However, finding an activity that improves brain function or prevents its deterioration is not easy. Many of the so-called "mental exercises" don't really have a proven effect..
Therefore, in this article we will focus on the cognitive challenges that can really improve mental capacity, after explaining their general characteristics..
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Our daily life generally consists of a series of fixed routines, which we carry out day after day. This has many advantages: it limits the number of decisions that we have to carry out, it allows us to carry out complex tasks without having to use all our energy, and in general they give us greater efficiency in what we do..
However, living this way also has a major downside: routines provide us with very little cognitive stimulation. And, in the same way that our body weakens if we do not train it frequently, the same happens with our brain. When we do not exercise it, we can lose mental capacities little by little, such as memory or attention.
Cognitive challenges are activities that have been designed to solve this problem. These are tasks that are both novel and complex, and therefore force us to use our brain in different ways than those in which we usually use it..
Cognitive challenges can be purely mental, such as doing sudokus or playing chess; or they may involve complex physical movements, which force our brain to adapt.
Some of the activities that fall into this second category are, for example, using our non-dominant hand to write or eat, or trying to master a complex skill such as learning to play a musical instrument..
On the other hand, not all cognitive challenges have to be done with the conscious goal of improving our mental abilities. In our day to day, we may find ourselves numerous tasks that perform this same function, especially if we lead an active life full of challenges.
Maintaining proper brain health can bring us all kinds of positive consequences. If you perform cognitive challenges frequently, you will be able to be your best version at this moment and avoid the deterioration of your mental abilities in the future as much as possible.
Thus, some of the most important benefits of cognitive challenges are the following:
- Reduction of stress levels.
- Improved mood.
- Increased memory and the ability to recall data.
- Increased ability to concentrate and attention.
- Greater motivation and productivity.
- Improved creativity, fluid intelligence, and cognitive flexibility.
- Higher levels of self-esteem.
- Improved perception, especially in relation to vision and hearing.
- Increased ability to think quickly and speed of reaction.
As we have already seen, during our day to day we can carry out different cognitive challenges practically without realizing it. To exercise our brain, it is not necessary that we carry out activities specifically designed with this objective, but we can practice disciplines or tasks that have this benefit as part of their collateral effects.
However, not all areas offer the same amount of opportunities for improvement in this regard. Next we will see some fields in which activities abound that can exercise our brain if we practice them often.
Although we normally associate sport with simple physical well-being, the truth is that exercise is one of our greatest allies when it comes to improving our cognitive abilities. However, not all sports disciplines will help us in the same way..
For example, going to a gym to use isolation machines will have a very small impact on our mind, compared to other activities such as team or adventure sports (such as surfing, snowboarding or skiing).
Other disciplines, such as yoga, sports gymnastics or weightlifting can also be very beneficial for our brain.
Just as there are more and less useful sports disciplines to improve our cognitive abilities, the same happens in the field of leisure and free time. Hobbies like watching movies or playing video games are not very helpful in strengthening our mental abilities.
On the other hand, other disciplines such as board games, learning to dance, or hobbies such as music, crafts or writing can help us promote the power of our brain in a simple and fun way.
According to various studies, one of the best ways to increase our cognitive ability is to set complex goals and try to achieve them. This is something that occurs a lot in the workplace, especially among those who want to create their own business or rise to a position of responsibility..
However, what if our life is not naturally full of cognitive challenges that stimulate our mind and make us reach our best version?
Although they are not substitutes for all these tasks that we have already seen, there are certain activities that can be used in isolation to improve our brain capacity.
Some of the most important are the following:
- Meditation.
- Reading.
- Listen to complex music, such as jazz or classical music.
- Play chess.
- Solve puzzles, sudoku puzzles, crosswords and other similar hobbies.
- To learn a new language.
Finally, other activities apparently less related to the well-being of our brain, such as going for a walk or spending an afternoon with close people, can also serve as a cognitive challenge in many situations.
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