When I think of fitness and overall health, the first thing that comes to my mind is physical in nature, like exercise, for example. But there is another area where we can make improvements–our brains. Do you know that mental stimulation boosts brain power? In fact, there’s increasing scientific evidence showing that keeping your mind sharp can defer the effects of aging on the brain, including the onset of diseases such as Alzheimer’s. There’s something called being “brain-fit” or training your brain.
OK, I know what you’re thinking. As a busy veterinarian with clients to take care of, procedures to perform and team members to manage, you don’t have time to play games or read, for that matter. Believe it or not, I’ve found that a quick five minute activity is enough time and can actually be fun (not that you don’t break a mental sweat running a practice). Plus, there are ways to stimulate more than just one area of the brain. Developed by neurologist Dr. Bernard Croisile and cognitive psychologist Dr. Michel Noir, “Happy Neuron” online brain games are designed to target all five of the main cognitive functions: memory, attention, language, executive functions and visual/spatial. Happy Neuron also provides players with a personal, virtual coach. Just as you might seek advice from a physical trainer, your virtual coach designs customized workouts based on performance and compares results to others to identify specific areas of cognitive weakness. Even if you only have five minutes, the virtual coach can create a quick workout around your busy schedule.
With that in mind, another website to visit is “brainbashers.com” for suggestions of what to do to work your mental muscles. Here’s what I came up with:
-Â Reading
-Â Crossword puzzles
-Â Logic and mind riddles
-Â Online games
-Â Sudoku
-Â Stereograms
-Â Jigsaw puzzles
-Â Optical illusions
-Â Cryptograms
-Â Word games
-Â Board games
If you work at it, you could actually make your brain work harder for you. Imagine not having to recalculate dosages of medications you use everyday, not forgetting to label that last x-ray or not having to check Sparky’s medical notes (again) for the same information. The list is endless, but you get the idea.
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