We all spend a lot of time – because it is in the news a lot or because we care about our quality of life – worrying about exercising our bodies, making our bodies more fit and ready for aging (okay, so the teenager that exercises regularly probably doesn’t think of that).  The question today is do you do the same for your brain?

It has been shown through many studies that one way to help age gracefully, as far as our mental capacities are concerned, is to exercise our brains.  There are so many ways to do this but do you? 

For those of us out there that do physical exercise on a regular basis, it is great to know that studies show that physical exercise does help keep the brain in good shape also.  But, alas, like exercise needs nutrition to create a healthy body, physical exercise needs mental exercise to keep the brain healthy.

So brain exercises – sounds hard, right?  Not really.  Here is my daily brain exercise – which is on top of a rather lengthy reading list of which I am happy to recommend several books in different genre, just ask.  In the morning, I read the local paper and the blog section. 

I, then, do an online jigsaw puzzle.  I do the puzzle of the day in whatever number of pieces it is done in.  I have yet to conquer a 247 piece puzzle online but I do try to be sure I beat the average solve time.

Then, to make my brain think a bit more, I go to Grab.com and do a word find game.  Days when work is slow, I sometimes scoot back over to grab.com and play a few times a day.

And then, I read.  I have, in the seven days that have passed in August, already finished two novels and one non-fiction and am a good way through a third novel.

So, today, when you have a few minutes, pick up a crossword.  Do a word find.  Tonight, play Scrabble with the family.  Exercise your brain.