Cog Wheels of Brain Health: Mental Stimulation

All eight cog wheels of brain health are intricately linked in a combinatorial (Patterson, 2019) process with one another to promote total brain health. They all have several factors in common. Each wheel requires well-planned, creative, novel, specific and challenging activities in order to be completely effective.

The second essential cog wheel vital to brain health is mental stimulation. “Just as we need to exercise our bodies, we also need to give our brains a workout. Any level of mental exercise is beneficial for your brain. But the more effort and exertion that is put into the mental activity, the better the results. The more we challenge our mental capacities with novelty and complexity, the more stimulating and beneficial the mental exercise will be.”

How can we stimulate our minds? Here are a few ideas. “Cultivate curiosity. Learn, read and be creatively curious. Seek mental stimulation that is novel, new and different. Seek activity that mentally challenges you and then master it. Engage in meaningful mental activity that stimulates your emotions and invigorates your motivation. Try creative and complex activities that require use of multiple cognitive functions, engaging all of your senses and include movement. Take regular mental breaks, about every 30 minutes, to give your mind a rest.

In addition to stimulating the brain, brain health is also promoted by learning to control brain function and regularly give our brains a chance to rest and restore.” (Patterson M. C., 2019). Taking time to rest our brain with focused relaxation and mindfulness, living in the moment, and meditating, all promote improved attention and greater ability to avoid distractions while focusing on what matters most at that moment. Too often our minds are rushing from one item on our list to the next activity or future engagement, more by habit than forethought. It is of great benefit to rest our mind.

For more information about the CogWheels of Brain Health, contact Pam Redline at pam@brainbuilderpros.com or call her at (405) 888-0502. Please feel free to text “COGWHEELS” to the same number.