Tips On How Puzzles Can Help Keep Your Brain Active

puzzles for brain activity

People do a lot of things to keep their bodies in great shape, but it’s only recently that people have started to focus on keeping their brains sharp. As we age, our brains feel the effects like the body. Many doctors now agree that brain fitness is just as important as physical fitness. 

Our brains are always changing. Even if you’re older that doesn’t mean your cognitive health is set in stone. Brain fitness can begin at any age, and it’s actually much more fun than most people think. Here are a few fun things to do in San Antonio that will keep your brain active. 

Challenge Your Brain in a New Way at an Escape Room

You may have heard that doing puzzles is a good way to test your brain power and build grey matter. However, there’s one caveat. You have to do different types of puzzles to really challenge your brain to think in a novel way. 

A San Antonio escape room, like the adventures you’ll find at Extreme Escape, is a fantastic mental challenge that tests the brain in new ways. When you visit an escape room in San Antonio you’ll be faced with puzzles and riddles in a live-action setting. Since each San Antonio escape room is different each one offers a unique mental challenge. 

Read Regularly

Reading regularly not only keeps your brain sharp, it also relieves stress no matter what you read. Both the brain and the body are negatively impacted by the effects of stress, like the surge of cortisol that increases inflammation. 

There are a number of other ways reading beefs up the brain. You’ll eventually come across new words, which activates the brain’s language center. If you read to learn about something new the fresh information challenges memory and recall. Your brain also has to work harder to process words compared to images. 

Typically, reading is a solitary activity, but in San Antonio there are a lot of ways to turn your favorite brain boosting pastime into a fun event. There are 31 libraries in San Antonio, and each one hosts special events that enhance the reading experience. Comic book fans can take part in the Alamo City Comic Con. There’s also the San Antonio Book Festival that happens every April. Get out there and find some new reading material!

Stay Socially Active

The good news is, whatever you do for fun socially can have a positive impact on brain health. A recent study in Psychological Science in the Public Interest notes that to stave off mental decline as we age, people should remain socially integrated. Interacting with others has a way of helping us maintain cognition, and it’s also highly beneficial for our mental health.

At the end of the day what matters most is that you get out there and enjoy San Antonio with your friends and family.