Simple games like word search or Sudoku online, as well as exercises that require more concentration like yoga, are interesting options for stimulating our mind and productivity.
Empowering our intelligence and stimulating our productivity should be the two issues that grab our attention the most at different stages of our lives.
And while it's not surprising that as adults, we continue to look for different paths and options that help us get closer to this goal. Health science research recommends the use of intellectual play in child development. Play not only helps to develop mental functions, but also promotes the development of sensory perception, language, memory and motor skills, which are very important for human learning. In addition, play helps to stimulate personality development, builds self-confidence and allows you to learn the norms and principles of social behavior, since it is also the basis of all creative activity, stimulating the imagination. Therefore, parents are advised to buy toys that are age appropriate for their children so that they have positive benefits in their psychomotor development.
But since productivity and intelligence are not typical of age, and given that “aging can affect cognitive ability and quality of life, even in older people,” the same scientific studies recommend continuing to stimulate intelligence at any age.
According to the document “Living Active Aging” produced by the Spanish La Caixa Foundation with the support of the Institute of Applied Sociology and Psychology (ISPA), “hobbies, board games and cognitive exercises are great ways to maintain and strengthen mental capacity, activity and promotion of participation in public life.” But they also argue that it is important to know that gambling will only be considered healthy as long as each participant “devotes certain moments of their daily life to it, never neglecting commitments or other healthy habits, and perceives this as another collective opportunity. existing social, recreational and ultimately healthy activities. “
Recommended hobbies for developing mind and productivity
Among the exercises, activities and hobbies recommended to stimulate cognitive abilities, according to research by La Caixa and ISPA, the following can be mentioned:
- Board games. Board games provide multiple benefits for the physical, mental, and emotional health of older adults, according to research by the Toy Industry Research Association (AIJU). In this sense, they recommend playing games such as scrabble or word games, chess, checkers, ludo, dominoes or cards.
- Sudoku. A hobby whose protagonists are numbers. Playing Sudoku is useful because it stimulates and improves math skills, critical thinking and logic. In addition, Sudoku is a good tool for learning while playing and activating neural connections. The game is a 9×9 field. There are 81 cells in total that need to be filled with numbers from 1 to 9, without repeating them in a row, column and sector 3 by 3. If you need to do this on paper, it is recommended to use a pencil and an eraser. It can also be played on a computer or mobile devices. Whatever the difficulty level, it is important to be patient, start at the lowest levels and gradually increase the difficulty. Fifteen minutes a day may be enough to experience the benefits of the game.
- Crosswords. Ideal for stimulating mental adaptability by combining connections between definition and word.
