Stimulating your brain

[Doomsday]

Foreword: I understand people at Cong enjoy a higher level of discussion such as politics or ethics, but seriously, where else would I be able to put this?

So here's the deal: lately, I feel that I'm getting dumber by the day - details race past me, my head gets completely blank sometimes, I forget easily, distraction hits me at every moment imaginable, I feel lightheaded... I wouldn't say I am feeling "dumber" per se (since that's a pretty huge statement to make), but I think internet together with other factors has made me slow and more and more lazy to think about stuff. This was also reflected in my school grades last year.

So, discussion at hand here is: what do you people think are good ways to stimulate the brain/"intelligence"? I put that in quotes because it's a very broad term and I wouldn't want people turning this topic into a "what's really intelligence, and how can you qualify it?" discussion, but yeah.

Studying and reading seem like obvious responses at first; math also jumps out as something very stimulating. But what about games? I believe card games (like Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, even Pokémon) make you think harder, in regards to good strategies and in which order and timing to play the right cards in the right moment. Competitive Pokemon also seems like a given here, although it's more memorizing numbers than really calculating stuff (after all, that's why damage calcs exist). Chess seems to be the king of 'thinking' games though, and so I mentioned it.

Share your opinion!

 

[-Zer0-]

start playing chess online maybe.

and if you think games can help go to armorgames or something and just look for puzzle games. a lot of stuff like that actually gets you thinking.

 

[Deck Knight]

There was a guest on Laura Ingraham's show recently who did studies on brain aging over time. She was Laura's oldest guest ever, at 94 years old IIRC.

She said the secret to keeping your brain young was learning something new. Basically to challenge yourself to use parts of the brain you normally don't use, or to acquire knowledge or skills outside your current area of expertise.

I bought Brain Age a while ago, but I've sadly not been able to keep up with it. It's a fairly cheap way to expose yourself to a diverse skillset of common brain functions. Unfortunately my long-term attentive ability wanes, so I haven't been good at doing it daily whatsoever.

I spend my days listening to AM radio instead of music at work. I absolutely hate feeling uninformed or out of the loop, and the discussion never really interferes with what I'm doing. I prefer vocal patterns to the ever-debasing standard of fare that passes on the variety stations that we actually get reception on. How many times can you listen to "Poker Face" or the flaming, synthesized "Do the Helen Keller, talk with your hips" guy without wanting to chuck the radio out the window?

Basically you have to shift your mental skillset around every once in a while. Right now I'm kind of bored of Shoddy, so I've been working on fake cards again, something I did years and years ago as part of a homeschool computer course. And I've gotten back into FFTA2 and improved upon the Excel tool I made to track the units. I'm very pleased with the results, and the fact I can pick the game up after leaving it for a week and still know where my units are on course.

I'm not sure online games help as much with "thinking" if you're used to them. You really have to work on something as a labor of love to get maximum benefit.

 

[cookie]

read books

reading books helps your attention span in my experience

 

[Doomsday]

Coffeeeeeee

first of all, this is congregation not goddamn firebot. put some more thought in your posts please.

and secondly, i'm looking for long-term shit, not temporary measures!

 

[Flounder]

chess isn't a bad idea at all.

Not to brag here but for my whole life I've always been good at math, and excelled at it in school.
A combination of no even remotely difficult math work for school (see: none at all) and what I swear on my life is minor OCD recently made me start seeing patterns in numbers. It started with exponents of two (i.e. trying to find a way to get 256 or something from 3:04) and just generally cool numbers, and now it's progressed to me staring at my clock for a few minutes every morning and just saying 8:28 - oh hey that's a multiple of three, nine, and two (all of which can be figured out in a matter of seconds). It's not something I'd really recommend you do (it's fucking consuming my life and I'm hating it) but it's just how I keep my brain busy.
Another thing I do whenver I can is play chess or solitaire on my iPod - Solitaire much more than chess. A game of solitaire takes me about 5 minutes to either beat or reach a point where I can't win it. It probably doesn't seem like it, but if you rush through it and play from the deck instead of the board on accident, you could easily lose the game. It doesn't favor mistakes - which keeps my brain strategizing (apparently that's not a word?). It's also entertaining, which is good.
Strategy games are definitely good too - be it chess or pokemon. When x-act gets his fort game up on irc that will be an excellent one to play!

 

[BIG loven]

uhhh i hear sudoku is good for that kinda stuff, it may seem a bit confusing at first but when you get into it its somewhat entertaining

 

[alamaster]

Maybe take some online courses or learn something new like playing an instrument if you don't already.

Books are a great way to keep your mind sharp as well. Really anything that is a new skill whether it is hands on or intellectual will keep your brain active. Hobbies that involve a degree of strategy are great because they get to you think in ways you may have never thought before.

 

[chenman333]

first of all, this is congregation not goddamn firebot. put some more thought in your posts please.

and secondly, i'm looking for long-term shit, not temporary measures!

Just keep drinking coffee. Make it a habit.

If it isn't strong enough, you could try out drugs like Provigil or Adderall that really are supposed to be "brain stimulants"

 

[lati0s]

Doing puzzles always helps me, some of my favroites are kenken's http://www.nytimes.com/ref/crosswords/kenken.html, it's kind of like sudoku, but with a bit more math.

If you like math you could always do some old AIME/olympiad math problems, they're challenging and generally require creative solutions, not just implementation of a formula and calculations.
http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/resources.php?c=182&cid=45
http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/resources.php?c=182&cid=27

 

[MetalGearSamus]

-Chess
-Reading books
-Sudoku
-New hobbies
-Learning new things (Math, a language, etc.)
-Physical activity (Running, hiking, etc.)
-Sports
-Brain Age (if you have a DS)

That pretty much sums up everything that's been said here. A combination of some will get your brain started, especially some activity!

Good luck!

 

[pkmn1000]

You could probably find private teachers that specializes in people who are getting dumber by the day.

 

[X-Act]

Play Brain Training on the DS.

It does stimulate your brain. Try it.

EDIT:

When x-act gets his fort game up on irc that will be an excellent one to play!

Thanks. You'll have to wait for when I return home from my honeymoon, though. :(

 

[SMZ]

Riddles, and pretty much what everyone else said. I particularly enjoy Brain Age too, actually because of BA, I began loving Sudoku.

 

[zzzzzzzzzzz]

Although chess really stimulates my brain, Pokemon doesn't, at least in my case, making a team does to an extent but playing really doesn't. Maybe I will have to start playing stall vs. stall but some of my friends play chess defensively like me so it is not worth it.

Books that are harder to read can do the trick, Dostoyevsky is an example of a very good writer that writes very interesting books. Crime and Punishment is mostly a lecture I guess, the Brothers Karamazov seem to be very interesting, I have read the first three parts(of 12), it is really worth it. Then I paused for some time(uh-oh it's about 2 months, too long pause>.<). I will get back on it.

Instead of maths, I think that physics is better, maths is very easy... you just need to try one method and then another, you can learn and understand it in a second and get excellent marks without any work at home. Physics requires more thinking and even doing 20 easier physics problems feeds my brain more than harder maths. Not to say that maths is bad, I just think that physics is better. Programming is also good.

Sudoku is surprsingly good as well.

-Physical activity (Running, hiking, etc.)

Of course, it is another "a must". Feeding the brain without feeding the muscles is just like drinking and no eating. Or eating and no drinking.

Music is also very good as an addition (not replacement) to the above stuff. I don't mean radio/pop stuff but classical music(if it has good conductors) really helps relaxing AFTER doing maths/sudoku/chess/whatever (which are done after hiking/running/lifting/w/e). Extreme metal, ambient/electronic and proggy rock like King Crimson can do the job as well. Although I almost don't listen to those anymore

 

[VKCA]

Smoke less?
I personally don't think brain age helps too much, as after playing it for a whole month (twice a day) I did not really notice any improvements in memory or whatever else its supposed to help with. Although if you want to be faster easy arithmetic it certainly speeds you up, but thats the only benefit I noticed.

Reading difficult books could, I'm not going to recommend any, as I have no idea what your reading level is, what I might consider difficult you might consider simple or vise versa. Just find a book that you think is above your reading "level" and read it.

You could also try learning a new language. And I don't mean going to classes, I mean going to another country in europe, and just emerging your self in a language. Switzerland is about a 12 hour car ride away, and it has four national languages. Wether or not this is viable at all is entirely dependent on you, and I have no clue what your current status is.

 

[lati0s]

Instead of maths, I think that physics is better, maths is very easy... you just need to try one method and then another, you can learn and understand it in a second and get excellent marks without any work at home. Physics requires more thinking and even doing 20 easier physics problems feeds my brain more than harder maths. Not to say that maths is bad, I just think that physics is better. Programming is also good.

you've obviously never done "real" math.the stuff they teach in high school, and I assume beginning college, is a joke.

click the links in my last post to find some math problems that aren't just 'try a couple formulas: get answer'

 

[Jackal]

for me its playing music, I try to play both guitar and drums every day, but more drums. metal "drumming" (i cringe at even calling it drumming) wont help your brain at all but if you get into some complex beats it absolutely does. Some of my favourite stuff to play for this purpose is Tool, Rush, Modest Mouse, etc its pretty easy to hear when drumming is complex. Tool especially though, how can you not have to keep your brain sharp counting all the time changes in schism.

Also i know people might consider this gimmick but guitar hero really does train a certain part of your brian!

Other things mentioned itt that work well for me: chess and sudoku.

I am not very factually smart or scientifically smart, but I have always considered my logic/problem solving skills to be on par with just about anyone, and I really think it is because of the things ive mentioned, on top of playing really hard video games as a kid lol.

could also be why im so good at mafia o__o (mafia isnt a bad way to train the brain either haha if you actually take control of a game)

 

[moot]

a few games of solitaire a day is usually what keeps me out of that 'slump' you seem to be describing. playing more difficult variations and actually winning is very satisfying, especially if you are stuck at home for long periods of time.

i usually make it a point to play a couple of games of either canfield or penguin. both are extremely difficult to win at and it takes a good deal of thinking to finish both.

honestly, try it. it gets the cobwebs out.

 

[pkmn1000]

a few games of solitaire a day is usually what keeps me out of that 'slump' you seem to be describing. playing more difficult variations and actually winning is very satisfying, especially if you are stuck at home for long periods of time.

i usually make it a point to play a couple of games of either canfield or penguin. both are extremely difficult to win at and it takes a good deal of thinking to finish both.

honestly, try it. it gets the cobwebs out.

I play polar golfer and try to get eagles. Hard but possible.

 

[Mr. Hadwick]

If you've got a couple of friends who are in the same situation, or know of a good card dealer around you, I highly recommend taking up a strategic TGC, I myself play magic the gathering as a hobby and I find it really does keep you sharp and on your toes. Not to mention it's great fun, nothing is better then earning a satisfyingly difficult victory, except maybe being bested by an amazing counter strategy.

 

[moot]

I play polar golfer and try to get eagles. Hard but possible.

i prefer canfield just because the low win percentage is enough to keep me playing until i win two or three... it can sometimes take a long time, haha.

and i love free cell... so penguin's variant is very fun to me.

 

[Wulf]

I agree with what Deck Knight mentioned, you need to constantly use your challange your brain, its kind of like excersising, your muscles slow down after a while, you might even lose most of them as well, if you don't use it to a high level the expectations will lower, and when you want to use it realize how sluggish you have gotten

 

[ferron]

studies have been shown that music helps ones brain develop, but most of these studies are cross-section studies since you can't prove that someone would have a better mind by learning music (no really control....). also, eating fish (not general seafood) is supposed to help with memory.

 

[cyberzero]

Well, Pokemon-wise, building a team that will undoubtedly succeed without any playtesting necessary to prove any faults is definitely mind-stimulating. Playtesting after PERFECTING a team for the sake of proving the thesis that the team is successful is a good idea, but if it goes on a losing streak early, scrap it and start again with a completely different base/strategy.

Chess and Sudoku really help as well. If you're a more social person, and you're single, try getting some girls. Team up with a close friend and watch how your brain strains itself to understand how girls think and how they will react to your actions. Even the said "experts" on girls kill their brains trying to figure them out.