We’ve all heard the phrase’ use it or lose it’, but there is science behind the saying.
Cognitive reserve is the resilience of our thinking and memory skills to damage. If we don’t learn new skills or engage in challenging activities, we start to lose cognitive reserve and this has been linked to dementia and memory loss.
Luckily, researchers at the University of Melbourne have come up with six ideas to keep our brains active during self-isolation:
- Diversity is key. They say most of the activities we carry out in our daily lives rely on a several brain or cognitive functions, including memory, language, planning and speed of processing among others so we need to do a range of activities to practise our thinking skills, whether it’s crossword puzzles or a game of Tetris.
- Setting goals. They advise people to not set the bar too high and monitor their progress towards a goal. “A goal could be time taken to complete a task, achieving a higher difficulty level or learning a new activity within a defined timeframe.”
- Dedicate time for a brain workout. The researchers recommend a daily session of 30-60 minutes to exercise your brain – just like going to the gym.
- Overcome barriers: if you find yourself struggling, don’t give up. Instead, identify what barriers are preventing you from reaching your goals and make a plan to overcome them i.e. setting aside quiet time to practise.
- Work out with others: doing cognitive activities with other can help keep your motivated and on track, for example, playing video games online with others or timing yourself against a friend on a brain training program.
- The researchers also recommend action video games such as first-person shooters or Super Mario, computer games that require strategic thinking such as Sims or Minecraft, Scrabble-like games like Words with Friends, and listening to audiobooks and podcasts to improve listening and attention skills.
With physical exercise limited during quarantine, let’s put our time to good use and get cognitively fit instead!
