Mental Game — Creating Yourself After 40

It’s important to keep the mind sharp and focused. The mental game is important to creating ourselves after 40. I notice that as I age my mind tends to ‘slip’ a little. I get distracted from one task to another and forget the original mission. I get side-tracked and can’t get back on the rail. Keeping our mind sharp is crucial to keeping pace with the younger generation. It is important to exercise our brain just as we exercise our bodies. Most neurologists will agree that the mind is made up of 5 main areas.

Memory
Attention
Language
Visual-Spatial skills
Executive function

It becomes essential to exercise and stimulate these distinct areas of the mind if we wish to keep up with the 20-something mind. Here are a few ways to challenge and use these 5 key areas.

• Memory

Many will say the memory is the first to go. This does not have to be the case. The memory is the ability to recall information in a clear manner. We often forget names or where we put our keys or wallets. My least favorite loss of memory pastime is the “I just had it in my hands a few seconds ago” game.

There are a few simple and enjoyable ways to train our memory to be strong and focused. The key to memory training is to create new and different associations between the neural connections of the brain. Try doing simple tasks in a new manner. Listen to new music and memorize the lyrics. Brush your teeth with your opposite hand. Shower and dress in the dark. Use your computer mouse with the opposite hand. Exercises like these help to create new associations in the brain. This helps boost acetylcholine, a chemical that relays information to the nerve system and is involved in building the mental game.

• Attention

Attention is required in all daily tasks. Paying attention and focus goes hand-in-hand. Attention allows us to concentrate on multiple tasks despite being surrounded by noise and distraction. As we age, our attention span tends to decrease making it more difficult to focus on several tasks. Increasing your attention can be as simple as changing your daily routine. Rearrange your work area. This forces the brain to wake up and pay attention to your surroundings. Breaking routine helps your mind look at patterns in a different way and pay closer attention to stimuli. Combining multiple activities can help build your attention span. Try listening to an audio book while jogging or working through simple math problems while driving.

• Language

Language skills challenge our power to recognize, understand and remember words. Reading literature, newspapers, and websites can help exercise this mental aptitude. Try reading different pieces of information. If you read mostly business articles try reading the sports section. As you are exposed to new words and language you improve your skill in recollection, grammar and word recognition. With reading practice you will expand your vocabulary base and learn to quickly recall familiar words. As you build this mental game, focus on reading the words in context for a better understanding. If reading online articles check definitions at a dictionary website. Many of us were required to learn new languages in high school and we groaned and moaned when we had to read the literary classics in English class. Now that we are older and wiser we should return to those teaching techniques to help us keep our ability to use language sharp and focused.

• Visual-Spatial Skill

This skill is important to recalling what we see and where it is in our three-dimensional world. Exercising this skill will help create a greater mental awareness and increase memory. Our world is filled with color and dimension. Try this simple exercise to increase this skill. Enter a room and memorize five objects and their location in the room. Exit the room and try to recall the item and the location. Simple? Try to recall the items and its location two hours later or five hours later. Here’s another exercise for visual and spatial training. Take a moment and look straight ahead. Force yourself to memorize everything in front of you and in your peripheral vision. Then write down as many things as you can remember. This will not only increase your awareness of your surroundings but will increase your memory.

• Executive Function

Executive function is a mental process we use every day. It is the daily practice of using logic and reason to make decisions. When we design a strategy to reach a possible outcome in the least amount of moves we are practicing executive function. Mental games in the strictest sense are great exercises. Crossword puzzles, chess, checkers, and card games are excellent ways to strengthen quick outcome based decisions. Short interactions with friends is a fun way to play this mental game. We get the opportunity to increase our intellectual performance while requiring our minds to create possible responses and preferred outcomes. Video games are another way to create executive function. The key to this skill is to create a strategy that involves problem-solving skills and to create a desired outcome.

As we move into our late 40's we need to constantly be improving our minds, bodies, and spirits. The mental game is just as important as keeping our bodies healthy. There is a vast amount of information that is blowing in the ‘global hurricane’ but it can’t make us feel less effective. We should always be learning. With today’s information highway there are many ways to keep our minds sharp. Try these exercises and watch a free on-line lecture from one of the major universities. Keep the mind sharp. Your mental health is as important as your physical health. I also recommend this fun site for some fun mental games.

How is your mental game? What ways have you found to keep your mind sharp?

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