Brain gym to enhance brain power

By brain gym, I didnt mean that its a place or a gymnasium where you have ropes, weights or lezims and stuff like that. I started wondering when we are taking time to exercise the body are we are taking same time out to sharpen the mind and thinking? I guess we need to, especially all of those who've crossed age 30 should take sometime to at least know how their reflexes are and how sharp they are acting and where their IQ is.

I checked a couple of PC games the other day to see how old is my brain and how fast are my reflexes. Here is one to know the age of your brain http://flashfabrica.com/f_learning/brain/brain.html
The instructions will be in Japanese, so I am helping you how to go about playing the game!
1. Click 'start'
2. Wait for the count down from 3, 2, 1.
3. Memorize the number positions appearing on the screen and then put the same in an ascending order; meaning smallest number to the biggest number. It starts with 3 numbers appearing at a time and goes on up. In case you memorized the number positions wrong when there are 4 numbers, the next game you get again 3 numbers. Its a game of 10 sessions.
4. At the end of the game, it will tell you a score meaning age of your brain. So catch up with let me know your respective scores. :). My score was 39! I am still unsure what it means. When I learn to interpret the score, I will post an update on the blog.

And, here is a game that tells of your reflexes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf
It's a dart game. There will be sheep on one end that will try to cross to the other end (left to right on screen) in front of you. You got to shoot (clicking the mouse) the sheep and not allow them to go. The faster you shoot implies the faster your reflexes are. Its a cool game and PETA people dont have to play it with a pinching feeling, as in the making of game no sheep are harmed. I got a score of 0.176 seconds meaning I am a rocketing rabbit. I wanted to be as sharp as turbo charged cheetah though :(

If you are not fond of playing these games, a few tips to train your brain:
1) Stay curious as well as involved; mind you learning is a lifelong process.
2)Read, write and process (work) on puzzles like crosswords.
3)Theater is another great way not only to bust your stress and its also a brain gym but train your brain. So when there is a play in a theater in your neighborhood take time to attend.
4)Gardening is another great stress relieving activity.

And let me tell you one good brain gym activity; perhaps one you haven't heard of. I know like me most of you are computer buffs. So if you are using one hand to operate PC mouse, try using the other one on a particular day. I know its so difficult to operate accurately, but this brain gym activity can create fresh neural connections and strengthen the existent ones. Similarly, play badminton with the hand you are not otherwise playing; use similarly other hand to brush your teeth, cut your vegetables, write, dialling a phone and even eating. You are teaching your brain to learn a new skill.

Similarly dress or wash your face with eyes closed. Communicate with family members with just visual clues for an hour every week. Explore to go to your work place through different routes and memorize the new routes.

All of these work great as stress busters and indeed are refreshing than sitting and watching a toon show on television like a dumbass. If you dont mind let me know how these worked for you! Well I do some of these brain gym exercises with my kid and enjoy playing some of them quite a lot!