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Brain Aerobics
18. Memorize a poem every day. Sure, it reminds you of your days in elementary school ("I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree ... "), but it's also a great exercise for those memory muscles, a.k.a. the brain. Not into poetry? How about memorizing the phone numbers of all your friends, or the addresses of all your family members?19. Do one thing every day that will force you out of your comfort zone. It might be taking a different route to work, writing or using the mouse with your nondominant hand, or approaching a total stranger and striking up a conversation (in a safe place, mind you). This kind of challenge is the perfect "weightlifting" exercise for those brain cells.
20. Listen to music while you are exercising. A study of 33 adults undergoing cardiac rehabilitation found that those who listened to music while they worked out improved their scores on a verbal fluency test -- a test that measures overall brainpower.
21. Spend a day exploring in an unfamiliar town. The challenge that comes from following a map, coupled with the novelty that new sights, sounds, and smells bring, serves as a healthy wake-up call for your brain.
22. Get a course book from your local college and pick one class to take next semester. A study from Chicago's Rush Alzheimer's Disease Centerfound that people who had higher levels of education exhibited fewer signs of Alzheimer's disease even when autopsies revealed they had the disease.
23. Do one thing at a time. If you're trying to have a phone conversation while checking e-mail, chances are good you won't remember a word you talked about. A growing body of research finds our increasing tendency to multitask actually harms our brains.
24. Have a bag of toasted pumpkin seeds for a brain-boosting snack. They're high in iron, shown to improve test scores in college students.
25. Pay better attention next time someone tells you his name, or when you throw your keys into the basket on the counter, or when you park your car. Often the reason we can't remember things is that we're on autopilot when we do them (or hear them). But if you stop for a second when someone introduces himself and repeat the name out loud, or stop when you get out of your car at the mall and look -- really look -- at the spot in which you're parked, you'll remember those things better.
26. Study, read, and work in a quiet room. Studies find that noise exposure can slow your ability to rehearse things in your mind, a way of building memory links.
27. Talk with your hands. No, we're not talking about sign language, but about using your hands to emphasize what you're saying. Turns out it's easier for us to speak when we're gesturing, leaving more mental resources available for transferring information into memory.
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