6 Super Creative Hobbies That Will Sharpen Your Brain

Is it possible that something you do for pleasure and fun, in fact, make you smarter and more productive?

Well, I have good news for you – it certainly is. It turns out that practicing your favorite hobbies is not only a way to deal with stressful situations more easily, or have fun, or relax, but also helps sharpen your mental skills. 

Your intelligence levels can be increased by exposing your brain to new stimuli. When you challenge your brain, it forms neural pathways which make it work better and more quickly. So, the more you challenge your brain, i.e. gain new skills and learn new things, the stronger your brain gets.

Wonderful, isn’t it?

So, in what follows, there’s a list of 6 super creative hobbies you can indulge in while sharpening your brain. So, make sure you practice as more of them as you can.

Here they are:

1. Learn to play a musical instrument.

Whether you choose to play the violin or strum the bass, you won’t make a mistake either way. Not only will you enhance your motor skills, but also your analytical, math, and language skills.

Playing a musical instrument strengthens the corpus callosum that connects the two hemispheres of the brain by forming new connections. And a strengthened corpus callosum improves the memory and the problem-solving skills as well as the overall function of the brain, irrespective of your age.

2. Read anything.

The positive effects of reading are the same whether you’re reading Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece Anna Karenina, or some daily newspaper, or enjoying Game of Thrones. Reading reduces your stress levels, thereby making you feel better about yourself.

Reading also increases the three types of intelligence – fluid, crystallized, and emotional that enable you to understand processes, detect patterns and identify and respond to the feelings of others.

3. Do regular exercises.

I guess you’ve never thought that exercising can do as much good to your brain as it does to your body.  Well, let me tell you that exercising can really keep your mind sharp.

However, here, exercise doesn’t refer to the occasional going to the gym or doing push-ups at home. Instead, it means that you should do exercises on a daily basis. Because when you exercise regularly, your body produces more BDNF, a protein that helps the brain create new connections and protect its healthy cells. This protein also helps with memory, concentration, learning, and understanding.

4. Learn a new language.

If you want to improve your problem-solving and planning skills, learn a new language. Speaking at least two languages improves your perception of your environment and enables you to better focus your attention to processes.

Additionally, speaking two or more languages can come in really handy when you travel abroad or come across tourists in your city. And here’s an interesting fact I’d like to share with you: research has shown that bilingual speakers are better at solving puzzles than their monolingual friends.

5. Test your cumulative learning.

The only way you can make sure the things you learn are stored in your long-term memory is by testing your cumulative learning. One reason why learning a new language sharpens your brain is that it requires cumulative learning. For example, you constantly learn new vocabulary and grammar rules, and, of course, you need to continually revise them.

But you can test your cumulative learning in your everyday life, not only when learning a new language. You can do this by keeping track of keywords from the books you read, observations you make during important meetings or anything new you learned that day. You can also keep a small journal of anything that captures your attention.

6. Meditate.

Did you know that by meditating you can control your brain waves and feel whatever way you want to feel? For example, you can feel more confident when you’re asking your boss for a rise. Or you can feel more powerful and look more convincing when you’re doing business with someone.

And I believe we all already know how doing meditation exercises reduces your stress levels and makes you feel more relaxed.