Keeping your brain engaged is a key ingredient to improving your brain health in the long-run. Here are some ways to stimulate your mind:
- Play video games. Certain action video games have been linked to faster learning on new cognitive tasks, probably because of the games’ fast pace. Popular examples include “Half-Life 2,″ “Quake” and the Splatoon series, which involves squids shooting one another with ink. For more inspiration, check out my colleague Gene Park’s review of the best games of 2025.
- Read fiction. A 2021 study found that reading at least twice a week was linked with a lower risk for cognitive decline. Reading fiction in particular may have unique benefits. It may boost social abilities and expand worldviews by forcing you to mentally inhabit different characters’ perspectives.
- Learn a new language. Research shows that if you know more than one language, your brain has them “on” all the time, even when you aren’t speaking them. This monitoring and assessing of what is said and heard provides mental stimulation that makes the brain more efficient in the long-run. Here are some tips on how to do it.
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