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We’re all looking for ways to boost our brain power. And fortunately, there are plenty of simple, low-cost, low-tech ways to help sharpen cognition.

“Low-tech, mentally stimulating activities, especially ones that are challenging, help our brains create new connections. The more connections we have, the more paths our brain has to get information to where it needs to go.

“This can help with improving cognition overall or in specific areas, depending on the activity,” said Dr. Joel Salinas, a behavioral neurologist and faculty member of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.

Try these activities

Mentally stimulating activities make you do a little cognitive light lifting; they require some work to process or produce information. These kinds of activities can include any of the following:

Learning a language. Bilingual people have greater mental flexibility and agility, and may have some protection from the risk of developing dementia, compared to people who speak one language.

Learning a second language later in life may even delay cognitive decline. To get started, listen to language recordings, take an online class, or download an app such as Babbel or Duolingo.

Listening to or making music. Music can activate almost all regions of the brain, including those involved with emotion, memory and physical movement.

Get in on this benefit by listening to new kinds of music, or by learning how to play an instrument. Check out songs from other countries, or start learning to play an instrument by watching free videos on YouTube.

Playing card and board games. Games strengthen your ability to retrieve memories (if you play Trivial Pursuit, for example) or think strategically (Monopoly or checkers).

Playing card games is helpful because it requires you to use a number of mental skills at once: memory, visualization and sequencing.

Traveling. Visiting a new place exposes you to sights and sounds that enhance brain plasticity, forming new connections in your brain.

You might not be able to travel due to COVID-19, but simply exploring areas nearby may produce brain changes. Consider driving to a town you’ve never visited before, or going to an outdoor park with unfamiliar terrain (perhaps mountains or thick forests) to gain new perspectives.

Watching plays, films, concerts or virtual tours of museums. Cultural activities stimulate the brain in many ways. While you may not be able to enjoy these activities indoors right now, it might be possible to experience them outside or online.

Choose something that requires a little effort to understand it, for example a Shakespearean play or a foreign film (try to figure out what the characters are saying without reading the subtitles). If you’re watching a concert, choose one with complex classical compositions.

If you’re looking at an online museum exhibit, try to pick up on the details the artist used to convey a message.

Doing word puzzles. Working on word puzzles (such as a crossword, Jumble or Scrabble) has been shown to help people improve their scores on tests of attention, reasoning and memory.

Try a different kind of puzzle each day (for example, a crossword one day, a Jumble the next), and increase the level of difficulty as puzzles get easier.

Maximizing benefits of brain training

Don’t limit yourself to one mentally stimulating activity. Some evidence suggests that the more of these activities you do, the more your risk for mild cognitive impairment will decrease.

And combining mentally stimulating activities with exercise, learning, or socializing may have an even more potent effect on cognition. For example:

• Get physical and dance while you listen to new music.
• Watch a video lecture about an artist before checking out an exhibit of the person’s work.
• Socialize by playing a board game online with friends during a video call.

Don’t think of these activities as brain-training chores. Just enjoy them because they’re fun and enhance your life. The fact that they sharpen your cognition is just an added benefit!

© 2021 Harvard University. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Ed. Note: For online crossword puzzles and other brain games, see the Beacon’s Puzzles page.

And for a wide-ranging cultural experience at home, consider the “Billion Dollar Art Gallery” — a memory stick that contains images and details about more than 500 artworks from museums around the world that can be viewed individually or played as a video, accompanied by original music, on your TV or computer screen. $39.99; available on Amazon.