Power Up Your Brain

Want a fun and easy way to power up your brain? Have a chat over coffee, tea, or even warm milk. The key here is the chat, not your choice of beverage. Even if they’re brief, occasional bouts of social interaction can help sharpen your wits.

Whether you engage in conversation with a friend, a family member, or the guy behind you in the express line, keep talking. In a recent study of young adults, a mere 10 minutes of face-to-face conversation about a social issue was enough to boost working memory and mental processing speeds. Chitchat was as good as a crossword puzzle, in terms of brain benefits. In fact, the more people socialize, the better their brainpower -- regardless of age.

Conversation requires us to pay attention, remember what was said, deduce the other person’s meaning, and come up with appropriate responses -- some pretty serious mental gymnastics. And when it comes to mental muscle, it’s use it or lose it.