Exercises for the Brain to Aid in Reasoning

It is just as important to exercise your brain as it is to exercise your body. Brain exercise helps strengthen your reasoning skills and protect you against loss of mental function, such as Alzheimer's disease, senility and memory loss. There are different things you can do to improve your reasoning skills; the most important thing is to have fun while exercising your brain.

Coordination and Motor Skills Exercises

• Coordination exercises can help improve your brain's ability to reason. As you work on your motor skills, your brain forges new neural pathways.

  When you were a child, you might have tried writing with the "opposite" hand for fun. This simple exercise is actually one of the best things you can do for your brain. Try writing, dialing the telephone or using your computer mouse with your non-dominant hand.

  Another simple exercise to try is to engage different senses than you ordinarily would to complete tasks. For example, you might try communicating with your children non-verbally (i.e. pointing, using signs) or closing your eyes while performing everyday tasks like getting dressed or dialing the phone.

Physical Exercise

• If you like to walk, you can fine-tune your memory and reasoning abilities simply by engaging in this exercise. Walking and other aerobic exercise offer more oxygen to the brain and help build neural pathways. While you are walking, be sure to engage your brain by noticing new places or taking a different route.

Engage Your Whole Brain

• The best thing you can do to aid your reasoning ability and keep your brain healthy is learn new things. Reading, writing and doing crossword puzzles are brain-building activities. You can also engage your whole brain by learning new skills like dancing or traveling to new places. If you cannot provide a new, more stimulating environment for your brain, you can reap some benefit by visualizing such an environment. Studies show that imagining travel to a new location or moving muscles in a different way stimulates the brain similarly to actually performing these activities.