What if you decided that the best gift you could give yourself this holiday season was a big boost in brain fitness? It doesn’t have to be a drag either—by enjoying a few fun brain-focused activities, you can improve your memory and increase your judgment, intuition, reasoning, and perceptual abilities. We now know that the human brain is malleable and moldable, even well into old age. The brain’s neuroplasticity allows it to change structure, grown new cells, and form new pathways with our every thought and action. We can stay clear-minded well into our 90s if we provide our brains with the right kind of stimulation.

Although you will find hundreds of online resources and smartphone apps for games and computerized cognitive training, research indicates that games are not nearly as effective as real-world activities that involve other people and provide novelty and challenge. In fact, being socially engaged and sustaining meaningful connections with others is crucial to brain health. Here are five brain-boosting activities to share with the people you love to be around over the coming weeks.   

1. Schedule an Old Fashioned Game Night Party

Researchers know that monotony and boredom are toxic for our brains, but laughter is brain medicine. What is funnier than engaging in a spirited game of charades with your pals? Is it a bit out of your comfort zone? All the better. Your brain thrives on a change in routines.

Fact-based games that test your memory like Trivial Pursuit are great brain fitness exercises that can help protect you against mental decline. Games that involve decision-making, counting, spelling, and strategizing, such as Scrabble, chess, checkers, poker, and dominoes, offer excellent stimulation. Throw a holiday bingo party. Invite the funniest and loudest friend you have to be the number caller.

2. Make Beautiful Music Together

Scientists know that playing music is like a full-body workout for the brain. If you have musical friends, stage a holiday concert, complete with rehearsals and a program, but even the act of just listening to music engages several regions of the brain chemically and electrically like no other activity. If the music has emotional significance, even more activity is generated. So even if you don’t sing or play an instrument, you can still get a brain boost from listening to your favorite songs!

3. Learn Something New 

Learning new skills on a regular basis keeps the brain vital and flexible. 

• Take a cooking class. Cooking uses all five of your senses, providing multiple areas of the brain with a vigorous workout.
• Bake unfamiliar holiday treats. Following a brand new recipe requires decision-making, planning, measuring, and many other important cognitive processing skills.
• Learn a foreign language.  The attentiveness and concentration required to learn a new language is greatly stimulating for the brain. Another bonus: a rich vocabulary can help protect against cognitive impairment.
• Exercise your taste buds and your wine palate. Some researchers believe that people are more vulnerable to dementia when they are less attentive to their surroundings. Tune into every flavor nuance when you eat together and share what you perceive. Try to identify the many different sensory evaluation components in your wine when you share bottles.  

4. Get Physical

Physical exercise keeps the blood, oxygen, and nutrients flowing to the brain, is crucial for good memory, and can help reduce the stress hormone cortisol and blood sugar, both risk factors for Alzheimer’s and dementia. Play group golf or tennis. Take a yoga or dance class. Go for a hike or a leisurely walk.

5. Invite Young People to Join You

Being around young people (and grandkids, in particular) is stimulating for body, mind, and soul. Sharon Arkin, a psychiatrist at the University of Arizona, found that Alzheimer’s patients who engage in group exercise sessions with college students experience less cognitive decline and enjoy improved moods.

Our brain fitness improves in every measurable way when we place ourselves in surroundings and relationships that are mentally, physically, and socially stimulating.