🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Rather than relying on mythical "smart drugs" or spending large sums on brain enhancement classes, try these ten simple, practical mental exercises in daily life to cultivate healthy habits and make your brain sharper in the coming year.
1. Foster Creativity—Even beginners benefit from games requiring critical thinking, judgment, and strategy. Elderly people playing such games have a 50% lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who don’t play.
2. Develop Quick Reflexes—Video games like those from Nintendo or small steel ball games train rapid reaction skills. After quick concentration, the mind experiences relative relaxation. Professor Ristack from George Washington University suggests playing a paper-toss game during work breaks: stand about six feet away from a trash can, turn quickly, and toss a paper ball into it.
3. Create New Experiences in Daily Life—A monotonous routine stifles mental activity. Neurobiologist Katz from Duke University encourages breaking routines and creating new experiences in *Make Your Brain New*. For example, take a different route to work or school, notice new sounds, smells, and scenery along the way. Eat at different restaurants daily, taste new flavors, and diversify sensory experiences.
4. Enjoy the Pleasures of Self-guided Travel—Travel broadens horizons and exposes you to stimulating new environments. When traveling abroad, avoid large tour groups or Mandarin-speaking city tours. Opt for independent travel or self-guided trips. Rent a car or use public transportation to visit local markets. Spend extra time exploring spice and herb sections, smell unfamiliar aromas, chat with locals, and keep your brain ready to face new challenges. Unexpected difficulties help develop new neural connections.
5. Use Music to Relax—Listening to Mozart’s music was once believed to improve spatial awareness and logical brain development. However, professional music therapist Hsu Chi-Pin, certified by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), says the so-called "Mozart Effect" resulted from media misrepresentation and marketing hype. The original researchers later admitted the study had too small a sample size and too short a duration to prove long-term benefits of Mozart’s music on brain development.
Everyone’s musical preference is subjective. Currently, music therapy does not prescribe specific music. For general people, music primarily relieves stress and relaxes the mind. Everyone has their own preferred music style. For special groups such as autistic children or individuals with Down syndrome, music therapy can further improve motor skills, language ability, or hyperactivity.
6. Eat the Right Foods to Keep Your Brain Healthy—Foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids help keep brain cells soft and elastic, reduce risks of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Examples include avocado, canola oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, leafy greens, salmon, tuna, and trout.
Natural antioxidants in fruits and vegetables protect brain cells from free radical damage and enhance memory. Examples include plums, raisins, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, spinach, plums, broccoli, and oranges.
7. Reading Is a Whole-Brain Activity—Huang Lan states that reading activates the visual cortex. Turning pages requires hand movement and eye tracking. Words on the page transform into sounds, stored in the frontal lobe as meaning. Reading enhances intelligence—each word read triggers related words, thereby boosting creativity and imagination.
8. Activate All Senses—Observe how infants explore new things: touch, look, smell, and even bite. Experts recommend engaging multiple senses simultaneously, using underutilized senses like smell and touch, and avoiding predictable patterns to build new neural maps. For example, when returning home, close your eyes and find the light switch, recall where shoes were placed, locate furniture, and remember room orientation.
When buying groceries with children, first teach them to read the shopping list, training reading and language skills. Compare prices together to practice math. Teach them to recognize spatial arrangements of products.
9. Exercise to Keep Your Brain Young—Exercise stimulates the release of natural anti-depression hormones like endorphins, reducing stress. Activities like sports or household chores suppress the amygdala’s unnecessary activation, preventing negative emotions from interfering. Aerobic exercise boosts metabolism, delivering oxygen-rich blood to the brain. Neuroscientist Dr. Kringel from the University of Illinois recommends just 15 minutes of brisk walking daily to maintain good physical condition and slow the loss of brain cells.
10. Allow Mental Downtime—Mental exercises shouldn’t exhaust the brain. Stanford University research found that laboratory animals exposed long-term to stress hormones showed shrinkage in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory and learning center.
Psychology professor Solomon from Williams College in Massachusetts says stress impairs concentration and reduces memory capacity. Experts advise setting aside at least 30 minutes to an hour daily—even during busy schedules—to clear your mind. Quiet sitting or meditation are excellent ways to relieve stress.<brain>