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Have you been feeling like you’ve lost a little bit of the sharpness you might have had a few years ago? It’s not uncommon for adults, even young adults, even those in their twenties, to feel like things have started to dull a little. When we get out of education, into the big wide world, and settle into a routine, we stop learning new things and, as a result, it is true that our thinking skills can begin to stagnate a little.

The brain is much like a muscle. The better that you make use of it, the stronger it gets. As such, here, we’re going to look at a few ways you can help keep your mind sharper.

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Learn how to cook (or improve your skills)

If you want to get your brain firing on all cylinders, then getting it used to wholly new skills and practices can be a very effective method, indeed. There are few skills that make use of the mind and body connection as well as cooking. If you’re already able to cook, you can rekindle your love for the hobby by picking up new recipes, cuisines, and skills. There’s a good combination of scientific application of cooking principles as well as creativity to cooking, making it a great hobby to pick up.

Tease your brain with some puzzles

Puzzles of all kinds can be great for testing parts of your brain that you might not use as often as you should. You can keep puzzles like a Rubik's cube on your work desk so that, during a break, you can go for a quick mental workout. Jigsaw puzzles are another example of a very effective puzzle for combining a range of cognitive abilities, from pattern recognition to spatial awareness. Make a hobby of picking up a new puzzle every time you complete one and try to get varied with them so that you’re testing multiple different parts of the brain.

Get into word games and puzzles

All puzzles are great for the mind, building its logical sharpness, but word puzzles, in particular, can be especially valuable. Not only are puzzles like a word jumble great for testing your logical mind, but they can also help build and reinforce your vocabulary by bringing to mind words that you might not hear often or ever use. Of course, you should always keep a jumble solver on hand, as well. That way, if you don’t get the puzzle right, you can still learn the answer and, in some cases, learn a new word, too.

Get into music

Music is one of the most cognitively engaging pastimes that we humans can get into. Even listening to music is known to boost creativity in the listener, especially if you listen to music you haven’t heard on a regular basis. However, it’s learning to play music that can really get your brain activity spiking. While most virtuosos start off very young, you are never too old to pick up an instrument that you have no practice with. You can become skilled with piano, guitar, drums, or whatever other instrument you have your heart set on.

Learn a new language

As mentioned, building your skills with language can be great for your whole brain. Not only do you pick up new worlds, but you can improve your memory, increase creativity by essentially giving your brain new words to play with, and there are even some benefits to your visual-spatial skills. All of these benefits double when you’re talking about learning a new language. Picking up a new language also improves your brain’s ability to switch between different tasks, since it will consistently be switching from one language to the next.

Consider teaching

Do you have a skill that you’re particularly good at which you could teach another person? Or perhaps you have some educational or vocational history that you could tutor people through online courses? Just as much as learning is good for the brain, learning how to teach another person is just as good, improving your ability to communicate and understanding your own skills and knowledge from a different perspective. Many would agree that teaching skills to another is an important part of mastering them, as well.

Much like our body, our mind benefits from a varied diet, so it’s a good idea to implement as many of the tips above as you can. That way, you should be staying sharp, curious, and quick regardless of your age.