Neither puzzles nor apps - neuroscientists swear by these 5 brain health exercises to boost concentration and memory

When we think about our health, we often think of popping on hiking boots, grabbing the gym kit, or going for a run to help keep our bodies in shape. But it's equally important to do regular brain health exercises to to maintain emotional wellbeing and mental sharpness, and to improve your brain health.

“It’s absolutely possible to 'work out' to improve your brain health, but not in the sense of doing mental push-ups," says Dr Rachel Barr, neuroscientist and author of the new book How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend.

"The brain is not a muscle that needs relentless training, it's more like a living ecosystem," she says. "Evolution didn’t design our brains for constant effort, but for a life rich in sensory experience, social connection, novelty, and a sense of purpose. As we age, this becomes even more important. It’s about keeping the brain in conversation with the world.”

To do that, we have to engage the various networks in the brain, explains Amy Brann, a neuroscience expert with numerous books, including Make Your Brain Work. “While you only have one brain, it’s made up of multiple interconnected networks, each supporting different skills and ways of thinking. Each of these networks can be strengthened, but they require different kinds of exercise," she says.

“For example, if you only challenge your executive function [one network in the brain], you may get better at organising and concentrating, but you won’t necessarily improve your capacity for innovation or compassion," she says. "It's focusing on all the networks that builds cognitive flexibility - the ability to move smoothly between deep focus, creative thinking, and social understanding. That’s what keeps you mentally agile, resilient to change, and better able to thrive as you age.”

Brain health exercises to try

1. The Focus Ladder

To help bolster your executive function, try the focus ladder. "Your Executive Control Network involves the prefrontal cortex and helps you focus, plan, and manage complex tasks," says Brann.

"Pick a complex task (like writing or budgeting) and work on it without switching to another task for 20 to 30 minutes, three to four times a week, gently increasing the time. When your attention drifts, gently bring it back," she says.

"[The focus ladder] will strengthen sustained attention and working memory by training the prefrontal cortex to filter distractions, prompting greater focus, reduced procrastination and sharper problem-solving."

2. Purposeful mind wandering

Purposeful mind wandering helps engage the Default Mode Network, a network that's most active when you're not focused on the outside world and at rest (while physically awake).

“Your Default Mode Network is most active during reflection and daydreaming, and is key for creativity, empathy, and seeing the bigger picture,” says Brann. To help take care of your brain, she suggests mind wandering with purpose.

"For 10 to 15 minutes, several times a week, take a slow walk or sit quietly without inputs (no phone, no TV)," says Brann. "Let your mind wander, but direct it toward a big question, challenge, or future plan. This will encourage integration of past experiences with new ideas, supporting creativity, empathy and long-term vision, and it can lead to more original ideas, deeper self-awareness and better perspective-taking."

Much like other brain health exercises, you can do this one pretty much anywhere and anytime - waiting for the kettle to boil or the train to arrive, for example.

3. Pattern spotting

The Salience Network is another one of these networks in the brain. It "acts like switchboard, helping you notice what's most relevant and shift between other networks," says Brann. Pattern spotting is one way to activate it.

"Every day, when reading the news, watching a film, or in conversation, consciously look for connections between unrelated things. Or, notice subtle emotional cues in people's tone or body language," says Brann. "This trains your brain to detect what's important in the moment, improving adaptability and social intelligence, prompting faster, more nuanced decision-making and improved emotional connection."

4. Routine reversal

"As a way to strengthen cognitive flexibility, boost alertness, and help you adapt more easily to change in other areas of life, try the ‘Reverse your Routine exercise,” says Brann.

"Once or twice a week, pick an everyday sequence and deliberately do it in reverse order (if it was a workout, say), or with your non-dominant hand (if it is making a cup of tea, for example)," she says.

"Doing this forces the brain to break out of habitual 'autopilot' (default mode), and actively engage the executive control network to manage the change. At the same time, the salience network works harder to detect errors or unusual cues."

5. Creativity without a goal

"When I talk about 'brain exercises', I’m really talking about ways of being that keep the brain metabolically and imaginatively active,” says Barr.

Another way to do this is to pick up a creative hobby, without pressuring yourself to 'be perfect' or 'make art'.

“Artists make art, the rest of us are under no such obligation. Collage, clay, doodling, inventing recipes…they can be childlike, even pre-destined for the bin," says Brann.

"The point isn’t the product, but the play, the sensory engagement, and the act of bringing something out of your brain and making something tangible from it. It allows your brain to process emotions and ideas through symbolic cognition, rather than purely relying on describing or thinking about them in words."

Do brain training apps work?

If you're looking for brain health exercises, you might be tempted to look to your phone for the answer, given the success of so-called 'brain training' apps in recent years. These are enjoyable, distracting, and sometimes challenging, but we should be realistic about how effective they are.

Stark McQuillan notes: “Brain-training apps can be useful if they encourage genuine novelty and challenge. The key is variety and real-world application. Apps that repeatedly test the same skill may help with that narrow task but won’t necessarily generalise to overall cognitive health. Mixing activities that stimulate attention, memory and problem-solving, especially those that engage you socially or physically, tend to be more effective."

If you do want to try a brain app in conjunction with other activities, these are some suggestions:

• Lumosity: Billed as the world’s most popular brain training app, it offers interactive cognitive games and exercises, as well as personalised training.
• Liven: Described as your self-discovery companion, the focus of this app is internal work, so there are exercises to help reframe your inner dialogue and approach the day with renewed perspective.
• Elevate: This can help expand your cognitive skills through a library of games that aim to increase your aptitude for writing, maths, reading and memory.
• CogniFit: The app provides a self-administered assessment of your cognitive functions, including short-term memory and focus, and exercises to improve your results.
• Headspace: Finding pockets of calm is important for brain health. As well as being one of the best sleep apps, Headspace has meditation and mindfulness techniques to help you do just that.

Does physical exercise help brain health?

It is essential to incorporate movement and physical exercise into daily routine in order to look after your brain. “Physical exercise promotes neurogenesis, especially in the hippocampus, improves blood flow and supports the release of growth factors that nourish brain cells,” says Stark McQuillan.

Aerobic exercises for brain health include cycling and walking workouts, she says, while resistance training (i.e. lifting weights) is beneficial for cognitive function and improving your mood.

"Ideally, a weekly routine combining aerobic activity, strength training and flexibility exercises (Pilates, Yoga, Barre work etc) creates the best brain-supportive environment," she says. These sit among the best exercises for longevity for the same reason.

Keeping mobile, however that might look, is what is most important. "When you move, you send a signal to tell the brain that you might be exploring new territory, having new experiences, or otherwise engaging with the world in a way that will probably require some new neural connections," says Barr. "The brain is essentially saying, ‘Whoa, we’re moving around a lot. Better make some new neurons to handle all the exciting new stuff we might learn!’”

To get the benefits of exercise for brain health, there's no need to go hard on structured workouts or intense cardio sessions. You can satisfy your brain’s need for movement purely through play. Not just the obvious activities like walking in the sunshine or cycling in the park, but by putting on high-tempo jazz and dancing in your living room, having a hula hoop contest, throwing a frisbee, flying a kite," says Barr.

"Exercise for the freedom to play and be outrageously silly no matter your age because, in the end, the best way to stay active is simply to keep moving."