Exercising your brain
In the same way that the body needs physical exercise, the brain also needs mental exercise. Reading is for the brain as walking is for the body.
The United States today has a 40% illiteracy rate among adults. Those of us who know how to read, are reading less and less. We have put away our books, and now spend our time watching TV and movies, and listening to books on CD in our cars.
Are you beginning to notice that you are not as sharp mentally as you once were? Perhaps you cannot remember like you once did. Or learn as quickly. If you stopped exercising your body, you would expect to be able to do less and less. However, as our brain becomes less agile, we mark it off to aging (even if we are in our thirties).
In much the same way that our body needs to be challenged and pushed in order to stay healthy, so too does our mind need to be challenged and pushed to stay healthy.
This week go to the public library and find a book that interests you. Choose sports, gardening, art, history, fiction, science, space, biographies, travel, or any other topic that fascinates you personally. Read every day. Think of it as the daily walk for your mind.
Do not be content just reading daily, but push your mind by learning to read faster. Most of us can double our reading speed fairly easily. Click here to take a simple reading test.