Quick glimpse:
Learning a new skill sharpens the brain by establishing new neural connections
Challenging activities benefit the brain more than easy ones
There is a science behind why learning a new language and playing board games, especially chess, are the best kind of mental challenges and most effective mind exercise
If solving a puzzle or playing a maze is easy for you, then it is no longer considered a mental challenge. People who mastered a skill have their brain working automatically for them. You may notice that when you get used to a skill or to an activity to the point that you are almost an expert, you no longer feel challenged.
You may try taking other new activities such as immersing yourself in new cultures and learning a new language or traveling because these novel experiences will rewire your brain in new structures that have never been that way before.
We always hear it as a good piece of advice that the most challenging activity is to learn a new language. Further, people agree that the most difficult language to learn is the Chinese language. It is, perhaps, because it has an entirely different system and phonetics as compared to the English and other European sister languages, which are derived mostly from the Latin tongue. Trying to familiarize yourself with this may bring new and more complex structural changes to your brain.
Even the elderly people may benefit from this.
In a study published in Psychological Science[14], the journal reports that “sustained engagement in cognitively demanding, novel activities enhances memory function in older adulthood.” In their own words, the researchers also observed that “somewhat surprisingly, we found limited cognitive benefits of sustained engagement in social activities.”
The following suggestions are more than pastimes or diversions. For people who have mastered them, they may serve only as entertainment. But if your intention is to keep your brain young and stimulated[15], then rewire it again and get into learning something new.