Do you exercise your brain?

[braumeister]

Ha! I was there this spring for three days. Have also heard it's difficult. At least we already can pronounce the "th" sound. Only three modern languages have that, apparently.

If you need some inspiration:

 

[Winemaker]

Maintenance of 3 rental buildings, 7 tenants, my mom's house, my mom, my own house, my 3 vehicles, my garden, planning, purchasing, creation, aging and bottling of 160 gallons of wine, and keeping up with DW, the 2 grown children and 3 grandkids. Knights of Columbus, MEMMA, Reelection committee member of political candidate/former cow*rker.

Don't have time for crossword puzzles, or other puzzles, however, I did extremely well playing WORD on my phone for 8 months, when I fire retired.

 

[imoldernu]

Flying into different airports for Angel Flight. Nothing will keep you as sharp as landing at an unfamiliar airport or one where there is commercial traffic.

Based on what I can see from your travels, this is, for sure, a challenge that will help 'til you get into your mid nineties...

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

My own unscientific observations and readings (none of which I have at my fingertips to cite now) is that somewhere around 10K/10M/half marathon fitness is the sweet spot, if running is your choice of exercise. Beyond that, I wouldn't call it abuse, but you are doing it for reasons other than fitness. Mild abuse, maybe, since you're working the body harder than needed; but not everyone's joints wear down from running like some claim.

I used to run "2-5"...2-5 miles at a time, 2 to 5 times a week. It kept me reasonably fit, but didn't keep my weight down enough. I jumped from that running to training for a marathon, dropped 20 pounds, and felt a lot more healthy. Since I didn't do the half distance, I can't say for sure what that would've done for me. Another thing I've heard is that the healthiest thing to do is train for a marathon, but don't run it, because the training is (should be) done at shorter distances, or slower pace.

Interestingly, when you hear about people dying in marathons, most of the time you'll find it's actually a half-marathon they die in. Part of that is the sheer number of halfers vs. full, but it's a higher % too. I remember this came up a couple years ago.

My theory is that most people will train seriously for a full, but maybe not so much for a half. Also, a full marathon is generally run at conversational pace, while a half is not, so your heart beat is higher and if you have an undetected condition it may be more likely to be triggered. And there's the selection thing, most people do run a few halfs first, and if they've gotten past that safely, they probably don't have such a condition.

I really like running and doing marathons or longer, but I would never say that others should for health reasons. I only encourage and help people who have shown an interest.

I'm a "2-5"er. On 10/28 ran a 5k in 21:57. I do it to keep my gut smaller.

 

[RunningBum]

Yes, I do the Washington Post crosswords and various puzzles at BrainBashers - Puzzles and Brain Teasers
I played Kakurasu daily for a year or so, and put my times in a spreadsheet with the thought to see if my times were holding or getting worse, but I got bored with it and the interface was bad for catching up on missed days, so I stopped and switch around which games I play.

I found a new one at BrainBashers I really like. I don't know if it's fairly new, or if I just missed it. MathemaGrids: BrainBashers - Daily MathemaGrids

Sometimes I can knock a puzzle out in under 5 minutes, once in awhile under a minute. Sometimes I have to get pencil and paper out and map out all of the combinations, and even start trying them to eliminate which ones fail until I narrow a cell or two to a number. You can get up to 3 cells pre-filled, which helps when learning, or if you just don't want to spend the time, but I like to challenge myself with 0 hints. There's a satisfaction to solving them quickly but I really enjoy the complex ones too.

 

[Nemo2]

....the healthiest thing to do is train for a marathon, but don't run it, because the training is (should be) done at shorter distances, or slower pace.

I only ever ran one marathon, (Feb 1984 in Jeddah, before my knees quit), but when we began training for it, those among us who'd never done one followed the lead of the guys who had.......first time out I'm thinking to myself "C'mon let's get GOING!"

 

[folivier]

Play solitaire on my phone often. Read a lot, which has led to a part time paying gig for proofreading novels. I find that when I'm proofreading I'm paying more attention to sentence structure and proper word usage than just reading for fun. Perfect gig for an introvert!

 

[jollystomper]

Exercise, card games (solitaire, spades, texas holdem), reading. I am also a tech nerd so I still build/upgrade my PCs, write programs in various languages, and play with open source software.

Lately several of my nieces and nephews have asked for tutoring help for high school and college math subjects, so refreshing my past knowledge to help them has also been a benefit.

 

[Scuba]

I play several games on my iPad - Hearts, backgammon, sudoku, Yahtzee - and also do online puzzles (thanks W2R!). DH and I also play Rummikub, Sequence, Mexican Train, cards. I also mentor students at our local university and sometimes attend interesting and educational events there. Also I sometimes attend free events sponsored by firms I have relationships with on interesting topics. And I read various things.

 

[stepford]

I found a new one at BrainBashers I really like. I don't know if it's fairly new, or if I just missed it. MathemaGrids: BrainBashers - Daily MathemaGrids

Sometimes I can knock a puzzle out in under 5 minutes, once in awhile under a minute. Sometimes I have to get pencil and paper out and map out all of the combinations, and even start trying them to eliminate which ones fail until I narrow a cell or two to a number. You can get up to 3 cells pre-filled, which helps when learning, or if you just don't want to spend the time, but I like to challenge myself with 0 hints. There's a satisfaction to solving them quickly but I really enjoy the complex ones too.

Thanks for pointing this out. I've been trying these for the last week and they're a fun way to wake up in the morning. With no hints I seem to need 1.5 - 5 minutes for most of these.

 

[Bir48die]

In the middle of tax law for volunteer tax preparation. Though its third year things continue to confuse me with changes. You would think things would get simpler but with EITC, Child Credits and all the other twists it is a great challenge.

 

[kgtest]

In the middle of tax law for volunteer tax preparation. Though its third year things continue to confuse me with changes. You would think things would get simpler but with EITC, Child Credits and all the other twists it is a great challenge.

Lol definitely a nice logic puzzle that ole tax code. Did the IRS release the 1098 yet?

 

[Rianne]

Reading ER.org.

 

[ERD50]

Lol definitely a nice logic puzzle that ole tax code. ...

Logic? Tax code?

-ERD50

 

[happy2bretired]

I do a lot of reading especially on subjects I know nothing about. I used to enjoy magazines but haven’t purchased many in the last few years. I can find some good digital ones once in awhile.

 

[gerntz]

Yes. I play bridge several times a week, partly in an effort to maintain mental acuity.

I do not know if it is effective. I think my short term memory and my puzzle solving skills have improved. Overall I think my memory has gotten worse over the past two years but it may be that my memory may have declined even more if I had not played bridge.

Like you, I figure it can't hurt.

Yep, duplicate bridge 3X/week here. Bidding & play strategies quite complex. Plus gets me out of house & meeting people.