With winter in full flow and Christmas fast approaching, many peoples’ desire to take part in outdoor activities is dwindling fast. These days, with extensive technology at our disposal, time spent in the house no longer causes the boredom it used to, our mobile phones, tablets and laptops provide us with hours of entertainment. Unfortunately, even when we plan to use these devices for something constructive, we inevitably end up scrolling our favourite social media sites for hours on end. Of course, there is a lot of interesting information to be found on social media these days, usually though, your feed will be full of selfies, drama and gossip, content which doesn’t stimulate our brains.
In recent years a lot of information has come out about the two sides of the brain and which side certain qualities and traits come from. Simply put, the left side of the brain is responsible for analysing information, speaking, writing, reading and number skills, while the right side is responsible for understanding context, emotion, intuition and music and art awareness. Studies have shown that while genetics play a part in which side is stronger for each person, we can train and improve both sides. So here are some ideas for training both sides of your brain while you’re inside protecting yourself from the cold.
Left side
The many misconceptions surrounding casino-style card games like blackjack and poker, lead a lot of people to believe that they are only for serious, highly skilled players. In recent years more and more people have been discovering that this isn’t the case, and that these games can be really fun ways to train your brain. Although they can be somewhat complicated, learning them can be very rewarding as they force you to stimulate the left side of your brain, which is responsible for sequencing, mathematics and logic.
For beginners, practicing together with friends can be entertaining and competitive helping you improve quickly. Online casinos are gaining popularity too, as they allow you to practice when you’re home alone on cold winter nights and test your abilities against players around the world. There are countless websites to choose from, however oddschecker has compiled a list of online casinos with bonuses for first time players. Playing in this kind of environment helps you put your skills to the test and improves your ability to effectively use your left brain under pressure.
Sudoku is another example of a stimulating activity for the left side of your brain, as well as improving your maths skills, it enhances your ability to think logically and sequentially which is important for analysing information. As well as the huge number of books available with hundreds of Sudoku puzzles in them, there are many websites and apps you can use to practice puzzles for players of all levels. Sudoku.com for example, has a website and app with puzzles ranging from beginner to expert difficulty levels completely free.
Right Side
Learning to play a musical instrument is one of the best things you can do for developing the right side of your brain. Music stimulates the parts of the brain which are responsible for our emotions, helping us to stay in touch with our feelings. It helps us understand things like abstract meanings and context, as well as improving our imagination and intuition. Learning to read music can do wonders for your shape recognition skills, which are related to practical tasks like map reading. The physical action of playing music also improves hand-eye coordination and in some cases fitness, drummers for example are believed to be as fit as elite athletes due to the physical demands that come with playing the drums. Great apps like Yousician are available for learning a variety of different instruments, meaning you can impress your friends once the weather is nice again.
The right side of your brain is also responsible for things like detecting motion and spatial awareness, abilities that can be improved through yoga. Yoga is a relaxing, stress relieving exercise which is beneficial for both the mind and body. It gives you calming techniques to keep you cool during high pressure situations and can be used for emotional control. Practicing yoga is easy with thousands of videos on YouTube for beginners, as well as specialist apps and websites.
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