Keeping Your Brain Fit
One of the most attractive and entertaining things on the internet are the seemingly endless array of games. Whether you’re a sucker for Candy Crush, poker, old school arcade games or slots, they’re all at your fingertips 24/7/365. Recently, a new genre of game has emerged in the past few years, with developers claiming that their games help boost brain functionality. The majority of these games stand to help improve one’s memory, and or cognitive functions such as problem solving skills and quick thinking. Keep on reading to learn what games you can pick up that will not only keep you entertained, but also help to give your brain a slight tune up!
- Lumosity: This standout app is used by over 20 million people worldwide, and boasts the endorsement of scientists from Stanford and Berkeley universities, who helped to create it. You can play from your computer or other devices, and getting started is simple. There are three different sub categories of the application itself: speed, attention, and memory. Each of them have unique games that help to focus on improving an aspect of your brain. Simple games like matching cards make it easy to navigate, and fun to try to beat your personal best, and still get ahead. At $15/month, Luminosity is the most expensive of the brain building games, though it is also one of the most nicely designed, as well.
- CogniFit Brain Fitness: Similarly to Luminosity, CogniFit Brain Fitness has the backing of real research, having employed help from neuroscientists when developing the game. The game’s inventors claim that spending 20-30 minutes a few times a week helps to create a noticeable improvement in your brain function. Additionally, difficulty is adjusted depending upon your skill level, developing a profile that is appropriate for you. After having played four games, you’ll be asked to pay their monthly fee of $13, or you can opt to pay $120 one time, and not have to pay monthly fees afterwards.
- Clockwork Brain: This app has a little bit of an old-school feeling compared to some of the other ones, though the games are very similar. Probably the biggest draw for this one versus the others is that it’s absolutely free. Games are designed to help improve one’s memory, math prowess, and also features anagrams. Additionally, Clockwork Brain has some great progress graphs and tracking abilities, where you can check out your improvement in attention, dexterity, language, memory, and reasoning.
- Brain Fitness Pro: With the goal of generally increasing one’s IQ, Brain Fitness Pro got an endorsement from the New York Times as well as PC Magazine. A great deal of it is based on building up your memory, in the form of being showed one card or design, then being required to remember it later and later, after having been showed others. According to its creators, using it for about half an hour a day for around three weeks will show cognitive improvements. While it isn’t free like Clockwork Brain, it is much less expensive than the ones occupying our first and second spots – pay a simple $3.99 one time, and it’s yours.
- Fit Brains Trainer: Boasting a whopping 360 different games and puzzles broken down into 10 different categories, Fit Brains Trainer offers a wide variety of ways to challenge your brain. To set it apart from others, it does require a daily commitment. Additionally, its varied approach as opposed to many of the same or very similar games helps to diversify its impact on your mind, which could help to increase results. Like others, you’ve got nice, clean, and intuitive progress charts that help you to track your progress. The only possible downside is that there is not a web version, and it’s only available on iOS or Google Play. However, the absolutely free price tag does make it quite appealing regardless!