Lumosity

For the last 3 months I've been using my mouse with my left hand. The first few days it was really annoying; now I've gotten to the point where I'm nearly equally efficient with both hands. It was an experiment with learning but I wanted to try out this technique in self improvement to see if I could notice any increase in other mental activities when I stimulate parts of the brain in new ways. My head felt a little hotter than normal for the first few weeks, but I think that's the only real difference I noticed.

I guess it's not about noticing a short term boost in cognition though. My grandparents are still smart and active at the ripe old age of 86 and I feel like a few key factors to their success are staying mentally active, doing crossword puzzles, reading and staying social.

We go to the gym on a routine basis to exercise our muscles and it got me wondering what kind of value a service like Lumosity has for our mental physique. Maybe it's like a vitamin; you're pretty sure it's working, you're just not certain to what degree. Or maybe the lesson isn't to simply give the brain a workout, but rather present it with challenges: variety is the path to creativity; or, new challenges ignite productive thinking.

Even if you don't increase your IQ you'll still be entertained by THIS game or some of the other challenges at Lumosity.