20 Best Brain Exercises To Try At Work In 2023

The most common answer to a fitter lifestyle is exercise and it is rightfully so. Exercises help to enhance our physical and mental health and lead us to a healthier lifestyle. But, to attain an overall healthier lifestyle, many of us disregard our mental wellness. Here, brain exercises are imperative to maintain this mental wellness.

Just as physical exercises are for physical fitness, brain exercises are for improving mental health. The need for better mental health and stability is crucial in every environment, including the workplace.

Being mentally fit helps us improve memory, boost focus, better mood, reduce depression, and much more. Therefore, it becomes vital to practice these exercises at the workplace for optimum productivity. Today, let's look at a few of such brain exercises that will help you in giving a mental boost.

Following are the list of 20 best brain exercises that i have tried to put together.

20 Brain Exercises To Try At Work

1. Jigsaw Puzzle

One of the best ways to work a part of the body is to make it sweat. It is also the same with brain exercises; you must put it to work. Jigsaw puzzles are a great way to exercise the brain. It puts your brain to work by analyzing the pieces to form the result.

Moreover, research has shown that jigsaw puzzles are a great way to develop various cognitive functions. As such, it becomes a great choice to keep some jigsaw puzzles in your workspace.

2. Cards

A study conducted in 2015 speaks very highly of playing card's advantages on the brain. It states that playing cards add up to greater brain volume in several regions of the brain than most other activities. Furthermore, it also increases the brain's memory capacity and problem-solving skills.

Having these skills is an excellent asset for decoding critical situations at the workplace. Workers should, therefore, spend a small amount of their break time playing cards. One can choose to learn and play any card game like solitaire, bridge, gin rummy, poker, hearts, crazy eights, etc.

3. Skill Development

Developing one's skills is also an excellent brain exercise and an activity to enhance productivity at work. Spending time at one's skill development enhances the brain's memory function. Here, one can work on their vocabulary, learn new software, work on one's artistic talents, etc.

4. Meditation

Meditation at work is an excellent way to calm one's mind amidst workplace stress. Thus, this makes it an ideal brain exercise to try at your own convenience. Practicing different meditation techniques can relax the body and reduce stress and anxiety. Here, employees can practice such mental wellness activity at their desk or in a wellness room, if available.

5. Using the Non-Dominant Hand

One of the unusual activities that you can try at the workplace is using your non-dominant hand. You can use it to take down notes and other activities at the office. Using the non-dominant hand helps exercise your opposite side of the brain. It can help develop the cortex, which controls and processes critical information.

6. 10 Things

10 things is a creative thinking brain game that involves thinking of various usages for a single product. In this activity, workers are given different office commodities and are asked to come up with 10 other utilities.

For example, one can be given a notebook. Here, the individual must think of 10 different uses of the notebook outside the obvious. The various answers could be using the product as a laptop stand, a fan, a bat, etc.

Allowing the brain to think creatively will enhance its thinking capabilities and boost mental performance.

7. Upside Down

Another interesting brain exercise you can do at work is viewing things upside-down. It can be while handling your mobile phone, iPad, etc. This activity will help work on both sides of the brain.

When we look at things right-side up, our left verbal brain can quickly understand it. But, when we look at things upside-down, our right side of the brain works overtime to understand things. This mental workout of the brain's right side is vital to enhance our brain's working capacity.

8. New Experiences

Our brain always develops further with new experiences along the way. In this regard, be it a minor thing, one must always remain open to learn and experience new things at the office.

You can change seats, work on a different project, make new connections, etc. It will help keep things exciting and your brain working effectively.

9. Office Quizzes

Quizzes are a wonderful concept to incorporate into your workplace regime. Probably once a month a quiz competition can contribute to team bonding. It will push employees to brainstorm and work their brains a bit more.

The topics can be decided after a lottery and to make the exercise an entertaining one, some gifts for the winners and consolation incentives can be given.

10. Sudoku

Sudoku is a puzzle involving numbers. It can be a fun workout for the brain. It can improve cognitive function in some people.

Sometimes employees are required to play with the numbers and data, playing sudoku, and make employees be comfortable with numbers, and help eliminate errors from their work.

11. Chess

Chess is one of the best cognitive leisure activities which has helped employees a lot. It can help employees to-

• Improve memory power
• Adapt behaviour on the feet
• Fighting spirit

12. Debates

An office debate is a very fruitful exercise to enrich the work culture in an organization. Pick a date in the calendar and divide employees into a few teams. Have an open discussion on the topics for consideration. Randomly pick a topic from the Jar and have a civilized debate.

It will enhance the communication skills of the employees and ensure that employees are well aware of the current affairs and administrative policies. It can also help to create a well-rounded opinion.

13. Guess the Song Challenge

Among some of the fun-loving brain exercises now! Well, charades are a very common way by which the workplace decides to have some fun. Guess the song will be around the same theme where employees will give some hints of a particular song and employees will get a few shots at guessing the song.

What else could be a better way to unwind and work out your brain too?

14. Play Musical Instruments

Music is also a kind of therapy. In a stressful work environment, employers encourage their employees to play music at the end of the weekend with a drink or two.

It will be a great fun activity and improve employees to develop their extracurricular talents.

15. Learn A New Language

Learning a new language is one of the best ways to workout your brain. Learning a new language involves memorizing rules and increasing the appetite for vocabulary. All of these “exercises” help in strengthening the mental “muscle.”

Exercising your brain with language can improve the overall memory of an employee, which can come handy when working on any task assigned. A multilingual person can help in the overall success of the business in different ways as well by negotiating with clients from different cultures and geographical locations.

16. Office Painting Competition

Organizing a recreational activity like a painting competition can be a very good way to unwind. The regular office work can have a big toll on the mental wellness of the employees.

By encouraging activities like art, it not just encourages employees to brush up their extra curricular talents but also help them destress and give expression to their hidden talents.

17. Dance

Cultural activities like dancing are a great way to promote team bonding and unwind. Employers should organize dance competitions to give their employees a chance to express themselves freely.

It is also a kind of physical exercise which will result in more oxygen flow to the brain. This will improve the functioning of the brain and help employees enhance their performances. You can encourage your employees to enroll for Zumba classes.

18. Screen a movie/documentary in your Workplace

In an office environment and busy schedule it is difficult for employees to visit movie halls or watch films. But if a particular date is set aside where all the employees will watch a movie, or a documentary together will be a great concept.

It will enhance team building and the employees will learn a thing or two by watching a movie. Shortlist some of the movies and ask your employees to vote a week prior to the event. This will also show that their consensus matters for every small subject.

19. Office Sports

Sports activities are a great way to maintain the physical health of your employees. Most employees look to organize annual sports competitions to encourage their employees to take part in physical activities. It is a great way to burn those extra calories and get back in shape.

Sports activities like cricket, football, board games, etc also involve a lot of tactics and mind games. That helps employees to think out of the box and plan on the spot.

20. Switch to Podcasts

Podcasts are the new ‘big thing’ going around. There are a lot of podcasts easily available on the common streaming platforms where employees can get to hear the top wellness coaches.

By getting to know their opinions, employees can learn various new things about Employee wellness and the challenges. It will push them to think about their wellness in a better way. It's one of the easiest ways to get your employees to take their health seriously.

Conclusion

Exercises are crucial for living a healthy life. Here, one must not restrict oneself to physical activities only. While various office exercises can maintain physical health, mental health can be taken care of through different brain exercises.

By practicing any of the activities mentioned above, you can attain better brain health at the workplace. Furthermore, we also recommend spreading awareness of some brain break activities and brain foods for the office.