Sharpen your brain

Studies reveal that people with high IQ scores live longer, have better health and bizarrely, tend to be taller than those who score low on IQ’s.

So here are tips to sharpen your brain:

• Improve your memory:
Learn by heart a ‘to do’ list of ten or more jobs for the day that incorporates a route – it could be your stroll to work, or a walk to the gym – and try to mentally link each job with one location. The next day, come up with a new list and increase the number of items to 20……….and see how your memory works!!

• Boost your spatial awareness:
Navigate your way round the house blindfold. Then sit in a chair and mentally walk around your house, visualizing your every move. Or put 12 objects on a tray, memorize their location, look away, then get someone to move a few about. Guess which have moved.

• Crunch more numbers:
Do these exercises every day: add up your shopping in the queue before you pay; divide up bills when they come in; estimate quantities of tings you pass, such as people in a group or tress in the park. Keep your mind nimble and always on the move with numerical teasers, as they will improve your mathematical acuity.

• Widen your word power:
Go for as many as these possible: play word games; learn a new word everyday and use it often; make up anagrams of words; spend a day playing devil’s advocate in every situation you come across. These will improve your understanding of the true meaning of the words.