How To Improve Your Intellectual Wellness

Intellectual wellness is exercising the mind through creativity, challenges, and stimulating activities. It is the ability to open one’s mind to new ideas, experiences, and concepts. A person with optimal intellectual wellness shares their knowledge and ideas with others while still challenging themselves.  

Exercising your mind is just as important as exercising your body. How many elderly people do you know that still have great intellect and the memory of a teenager? Do you notice any activities that they do regularly that may be a factor to their sharpness? My grandma is 84 and has the memory and wit of a 20-year-old. She can remember just about anything from her life. She has gotten even funnier and more savage as she’s aged. Over the years I have noticed her lifestyle and some of the things she has done that have contributed to her intellectual wellness. She plays cards with her friends every week, she reads the newspaper, she loves playing scrabble and solving word searches. She also has been able to maintain a healthy diet and she is very active, but this post is about the mind. 

So what are some ways that we can improve our intellectual wellness and be able to be as sharp as my 84-year-old grandma?

Read

• Pick up any book that interests you

• Read the newspaper to stay up to date on current events

• Read a book on a subject you want to know more about

Play Board Games & Card Games 

• Strategy games are best

• Examples are Clue, Risk, Bridge

• Do a daily word search, crossword puzzle, sudoku

Educate Yourself on Something That You Don’t Know Much About

• Learn more about a historical event

Journal

• Write your feelings, a gratitude list, a to-do list, a bucket list, etc.

Experience the Arts

• Attend an orchestra concert, dance recital, play, art gallery

• Attend with a friend to contribute to social wellness

Talk

• Talking to people exercises the brain

Attend a Lecture

• Open your mind to new ideas 

Learn a New Language/Skill

• Your mind expands when you learn new ways to communicate

• Learning a new language can contribute to social wellness and career wellness

Have Friendly Debates

• Challenge your own opinions and beliefs with a friend who has a different viewpoint and listen closely

Improve Time Management Skills

• Having poor time management skills leads to stress that negatively affects every dimension of wellness. 

Do things that expand your knowledge and engage in mentally-stimulating activities. 

Like I always say, the seven dimensions of wellness are a domino effect. Putting time into each one will lead you on to your path of reaching optimal health. 

Comment below what intellectual activities you do and/or will try!