The Best 5 Minute Activities to Sharpen Your Brain

It's more important than ever before to keep your brain active. We're all finding ourselves with more downtime, fewer hobbies to enjoy and with many of us working from home, you can literally roll out of bed and into "the office".

All this can leave you using your brain in a much less engaging way. But never fear, there are plenty of ways you can get your brain up and running, and in just a couple of minutes too.

Whether it be playing on Crazyvegas casino online or reading a book, all it needs is just five minutes of some activities and you can sharpen your mind and get it up to speed. Below you'll find our top five minute activities that can help sharpen your brain.

Download An App

Our smartphone devices are ideal for stretching the brain these days. There are hundreds of apps which can help from specialist brain training games like Lumosity or Peak to sudoku apps, quizzes and even slots and bingo.

The latter has been scientifically proven to increase concentration levels and reaction times and most bingo games in apps will last only five minutes or so too.

If you need help choosing the right bingo game or real money slots, you'll find plenty of help. There are tons of great apps that offer instructions on how to play as well as guidance on how long games last and the various rules and prizes on offer.

Buy a Puzzle Book

If you're more analogue than digital then there are tons of wonderful puzzle books out there. Many come in pocket size, so you can slip them in your bag or jacket pocket and pull out whenever you have a spare five minutes. The great thing about puzzles such as crosswords and wordsearches is that they improve functionality on both sides of your brain, as well as the likes of memory, problem solving skills and even enhance mood. What's great about them is that you also don't need to finish them in one go. You can spend five minutes here, five minutes there and keep your brain ticking over whenever you need to.

Do Some Exercise

Exercise has long been one of the best ways to improve your cognitive skills and alertness. As little as five minutes of exercise a day can boost your quality of life and get you feeling fresh and healthy ahead of a day at work. Over the past 12 months many people have taken up YouTube fitness classes or specific exercises each morning, and it can have an extremely positive impact on productivity, mood and concentration then heading into your day.

Learn a Language

Learning something new also has a similar effect, as you are required to concentrate that little bit more to ensure the information you're picking up sinks in and you remember it. One popular way to improve brain skills as well as increase your learning is studying a new language. Apps like Duolingo are great for short bursts of learning a new language, with a wealth of different languages available, whether it be French, German, Polish or even Welsh.

Listen to Music

Sometimes it's as simple as plugging in and listening to music. Back in 2017 a study found that playing happy songs and tunes helped generate more innovative thinking compared to sitting in silence. So if you're feeling a little down in the morning, it could just be a case of putting on some of your favourite tunes and building up your mood ahead of a particularly difficult day, and it could make all the difference.