Top 5 Apps to Keep Your Brain Engaged

Keep your brain healthy

Flexing your mind is just as important to your health as flexing your muscles. Download one or all of these brain teasing apps to your smartphone or tablet and make brain games part of your daily health routine. You might just find your problem solving skills improving – all thanks to a few fun digital games!

To help you keep your mind sharp, we’ve introduced our own games section! Visit besthealthmag.ca/games for free and fun interactive games like Sudoku, Golf Challenge and Tumble Tiles.

1. Fit Brains Trainer

This “Scientifically designed brain training program developed by Dr. Paul Nussbaum” includes more than 60 unique workouts so you should never get bored. The app’s accompanying website has over 30 brain games played more than 75 million times. Sounds addictive, right? You only need to play a few minutes per day to keep your brain in top form. Sessions focus on concentration, problem solving and memory. You’ll work on completing patterns, testing your spatial awareness and remembering sequences. Fit Brains Trainer also has a brain tools page so you can track your progress each day and over long stretches of time and compare yourself to other people in your age group – are they faster, better at problem solving or do they have better concentration skills? Identify your weaknesses and focus your energy on those areas to bring yourself up to speed.

Available on: iPhone, iPad

2. BrainyApp

BrainyApp was designed to raise awareness of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, so in addition to two addictive brain games, it also has numerous other tools and suggestions on how to keep you brain active – such as taking a class, meeting someone new or getting more physical activity. You can keep track of your healthy-brain activities right in the app and watch your brain health score increase over time. Check out the daily facts section to get the nitty gritty details about Alzheimer’s and dementia – all good reasons to keep your mind in motion!

Available on: Android, iPad and iPhone

3. Brain games 2 puzzles and riddles

Problem-solving puzzles like “Hyper Lines” and “Crazy Stars” will have you sliding circles around game boards until you achieve the end-goal design set out for you. Some puzzles are harder than others and you’ll be determined to finish each and every one – no matter how many tries it takes! This app proves that games need not be flashy or fancy to keep you engaged and your mind active.

Available on: iPhone, iPad

4. Knowledge Trainer

Welcome to your own personal quiz show! This app presents you with sets of 10 multiple choice questions at a time. You’ll start at knowledge level 1 (easy) and move up a level to more difficult questions with each correct answer. Be careful, though; with every wrong answer you’ll get bumped down a level. Every 10-question set will test your knowledge of science, arts and letters, geography, film, technology, social science, sports, history, music and, finally, one miscellaneous topic. The app’s tagline is “Increase your knowledge, sharpen your mind” but it should also warn you that it will bring out your competitive side and you’ll be determined to improve on your score time after time.

Available on: iPhone, iPad

5. Mensa Brain Test

Now that you’ve been using your brain and practising your problem solving skills, put yourself to the ultimate test. Mensa, the world’s largest and most well-known society for people with exceptional IQs, has developed a mobile app for anyone to download (for a small price) so you can test your IQ anywhere, anytime. Once you’ve completed the test (which is a series of genuine Mensa questions similar to those on the official Mensa test), you’ll see how you rank compared to other users. Don’t worry, you can go back and try again with a new set of questions if you’re not satisfied with your results. Good luck!

Available on: BlackBerry, Android, iPhone, iPad

Related:
• 5 workouts for your brain
• How music helps your brain
• Alzheimer’s Disease