Mental exercise is as important to keeping our brains in shape as physical exercise is to keeping our bodies in shape.  Mental exercise helps to strengthen those neural connections, and maintains or even increases our mental abilities as we age.  Crossword puzzles, chess, and jigsaw puzzles stimulate our mental facilities.  It’s best to change it up and alternate among a variety of these games.  Ping-pong, billiards, and even video games can help with eye-hand coordination.  Play the memory game with yourself with your shopping list – write everything down and put the list in your pocket.  As you go through the store, try to remember the list in order, as you wrote it.  You can make up a story with the list items to tie them all together.  Visualize the items to stimulate your memory.  We have both Sudoku and Solitaire to help exercise your brain on a regular basis!