Improving Your Mind

Teenagers and young adults, like all people, need a challenge. If everything you did in life was easy, it would get boring pretty quickly.

Finding new tasks that challenge your brain is important. It helps your thinking skills and keeps you alert. Here's a list of healthy ways to push your mind to the extreme:

• Take a class in a subject you know nothing about.
• Take a college course! Community colleges offer a wide range of fun classes on hobbies, music and other skills. A college course may challenge you to expand your mind.
• Collect something, such as stamps, bugs, rocks or coins. Collecting something may inspire you to research it.
• Read books, magazines, newspapers or respected news websites. Learning about current events make you more aware of the world around you.
• Join a school club. School clubs can be a great way to make new friends and challenge your mind.
• Have an intellectual conversation or debate with your friends and classmates — you'll be surprised by their different ideas and opinions.
• Learn a new language. Then practice it whenever you have the chance. For example, if you're learning Spanish, convince your parents to go to Mexico for vacation so you can practice.
• Make friends with people completely different from you and learn about their lives, family history and where they come from.
• Travel or study in a foreign country. Being directly exposed to different cultures enlightens you more than if you only read about them.
• Talk to your grandparents or someone older than you; you'll find that they have a lot to say.

Last Reviewed: July 2019