Some people love to bash folks of the Jewish faith, but there is no denying the levels of achievement obtained in the last 100 years by those that came up in even the poorest of Jewish households. There's one thing that seems to pervade all of these success stories. And you can call me crazy... but it's a fact... they all had pianos in their homes when they were children, and their parents made them spend time on them. Whatever, but it's a fact.
the smartest guys in the world are voracious readers. reading probably creates synapse connections with the knowledge you get. Second the act of reading is an active use of your brain. You see a collection of words on a page and have to process it into a thought. personally I know guys who couldn’t graduate high school and college who became serious readers and really heightened their critical thinking. There are studies that show the most effective way to prevent Alzheimer’s is to study foreign languages or to play a musical instrument.
The Jewish religion is one of reading and questioning too in practice. I was impressed when I found that they spend their time reading the Torah and debating it (at all levels of the religion from kids to the elders and rabbis)
Besides eating well, resting well, & exercising regularly, I do psycho-cybernetics and mindful exercise. Avoid people/places/things that radiate toxic radioactive negative energy. Once you are exposed to such toxic radioactive negative energy, all your brain exercise effort is gone.
Yeah, it's definitely a mental workout, but the games are nothing like an xbox game. Each game only lasts a few minutes, but your performance metrics are recorded and displayed each time you play so you're able to see how your cognition is improving over time.