Here are 4 brainstacking activities that are actually backed by research.

Here are 4 brainstacking activities that are actually backed by research. Welcome back to my series, Backed by Science. Brainstacking is a trend that I've been seeing a bunch that I actually love so much, so let's talk about it. The idea of brainstacking is simple. It consists of you doing activities that are going to stimulate your brain to work instead of just scrolling on your phone. And a lot of people like to do, I would say, anywhere from 3 to 5 activities and you kind of do them back to back so you get the maximum benefit of having your brain engage in an activity. So let's get into the ones that are actually backed by research. First up, we have journaling. And if you are not a journaling person, don't freak out, this is something that you can surely do. In a study that went for about 12 weeks, it was actually found that those who spent 15 minutes on positive-focused journaling, like writing about what they're grateful for for at least 3 times a week, reported less anxiety and stress after just one month. So even if you can't do a deep journaling session, meaning lots of pages and commit to that kind of thing, just try to practice gratitude in any way that you can. Even if it's just writing three things that you're grateful for on that particular day on a piece of paper, that works just fine. Next, we have puzzles. And by puzzles, I mean crosswords, Sudoku, Murdoku, which is really popular right now, Murdoku, any puzzle really that will engage your brain in an activity. A study of over 19,000 adults found that people who did word and number puzzles more often scored better on memory and reasoning tests. Meaning doing these puzzle activities is not only going to help you calm down, but in the long run, it's also going to help your memory and reasoning. Next, we have coloring and tracing. These are creative activities that have actually been linked to lower anxiety. In one study, it was found that just 20 minutes of coloring or tracing reduced anxiety more than free drawing on a blank page. Researchers really think that structured patterns really gives your brain something small to focus on, in a similar way to what meditation does to your brain. So this is for sure an activity that you should try if you struggle with your mind not slowing down. And lastly, to no one's surprise, I'm sure, we have reading and annotating. A study that followed adults found that frequent mentally stimulating activities like reading and writing was actually linked to 32% slower memory decline. Annotating keeps you actively engaged with what you're reading instead of just skimming, which is why when I do brainstacking, I like to either read a non-fiction book or pick up the read that I'm heavily annotating. So while brainstacking won't necessarily make you smarter or a genius, it will definitely help you reduce anxiety and help you in staying focused on something long-term, which is something that I think we all need in this day and age where everyone's attention spans are getting shorter. And I'm sure the older version of us will thank us for starting now to take care of our brain. You exercise your body on the daily, so why not your brain?