Many of us are very anxious about keeping our body healthy, and that's why we try to eat right and do routine exercises. However, what about the most essential part of our body that regulates all our regular activities and emotional responses? Yes, you guessed it right - we're speaking about the BRAIN. Just like our body, you require brain exercises to remain alert and active.

The more often you use your brain, the healthier it will be. You will enjoy better memory, increased analytical skills, and improved reflexive responses. The ideal workouts are those that provide newer challenges for your brain - that motivate it, invigorate it and entertain it.

Here is a list of few such easy yet still efficient brain workouts that you can try:

* Rubik's Cube: Rubik's cube was 1st created in 1974, and it has always been one of the most popular and intriguing puzzle games since then. It presents an excellent workout for the brain, specifically targeting your 'spatial' intelligence and 'visual' thinking abilities. Working with the Rubik's cube would enhance your analytical skills and develop your sense of conceptualization and balance. Rubik's cube undoubtedly is a difficult puzzle game that can keep your brain active and alert.

* Sudoku: Another addicting and highly difficult brain game is the Sudoku. 'Sudoku' in Japanese means single numbers. Sudoku puzzles are not mathematical puzzles, but demand reasoning abilities and logical thinking.Considering the fact that you will need to focus your complete awareness and apply lots of common-sense and logic when solving Sudoku puzzles, you will be training different areas of your brain in the process. Furthermore, the best part is you can effortlessly find new Sudoku puzzles daily in newspapers, magazines and on the internet.

* Throw away your calculators: How many times do you use the calculator or your computer to do simple calculations? The reply for many people would be, at least 4-5 times a day or more. Get rid of this habit, instead try doing most mathematical calculations in your mind. Whether it's calculating your daily expenses or calculating the total cost of your groceries, do such simple calculations in your mind. You can apply this great mental exercise done on a daily basis. What's more, it doesn't even require any special tools or equipments.

* Memorize your grocery list: While you are making a proper list of all the household products you need for the month is a great habit, it's not really necessary to write it down on paper. Why not use your mental note pad for this. The proper way to do this is to go into each room of your house, and take a mental note of items you need to buy. You can relate each of these things with various images. For example, see yourself in your cooking area, slicing vegetables, visualize you are in the toilet changing the toilet paper and the like. Categorizing every item and relating them with visual images can help you remember each product better. This is an excellent way to keep your brain active and boost your memory.

* Study a New Language: Learning a new language can stimulate your neural advancement and enhance your brainpower in various ways. A huge number of scientific researches and studies have proven that learning a new language enhances creativity, memory, mental flexibility, speed, attention and problem solving skills. Language is one of the most complicated subjects, you can learn in your lifetime and it's indeed an superb way to condition your brainy. The more your brain is challenged, the more it will grow and the higher will be your mental production.

* Listening to Music: Probably one of the simplest and most intriguing ways to exercise your brain is listening to music. It's a known fact that music can improve the brain's data retention powers, thereby enhancing your memory. The space between two musical notes can lead to neural activity and also lead to growth of new neurons. Tuning in to Mozart's music that follows a specific rhythm, can activate your right and left brain simultaneously. The result is a tremendous increase in the learning and concentration abilities of a person. You can furthermore try memorizing a song or mastering a musical instrument, which are once again superb brain workouts.

* Try New Routes: As pointed out earlier, the best brain exercises are those that force the brain to think and react differently. A great brain workout that can be tried by any person is to try changing the route they take to their office or home every day. This will force the brain to break old patterns of thinking and be more mindful. You can also try multi-tasking like listening to music while jogging or trying to solve a mathematical problem while cooking. All these are simple acts that will demand your brain to work harder and thus stimulate its growth.

* Engage in Discussions/Debates: When you take part in a healthy discussion (not an argument), you will need to think creatively, analyze various points and pay attention to what everyone else is saying. This is a great exercise for your brain as stimulates blood flow, strengthens your nerve cells and activates both the logical as well as the creative facets of your brain.

* Play Chess: Chess is not just the most popular and ancient form of strategy games, but is also a scientifically recommended brain exercise. Such games involve careful analysis, application of logic and creativity, all at the same time. You can join social clubs to enjoy chess and other strategy games with other players, or you can even play these games on the web.

Try the above mentioned brain workouts to stimulate neural development and growth, and to make sure that your mental performance does not decline with your age. Your brain is the core of everything you do, feel and think, and it's absolutely important to keep it healthy and fit.