Your brain gets stronger when you exercise it—just like muscles get stronger when you exercise them. Training your brain isn't always easy or comfortable. In fact, your brain uses up 20% of the oxygen and blood in your body because it works so hard. Here are some examples of how your brain grows when you learn new things:

Learning math strengthens the parts of the brain that are linked to memory, thought, and action. Imagine that! f you spend time learning new math skills, you can actually grow your brain so that skills unrelated to math improve as well. Remember when you first learned how to add and subtract? You got faster and faster with more practice. That’s because your neurons were learning how to work with each other, and then your memory improved. But memory is useful for more than just math. That same part of your brain helps you remember basketball plays, dance routines, and even nice memories with your friends and family.

Practicing an instrument improves the visual, auditory, and motor sections of the brain. It also strengthens the bridge between the two halves of your brain, allowing messages to get across the brain more quickly!

Learning or practicing anything: - YES! ANYTHING! Learning and practicing helps strengthen and change our brains. Your brain is changing and creating new neural pathways when you struggle to learn something new. In other words, there’s a lot happening in your brain when you’re learning. All learning can build new information pathways, but learning things that are challenging for you can supercharge your brain growth.

Adapted from Khan Academy.