Using your brain, living in an ‘enriched environment’, is one of the best, cheapest, and easiest ways to maintain (or improve) your brain health.

We have all heard about brain storming – which sounds like some corporate brain drain of individual brain cpu cycles.

People also do individual brain storming for coming up with new ideas for whatever project, or problem, they are involved in (though we normally think of brain storming as a group activity). But most of us do not do this systematically – like the corporate world. We just do it naturally because we need to solve something.

I previously wrote about the idea (suggested by an interview at SharpBrains) about the potential of walking book clubs to promote brain health (because exercise is part of the brain health program). But what about the potential of brain storming for fun?

Usually there is some external money based goal for why your group is brain storming. And I am not against that in principle, but this could have left a bad taste in us overly cynical people that don’t necessarily want to be a cog in the corporate clock-work universe.

But what about you and a few friends getting together and semi-randomly picking a topic to brain storm about? It could be fun. Think of it as a game – and I know many of you get together on weekends to play various games. You could follow some of the brain storm ‘rules’ of not inhibiting yourself or others and see what percolates up.

This would be great for your brain health; thinking new thoughts, stretching your brain, get those neurons firing in new pattens, and exposing yourself to your own novelty, but also your fellow brain storming friends.

And while you are at it – why not audio record your session (for the pure fun of laughing at yourself in X years at some group reunion) but also you might come up with some workable ideas that could involve anything from help the world at large, come up with a new testable hypothesis (the scientist coming out in me), or produce a product/service that might be your new found passion/adventure (that again might actually do some good in the world).

Maybe you could propose this to your group of friends? Get together, and no difference than charades, or whatever new board game (or even drinking game), have some fun with your friends while increasing everyone’s brain health (not that playing other games wouldn’t also improve brain health – but more than 2 or so drinks I think would be a net negative for brain health). And who knows maybe something constructive would come out of it all – stranger things have happened.

I can see another webapp/website built around this idea