Simple exercises can make you smarter.

You feel good after exercising your body, but remember your brain is the center of your universe — meaning it needs attention too. Cerebral-training involves just a few simple steps that you can do anywhere. And while these exercises are free, they’ll benefit your mental and monetary health by extending your ability to earn money and stay healthy.

That’s because brain training activates parts of the brain that will otherwise be left dormant. Studies show that with a small amount of time, you can improve your memory, keep the ideas flowing and even your physical body moving, as the combination is a motivation for more activity in every department of your life. 

Here are four tricks from the best teachers around. 

1) Set aside 10 minutes a day for meditation. It takes a lot of mental energy to control our thoughts. This will slow your brain down and calm your mind.  This exercises your brain muscle, lowers stress and – as a positive side effect -actually increases forgiveness! 

2) Be your own teacher. Whether you’re watering your plants or installing new computer software, imagine you’re teaching this process to an eager-to-learn student. Naturally, you’ll slow down and concentrate on the subject so they will get it right. This will help you become more efficient as well as seeing things you may normally miss. 

3) Write instead of type: You can’t do it all the time, but longhand helps clarify your thoughts, exercise your memory and write in complete sentences. 

4) Simple Math. Dare yourself to solve a few problems in 60 seconds. Yes, it’s much easier to pull out the iPhone and check Facebook, but we’re talking about 60 seconds here. Even the most addicted can wait that long for a fix.