The main difference is that traditional tennis is slower so your reflexes don’t get as much of a workout as they do with table tennis. Tennis, like table tennis, is a high-intensity activity that pumps up your brain power. That’s why taking classes in ballroom, hip-hop, or jazz dancing where you have to memorize routines is ideal. Dancing is very aerobic and is especially good for your brain if you are learning new steps rather than just grooving to the music. Amen Clinics has the world’s largest database of brain scans for psychiatry totaling more than 200,000 SPECT scans on patients from 155 countries. Amen is a physician, adult and child psychiatrist, and founder of Amen Clinics with 10 locations across the U.S.

Other great brain sports include dancing and tennis. Amen, MD’s mission is end mental illness by creating a revolution in brain health. I always had such a great time playing that I never realized that I was “exercising” or improving my brain function. My mother was a fierce competitor with lightning-fast reflexes, and she usually reigned as queen of the court. I was lucky enough to have a ping-pong table in my backyard when I was growing up, and I played a lot as a child with my siblings and my parents.

The “after” images revealed increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, the thoughtful part of your brain, and the cerebellum.Īnother reason why I’m such a fan of table tennis is because it is a sport the whole family can play. The researchers examined a group of people before and after playing table tennis for a period of ten minutes. A fascinating brain imaging study from Japan found that table tennis helps balance your brain. National Table Tennis Tournament with hundreds of other players, and there wasn’t a single brain injury. One of the things I love best about table tennis is that it involves very few brain injuries. And you can’t dwell on that point you blew a few minutes ago (anterior cingulated gyrus) or blow your top when you make a mistake (temporal lobes). All the while, you have to stay calm so you don’t get too nervous on game point (basal ganglia).

Then you have to follow through and execute those tactics successfully (prefrontal cortex and cerebellum). You have to focus (prefrontal cortex) so you can track the ball through space (parietal lobes and occipital lobes), figure out spins (parietal lobes and occipital lobes), and plan shots and strategies (prefrontal cortex and cerebellum). Plus, it gives your brain one heckuva workout.Īlso known as “ping-pong,” the game is great for hand-eye coordination and reflexes (cerebellum and parietal lobes). It is highly aerobic and gets both the upper and lower body moving in every which way - twisting, bending down low, reaching up high, and shuffling from side to side. My favorite physical activity is table tennis, which also happens to be the world’s best brain sport.

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