Staying sharp academically without sudoku.

Great thread!

Excellent thread OP....very inspired.

I'm listening to The History of Rome which, I think, was linked to from here ages ago. Short, snappy, very interesting if you haven't delved into that period before.

The New York Times daily crossword app?

Learn to play bridge? I've never done this but always like the sound of bridge nights.

I've found poetry again. It's perfect bitesize reading while i'M hanging about waiting for kids. Can't say that I memorise it though...

On the poetry front, I am really interested in WW1 & WW2 (well, all 20th century history really), and had read some Wilfred Owen stuff etc at school. After listening to another R4 podcast called Great Lives which featured Vera Brittain, I recently read her memoir Testament Of Youth. It's full of poetry as well as being a brilliant commentary on the effects of WW1 on a certain group of women of that generation.

Honestly, once you start, you just jump from one thing to another, and it's amazing to feel you are getting your groove back and really learning about stuff, however random the journey.

I agree that the R4 In Our Time archive is brilliant for podcasts- I've learned so much from them.

Are you watching Wolf Hall? I started with the help of Wikipedia because I haven't read the books and I've since listened to all the R4 Tudor podcasts, and this brilliant biography of Thomas Cromwell talk on the National Archives website. There's also a great resource online called The Anne Boleyn Files. I didn't even think I was interested in that period of history until I started digging.

That's the best approach, IME: listen to or watch something that piques your interest, and immerse yourself in it.

Another vote for Radiolab - and other good podcasts.

Each year I judge in some industry awards (my field is journalism but honestly I think this is good in a lot of industries), it really fires up my brain and inspires me at work as well.

The Radiolab podcasts are great, really interesting and random, I think they are free on the Podcasts app

There is a great board game called 'midlife crisis' its quite interesting, gives you snakes and ladders type life options.
Its not about getting back to being the person you were but about the person you are and are going to be, so the books you like now might be different, the things and people you are interested in might be different, the crucial thing is to find out more about the world so that you are aware of what is possible for you and therefore what you want to do. Bearing in mind that when raising children and managing a household one is often very tired, so the pace as which one achieves will be slower.

Anyway:
the brain keeps going with
-adequate sleep
-exercise: aerobic and yoga
-an adequate diet
-doing a new thing daily
-friendly people to discuss and argue with
-learning a new skill
-getting in a newspaper.

If wanting to learn by heart I would personally find poetry or Shakespeare a more enriching option than the states of America.

Me and DH always play University Challenge, very competitively.

MIT lots of free lectures online
ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

Read upside down.

Great thread! I watch the bbc parliament to keep up to speed on political developments. Yes to radio 4. Playing in an orchestra again has been great brain workout. Need to crack reading more too, books thread sounds interesting. I try to take the dcs to museums where I can and read and explain the exhibits to them. Also have a large child's illustrated encyclopaedia (from my childhood) which we turn to a lot and I learn (stuff I knew years ago but have forgotten) a lot from that whilst explaining to them. Love the history dates idea and and also have had a slight aspiration for a PhD, would be interested to explore that too! Learning a new craft, e.g. Sewing knitting or making something e.g. Bread is also really invigorating!

I'm another one for radio and reading! Always listen to the why factor on bbc world service and also doing the 50 book challenge:-)

No need to be nervous - it's not a competition! It might give you some ideas for books you might fancy, though.

And congratulations on your new MN fame. :)

Thanks petallic - I had looked before at Meetup before but I live in a small market town and the nearest events were in cities 20 miles away. But I hadn't thought of using it myself. Maybe there are loads of women sitting here thinking 'if only there was something in my town'!

The World Service has some good documentaries too. I listen every morning and it helps to open my eyes to what is actually going on in the world. No London slant.

If I knew I would make time to read it I'd subscribe to The Economist. Any time I pick up a copy, I read it cover to cover.

I have recently got involved with a women's political group. Grass roots type thing but man, it invigorated me listening to intelligent women say their stuff. I'll engage with them more in the run up to the election.

That Meetup site looks really interesting.

It;s important to find stimulating people and nurture that friendship. I've just found a kindred spirit at my dance class & we've arranged to meet up, so two birds with one stone!

Learn to dance - good for the body and the brain.

I see it's already been suggested . But I read an article about working the brain in your middle ages. Learning languages and musical instruments are some of the best thing to do because they are hard! Basically things that stretches you like you are at university. That means just reading, going to the museum, watching the news etc is not enough to stop brain rot.

dotty2 try Meetup.com it sounds like it's a dating site but it isn't. There's all sorts of interesting groups nationwide listed on the website and if there isn't a brainy book group already in your area it would be a good place to advertise.

I seem to be a cliche - felt exactly like this last year and did this:

Turn off my laptop when not working as much as possible.

Started having lessons on two instruments after a break of almost 30 years!

Have a chess set on the coffee table. My 8 year old is now so good she makes us think.

Re-read a classic book every month.

Exercise too - I make sure I do something every day and have recently built up to 50 mins as a minimum daily - somedays it is just a brisk walk with the dog but anything goes.

Duolingo is good for languages.

I also got a hiragana workbook because I'm going to try and learn Japanese script.