As we get older, even the healthiest among us will occasionally forget where we put the car keys. But don’t worry, because the brain is just like the rest of your body: use it, and it gets stronger. A 2006 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that five years of brain exercises improved the lives of participating seniors. And we don’t exactly mean weight lifting, either—these things will make you smile.

Experts like the Alzheimer's Association say that word games are your best bet for improving memory. For example, crossword puzzles not only help you recall long-buried facts, they give your logic skills a workout as you sort through hints and synonyms. Board games like Scrabble and Boggle have similar effects, with the added benefit of requiring strategy and social interaction.

Number games help too, but they should focus on patterns and sequences. Playing Sudoku—a Japanese game that requires you to plug numbers into a grid—is a huge challenge to several types of associative memory, as are multi-player games like dominoes and Yahtzee.

What are you waiting for? Get yourself a crossword book, line up those dominoes, and play your way to a longer, stronger, happier life.