We crave a break from working during the week, but when weekends come, they can feel boring rather than relaxing. This might be due to a lack of routine, or because there’s a lack of balance between chores and chill time. Structuring your days so they include low-energy mental stimulation helps to provide a sense of purpose and offers the chance for social interaction, supporting you in feeling rested when you return to work. Try these varied activities and discover the difference of a weekend well-spent.
- Integrate light entertainment
Looking for a gentle way to engage the brain? Try light entertainment. Designed to be enjoyed without much effort, these activities are fun without being overly testing, keeping the gears turning while preserving your energy. You can easily dip in and out of light entertainment options, giving you the chance for short bursts of fun between other commitments.
Finding the options that work best for you will take some trial and error. You might like curling up with a new book, playing straightforward games like free bingo online or watching a film. Listening to audiobooks or podcasts when doing manual jobs is a great way to keep the brain engaged while your hands are busy.
- Try cognitive challenges
For more active stimulation, try cognitive challenges designed to test your problem-solving skills and make you think strategically. This could include competitive or collaborative video games and board games, riddle-based treasure hunts or navigating escape rooms with friends and family. Make sure you balance these activities with more restful options to avoid feeling mentally drained on Mondays.
You could also investigate dedicated brain-training games, which are widely available online. These speed-based exercises become progressively more challenging, demanding increasing levels of attention and faster reactions. Studies suggest that certain brain-training games can improve memory and reduce the risk of dementia.
- Celebrate creativity
Creative activities, from writing stories and poetry to painting and crafting, stimulate multiple parts of the brain simultaneously while inspiring joy. Playing music instruments appears to be particularly beneficial for the brain, firing up the visual, auditory and motor cortices at once. This intensive engagement can strengthen brain structure for lasting functional benefits, possibly including better memory into later life. Creative time can also slow racing thoughts because your attention has to be directed to making something tangible.
You don’t need specialist tools to be creative. A notebook or your phone camera and editing apps are excellent vehicles for letting your imagination run wild!
- Practise skill-building hobbies
Learning a new skill directly challenges the brain to think in new ways, supporting neuroplasticity and visuospatial reasoning. Working to attain goals through patience and repetition encourages production of the ‘happy hormone’, dopamine, as an additional benefit.
There are lots of options available to you if you decide to pick up a new skill. Why not try cooking a new meal as an entry-level option or do a beginner’s course in something you’ve always been interested in, like woodwork? Learning a second language is a popular skill-building hobby, and you can do this at in-person classes, via a virtual tutor or through an app to suit your routine.
- Move your body
Physical movement stimulates the mind because it increases blood flow and releases chemicals and hormones that support mood and concentration, so incorporate some exercise into your weekend routine. More complex exercise requiring coordination like swimming or dancing will activate more regions of the brain, but you don’t have to do intense exercise to reap the benefits.
There are lots of ways to workout at home, from short stretching sessions and movement breaks to doing chores or DIY. A short stroll around the neighbourhood has the added advantage of getting you out into calming green or blue spaces. Running is well-loved for its accessibility – simply put on a pair of trainers and let your legs take you as far as you want to go. Movement can help to create mental boundaries between the working week and personal time, helping you feel more present during your precious weekends.
