What do you do to improve your cognitive abilities?

Look into Neuroplasticity. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity

There are even cheap courses on Udemy that you can follow. One of the things that helped me was the sensory exercises like doing your whole morning bathroom routine in the dark. Basically what happens is it helps you rewire your brain when doing certain activities in a way that you are not used to and now parts of the brain that are underutilized become active.

Other things that have helped is doing math and sudoku puzzles. Video Games definitely help with hand eye coordination, quick thinking. Also apps like lumosity on a daily basis.

As far as skills go, practice, practice, practice, your skills will always get better. Look up the 10,000 hour rule by Malcolm Gladwell.

A hard cardio workout to the degree I spend 15-20 minutes with the only possible thought being "can I stop now?!?!". To reach that takes 20 minutes, and then I'm spent, soaking and start to cleanup. In total such a workout is an hour, and afterwards my mind is clear. When I workout during mid-project, it aids my mental clarity. When I workout during a deadline, it clears my head for solutions needed then or to prepare for the next.

I like to read.

I also find that trying as hard as you can at something you find interesting in a new domain can be good for this. You hone your learning skills but I also find that other domains usually have general tricks and principals worked out that can be cross applied to other domains that haven't figured them out just yet.

This might be ADHD-specific, but these things help:

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-back

- meditation/mindfulness:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4403871/

Taking DHA/EPA and proteins as well as zinc might help too. There are studies conducted on this.

Also, from my personal experience: water fasting for >= 5 days (not only do you get autophagy and ketosis, you get a clearer mind too). If you are interested in this fasting thing, then I suggest consulting Valter Longo and his findings.

I find reading the best way to make wide, long-lasting improvements.

For short-term tactical needs I seem to learn better through video.

There isn't a whole lot that you can do to improve. Your cognitive abilities decline with age. Exercise, good sleep, mental stimulation and good social interactions slow down this decline. That's the best you can do - be healthy so you don't lose your mental abilities quite as quickly.

I would like to think that regular physical activity, good sleep and games (or any kind of problem solving for fun) should help.

Also learning to manage stress should be a bonus.

Nothing.

They are what they are. I don't take drugs/supplements for it. I don't even get as much exercise or eat as wll as I should.