Are the Summer Olympics inspiring you to expand your own sport skills? Here’s one more reason to give a game like tennis a try: Doing a new activity can improve your brain health. “Whenever we learn a new skill, the brain undergoes positive changes from the very first training session,” says Pablo Celnik, M.D., professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. These changes are fundamental to the central nervous system. Even slight tweaks to activities (like learning different jump rope variations) can have a positive effect. 

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