The mantra is to become a better software developer, write more software.However, are there activities I could partake in when I am not actually at the computer programming such as doing certain kinds of logic puzzlesreading certain kinds of materialdoing mathematical problems on papernurturing an artistic or musical skilletc.that have been shown to exercise the parts of my brain involved in programming, architecture planning, algorithm design, etc. or have been shown to be cognitively similar to those activities?  And thus potentially lead to improvement in those areas?
What activities, outside of writing code, have been shown to improve one skill as a programmer?
learning;self improvement;skills;methodology