Healthy Aging and Brain Fitness (Part 2)

So vеrу ѕіmрlу, tаkе care оf your brаіn аnd it will take care оf уоu.   Here are some ways to keep you sharp.  These ideas can help no matter what point you are at young, old, mentally sharp or concerned about your own cognitive function or caring for a loved one in a memory care community(click here for more information on memory care)

Consider reading  aloud,

Take turns reading and listening to a book with your significant other, a friend, or a child.

If that’s not feasible, alternate reading with listening to audiobooks.

This engages the imagination in a different way.

One of the earliest demonstrations of brain imaging clearly showed three distinct brain regions lighting up when the same word was read, spoken, or heard.

Take New Routes

On a routine drive, shopping trip or whatever you do regularly your brain is on autopilot and gets very little stimulation.

But taking an unfamiliar route going to different store or unfamiliar places stimulates different parts of your brain.

You can take new routes when driving, walking, biking, or riding public transportation.

Use All Your Senses

Try activities that simultaneously engage all your senses.

Travel, camping, and gardening are activities that utilize all your senses in new ways.

Explore a new to you market where you can look, touch, sniff, and taste the produce.

Being sociable and talking with the grocer or farmer if at a farmers market  and pick there brain about the foods you are buying.  Try to stay away from modified products GMO’s and  additives like  High fructose corn syrup.

Exercise Your Brain to Increase Abilities

Intelligence  is fluid and can be improved with the right stimulus.

The gains are dependent on the amount of training, i.e. the more you train, the more you gain.

Anyone can increase their brains abilities, no matter their starting point (remember flash cards when you were young?)

Brain enhancements made in one area could also improve totally unrelated skills.

Below are some of the most significant ways to stimulate your Brains potential.

Learning something new stimulates brain activity and the creation of new neurons.

But as soon as you master it, the mental benefit stops because your brain becomes more efficient at the activity.

The only way to continue to stimulate your brain is to give it new challenges and stay out of your comfort zone.

For this reason, activities like crossword and jigsaw puzzles, learning languages, playing musical instruments, or chess are ideal brain exercises because there is always more to learn.

Do Things the Hard Way

The most obvious way to do things the hard way is to stop relying on short cuts and technology.

Use your brain instead of your smartphone for basic mental skills like spelling and math.

Impress your friends by memorizing their phone numbers (like we used to do).

If you use a GPS turn off the GPS and learn to read a map and use your innate sense of direction to find your way around instead.  (It may take you a little longer to get there but that can be half the fun.

Connect With Different People and Make New Friends

Anytime you connect with others, you expose yourself to new ideas and other ways of thinking about things.

But you can get even more brain benefits from spending time with people unlike you.

Intentionally seek out others with different interests, careers, or skill sets or those who are from different social or cultural environments.

This opens you up to new perspectives and ideas.

This challenge to your current way of thinking stimulates mental growth.

The next three ways to stimulate your mind won’t feel like a mental workout, but may be some of the best brain exercises of all.

Start Meditating 

It’s estimated that over 18 million Americans meditate. Mayo Clinic, Harvard, and the National Institutes of Health extol its many benefits. Major corporations like Google, General Mills, Target, Apple, Nike, Procter & Gamble and AOL offer structured meditation programs for executives and encourage employees at all levels to do it. The US Marines use meditation to help troops deal with stressful situations they face on the job and to help them cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. But is meditation really exercising your mind?

Here’s why meditation makes it onto our list of top brain exercises.

Of all mental exercises, meditation may be the most challenging and therefore the best.

Our brains are non-stop thinking machines that pour out upwards of 70,000 thoughts daily.

And 95% of these thoughts are the same thoughts day in, day out.

Training your mind to be quiet can be hard work!

Meditation works so much like exercise, it’s been called “pushups for the brain.”

Thousands of published studies have demonstrated the health benefits of meditation.

The brain benefits of meditation include stress reduction, improved memory, learning ability and mood, increased focus and attention, and even reversal of brain atrophy.

Join a Gym or Begin Exercising at Home

No discussion about brain exercise would be complete without emphasizing how important physical exercise is for the brain

Physical exercise might just be the most important thing you can do to keep your brain in good shape.

It may be even more important than using your brain to think!

Exercise reduces stress by increasing the feel-good brain chemicals serotonin and dopamine.. It increases the levels of brain chemicals that promote new brain cell formation and new neural connections.

It protects against mental decline and reduces the risk of dementia.

Exercise improves circulation and sends more oxygen to your oxygen-hungry brain.

Exercising for brain health doesn’t need to be strenuous.

Walking is particularly beneficial for the brain as are exercises with a strong mind-body connection like yoga and tai chi.

Be Creative and Take up a Hobby

Craft hobbies may not be high art, but they are finally getting more attention for another reason.

They have the power to focus the brain similarly to meditation.

They act as a natural antidepressant and may protect against brain aging.

In one study knitting, particularly, got a big thumbs-up In a large study of more than 3,500 knitters, over 80% of those with depression reported feeling happy when they knitted.

Another study found that “purposeful activities” such as music, drawing, meditation, reading, arts and crafts, and doing home repairs specifically stimulated the neurological system and enhanced health and mental well-being. 

If you would like more information or to discuss assisted living or memory care options visit us at www.acaringhandformom.com  call 800-881-7706 today to speak with a local healthcare professional who can assist you right away.