Collaborative Post
Apart from death and taxes, the one thing that happens to us ( if we are lucky) is that we age. Of course, that can come with some changes that we need to manage, such as issues with mobility, and degenerative disease, and in particular, we must keep our brains healthy and alert as we age. The good news is there are several ways to take care of your brain as you age. Read on to find out what they are.
1. Move your body
Exercise is important in the fight against cognitive decline. This is because regular exercise pumps oxygenated blood around your body to your brain and so helps your mental clarity and focus.
Exercise is also perfect for encouraging brain-body coordination which can help to keep your mind agile too. Dance in particular can be great for both mind and body because you need to perform the moves and learn and remember the right sequences.
Indeed, studies have shown that those exercising well into their 70s, experience 3 times less brain shrinkage than those not exercising at this age.
2. Keep challenging your mind
For a long time, people thought that only children could learn effectively. However, modern theories on neuroplasticity suggest that this is not the case. Indeed it is possible to learn new skills at any age, and keep one’s brain active and challenged with a range of activities.
To put this into practice be sure to keep learning by taking up a new skill like crochet, dance, or a language. Also be sure to challenge your mind every day with puzzles like a regular crossword, sudoku, and even a good game of chess. All of which you can do for free online too!
3. Eat a balanced and varied diet
Your risk of cognitive decline can also be minimised by making sure you eat a healthy diet. Such a diet should include plenty of fruits and vegetables fibre, vitamins and minerals as well as lower fat proteins, and whole grains. Occasional treats are also often part of this diet, as long as they are consumed in moderation.
4. Manage any pre-existing health conditions
Another important action you can take to stay mentally healthy as you age is to make sure any pre-existing health conditions are properly managed. This especially applies to conditions such as high blood pressure, or type 2 diabetes, both of which have been linked to an increase in mental decline in older people.
With that in mind, regularly monitoring your blood pressure and glucose levels, as well as taking action to keep them down such as exercising, eating well, and taking your medications regularly is crucial to brain health as you age.
5. Get good quality sleep
The paradox of sleep is that the more we worry about it, the harder it can be to get to sleep and achieve sleep of a good quality. Happily, there are some things everyone can do to improve their sleep without adding stress to their schedule.
One of these things is to institute good sleep hygiene. This means having a set time for going to bed each night and getting up each day. The benefit of this is that it will train your mind and body to be sleepy, and wake up at the right time, and so make getting good quality sleep easier.
Additionally, making sure you get asleep-related conditions such as sleep apnea sorted out is vital too. This is because sleep apnea can deny the brain oxygen, and so hasten the onset of dementia, and mental decline.
6. Give up smoking
You probably already know about the myriad benefits to your health of giving up smoking. Yet, many people don’t realise it’s also one of the best things they can do to stave off cognitive decline as well.
This is because studies have shown that smokers experienced a decline in global cognition, cognitive flexibility, and memory decline. There is also a link between smoking and a specific type of dementia known as vascular dementia. This is because smiling can directly harm your blood vessels, which leads to an increased risk of conditions like circulatory disease including vascular dementia.
To that end, giving up smoking is one of the best things you can do for your continued cognitive health.