Keeping Your Brain Active and Healthy
By Randi Morse
When I started college again, at 40 years of age, I was shocked to learn just how much my memory and cognitive abilities had declined. I didn't feel like I was old and I couldn't understand how I'd lost the ability to think the way I had when I was younger. I'm not alone. As we age our brain starts to slow down with us. This is especially true if we live a fairly routine lifestyle. The brain gets used to the routine and doesn't need to work very hard. The good news is that we now know the brain is like a muscle, and the more we use it, the better it works. Doing any one of these strategies will help to keep your brain active for a long time.
Learning
Never stop learning! Unlike when you were in high school or college, when you were forced to learn things that you didn't care about and had no interest in, you can now focus on learning about things that intrigue you. Are you a history buff or love learning about one of the World Wars? Study those. Do you like to do math? Head online and watch videos from free math courses.
Use Your Senses
When you go outside, what do you focus on? You may see your surroundings, but do you smell certain scents in the air? Do you feel the wind on your skin? What do you hear? The more senses you use, the more active your brain becomes. There have been studies that have shown people have better olfactory recall than they do visual recall. Each sense works a different part of your brain, so utilizing all of them, by truly focusing on them, helps to keep your brain active.
Focus on Priorities
Do you constantly have a running tally of all the things you have to accomplish running in the back of your mind? Are you always mentally adding to your grocery list or trying to remember all of your appointments? Prioritize your brain use by utilizing tools to help you remember all of those things. There are amazing apps that can help you organize all of these things so that you don't have to remember them. You can make grocery lists and set appointment reminders so that you don't have to use any brainpower to remember the mundane things.
We all joke about senior moments, but the truth is that our brain is an amazing organ. By staying mentally active you will find that your brain continues to serve you well as you get older.
To learn more about your health, wellness and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Danville, Calif.