With aging comes forgetfulness. It’s not always a sign of a serious health problem. As you age, your brain changes, which impacts how it works over time. There are steps seniors can take to help preserve memory and brain functions. What can you do to keep a sharp mind as you age?
Some things that impact how well the brain functions are surprising to many people. Many activities, foods, and circumstances influence the brain, so education is the key. Following some essential tips is the best way to start to maintain a sharp mind as you age.
Watch What You Consume
What we put into our bodies directly impacts how it functions in so many ways. This includes more than just what we eat and drink. Ingesting substances by smoking, drinking, and using drugs can also significantly impact brain health.
Food and Drink
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) states that eating a balanced diet is critical for brain health, especially as people age. It also states that studies show that eating foods rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients (like vegetables, nuts, fish, and fruit) can reduce age-related brain function decline.
In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) has validated nutrition as a critical part of healthy development that is crucial to mental well-being. Not only can a nutritional diet slow cognitive decline, but it also can reverse inflammation, pain, and arthritis.
Did you know that a Mediterranean diet (rich in olive oil, vegetables, and fruit) correlates with enhanced brain function in older people? It also lessens the impact of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, helping you keep a sharp mind as you age.
Smoking and Drinking Alcohol
According to the Alzheimer’s Society, cigarette smoke is linked to the development of Alzheimer’s. Smoking also increases vascular health issues like strokes and small brain bleeds, which are risk factors for dementia.
The Alzheimer’s Society also reports that excessive alcohol consumption over time can increase a person’s risk of developing dementia. American Addiction Centers backs up this claim as well, citing that prolonged, heavy alcohol use can be a risk factor for the development of dementia and cognitive issues with age.
Get Plenty of Exercise
Studies suggest that physical activity is linked to a reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and better cognitive performance in seniors. According to the National Institute on Aging, exercise can lower the risk of depression, high blood pressure, and more, which in turn, improves brain health.
In addition, the University of California San Francisco found that communication between brain cells was better preserved in older adults who remained physically active. Active aging people have brains with more proteins that improve cognition, reducing the effects of memory loss, Alzheimer’s, and other forms of dementia.
Stimulate Your Brain
Mental activities through the years can have big benefits for your brain as you age. Brain builders are some of the best activities to keep a sharp mind over time. Some effective and fun brain builders include:
- Crossword puzzles
- Word search puzzles
- Card games
- Word unscrambles
- Board games
- Chess
- Cryptograms
- Sudoku
In addition, tracing a path on paper through mazes, searching in pictures for hidden items, and memory retrieval games are excellent for maintaining a sharp mind.
Listen to Music
The praises regarding the benefits that music has on brain health cannot be overstated. Harvard University states that performing music and listening to it activates brain areas associated with memory, speech, emotion, reward, and reasoning.
The esteemed institution also reports that two new studies show that music helps people do more than form new memories; it also helps them retrieve stored memories.
Johns Hopkins University backs these claims, stating that listening to or playing music provides a brain workout that keeps it engaged through aging. Its research shows that listening to music improves mental alertness and memory.
Even though people are generally unaware of it, the brain has to perform many functions and do a lot of “computing” to make sense of music, which keeps the brain alert and sharp.
Finally, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has released a report stating that music, in particular, makes demands of the nervous system that affect cognition and brain mechanisms.
Music improves cognitive skills like recognition memory, working memory, fluency, and more. Even background music improves cognitive skills, the NCBI explains.
Keeping a Sharp Mind as You Age
The best ways to stay mentally sharp through the years and protect your memories are to eat a healthy diet, listen to music, give your brain mental exercises to work on, and refrain from heavy alcohol consumption and smoking.
It’s never too late to begin taking better mental care of your brain, so starting healthy habits today can greatly benefit your brain health tomorrow.
