How To Keep Your Mind Sharp As You Age

We all have to deal with “senior moments” now and then. Perhaps you’ve gone to tell someone something and can’t remember for the life of you what it was, or you’ve gone into the living room and can’t quite remember why. These memory lapses can happen at any age, but, as you grow older, you may start to notice that they become more and more frequent. That being said, significant memory loss isn’t a sign of aging, which means there are things you can do to prevent it. Here are five ways you can keep your mind sharp as you age.

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1. Keep Stress Levels In Check
Stress is a common and completely normal feeling, but, left unchecked, it can get overwhelming, causing lasting damage to your brain. This, unfortunately, can lead to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and a number of other neurodegenerative diseases, affecting your memory. Because of this, it’s important that you try to reduce stress in your daily life. There are many ways you can do this, including exercising regularly, practicing meditation, and managing your time well.

2. Make Sure You Exercise Daily

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As we grow older, blood flow to the brain can start to slow, which can affect your cognitive function. Thankfully, regular exercise is thought to prevent this, thus maintaining the level of blood flow and lowering the risk of dementia. With that in mind, it’s vital that you spend some time taking part in physical activity every single day. It’s important that you get your blood pumping, but how you do that is up to you. If you don’t fancy the gym, you could dance or swim instead.

3. Find Something New To Learn
It has been shown that those with higher education are at less risk of developing dementia, which means you should continue to learn and stimulate your brain as you grow older. You should consider online learning, like online counseling masters degrees, classes at local colleges, and local groups and clubs to find something that you enjoy. You should also make sure that you play challenging games, like chess and sudoku, to keep your mind engaged.

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4. Consider Quitting Your Unhealthy Habits
Unhealthy habits, like excessive drinking and smoking, have both been linked to an increased risk of dementia, so you should consider quitting them as soon as possible. It won’t be easy, but you’ll feel much better all around. You should also make sure that you keep up with healthy habits, like getting enough sleep and exercising daily. Also, ensure that you eat a healthy diet containing lots of vegetables and fish.

5. Ensure You Believe In Yourself
Contrary to popular belief, memory loss isn’t an unavoidable part of aging, so don’t ever think that it is. Those that believe these myths are much less likely to work on maintaining their memory, which means that it is more likely to fail. If you want to stay sharp as you grow older, then you need to believe in yourself and work to avoid cognitive decline. If you take control of your life and memory function, then you’ll find yourself in a much better position.

Memory loss can be avoided, even as you grow older, so follow the advice above to keep your mind sharp.

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