We all know by now that your brain will stay younger longer if you get enough sleep, eat foods that are good for you and exercise. These are obvious things we know, but there are several other ways you might not know about that could help keep your brain young.
Learning a foreign language keeps your brain younger seriously. While statistics show that the earlier you become bilingual the better off you’ll be, but it is never too late to learn. Learning a new language might help keep dementia at bay for a longer period of time than for those who only speak one language. Those who speak more than one language also tend to have better cognitive abilities than people who can only speak one language.
We’ve all heard the term “information overload” and that’s extremely true in our lives when it comes to how much we read. Instead of reading many books or articles over a short period of time (information overload) you shouldn’t read as many and spend more time enjoying it and taking in the information in each book or article. You can read a ton of stuff, but being able to concentrate on fewer things you’ve read is so much better at keeping your brain from shutting down.
Staying social can also help fight the aging process of your brain. Spend time with family and friends to help keep up your mental agility. It’s vital to have a strong support system and keeping positive people around you does indeed help to keep you younger. You laugh more and engage in activities that can keep you and your brain happy.
Doing some housework can also lower your odds of getting dementia. It might sound like doing housework is mindless work, but doing housework is a form of exercise so you are moving around and exercise does help keep your brain healthy. And it has the added benefit of keeping your body fit and young too!
Do you do all of your writing (read typing) on the computer now like so many others. If so, you should consider doing all of your work by hand. You know, on a piece of paper like we all used to do before computers and phones made their way into our entire lives. Writing long-hand can help to keep your brain younger because you have to think about what you are writing more than you do when you type it out. Try doing it with just a few of your tasks like your “to do” list or your grocery list.
Being able to find your purpose in life does help fend off dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. If you do something you love everyday your outlook on life increases and is much more positive, which in turn helps your brain be younger and stronger. To help find your purpose try new things or volunteer doing something you would love to do. We all have a purpose – sometimes it just takes some of us longer to figure out what that is.
Another way to help increase your memory is to write about things that are bothering you. When you write about things that stress you out, it will get all of the negative stuff out of your mind – kind of like doing a “brain dump.” If you do this every day it will allow the positive thoughts to stay in your mind and get rid of a lot of the stressful feelings in your life. Don’t let things fester in your mind write them down and get them out.
You might think that being able to multi-task could make your brain stronger, but that’s not really the case. If you do one thing at a time and really concentrate on that one thing you are doing it does make your brain stronger. You are able to actually remember what it is you are doing and enable you to increase your ability to learn new things.
Working Sudoku and crossword puzzles can also help keep your brain functioning better as you age. You have to think about the responses to the puzzles and it makes your brain work harder that if you are simply just sitting around watching television.
It is vital that you keep your brain in great working order to possible keep dementia from affecting you or to at least hold off the symptoms away for a few more years.
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