One of the most common myths about age is that memory loss and dementia are natural parts of the aging process. This is not correct, however. Dementia does tend to strike some older people, it is true. Memory loss also happens to a lot of older people. However, most of the mental decline that most people experience as they age is more the result of bad mental habits built up over a lifetime than anything else. And that means that you can do something to prevent this mental decline before you get old.
Establishing Good Mental Habits
Doing regular brain exercises can help you establish good mental habits, and this can make your mind resist the effects of aging. A scientific study on the way that education affects the aging mind discovered that even a single year of secondary education will significantly increase memory test scores forty years later. Scientists have also discovered that your learning capacity actually increases with experience. In other words, using your brain can fight the effect that age has on your mind.
Do a Daily Puzzle
Doing a crossword, word scramble, sudoku, or similarly difficult puzzle every day can really boost your brain. This habit will help you stay sharp later in life, of course, and it will also make you sharper right now.
Hold a Weekly Game Night
Playing cards or some similar game once a week will not only develop your reasoning skills, it will also improve your memory. Additionally, playing games with other people involves socializing, and that provides an additional layer of reinforcement for your brain.
Take Adult Learning Courses
Sign up for an adult learning course. When it is over, sign up for another. As long as you keep on learning things throughout your life, you will keep your mind strong and flexible in your old age. You might want to try to learn a second language. This has been shown to have a particularly great benefit when it comes to staying sharp in your old age.
Learn a Musical Instrument
Learn to play a musical instrument, any musical instrument; it will increase your mind’s flexibility, which will stave off dementia in old age.
Doing exercises like these will help you get better at the daily mental skills that will help you keep your wits about you well into old age. Don’t only exercise your body: work out your brain, too.
Baxter Senior Living is a Senior Housing Community that will be located in Anchorage, Alaska off of Baxter Road. If you are seeking Anchorage Senior Housing, or Assisted Living Facilities in Alaska please contact us today to make your reservations. (907) 891-9696 or fill out our contact form and we will be in touch! contact us
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