Prevention: Keeping Your Brain Sharp in Old Age

Although we’d all like to be happy and healthy for as long as possible, what’s the point if you’re not taking care of your brain? The signs of memory loss and a withering mind in a physically healthy elderly relative can be tough to witness - and it reminds us that the brain is also a muscle that should be exercised and attended to through all stages of life.

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Here is a handful of the best brain-boosting tips for elderly, helping them to stay sharp and focused for as long as possible, and making sure they’re around for longer.

Get moving

Let’s start with the most obvious one first; exercise is vital for both your body and your brain. If you’d like to maintain your grey matter the best you can - or if you’d like to look after your senior loved one, it’s best to get around thirty minutes of exercise every day. It doesn’t have to be intense, and a good walk can help you out on the days you don’t feel like sweating.

Regular exercise prevents memory loss by keeping diabetes, obesity, stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol at bay - all the bad guys, in other words.

Did you know that the best exercise to boost your brain power is the humble sport of table tennis? Treat your older relative to one and entertain yourself with a match once in awhile and read more about it at mnn.com; it’s good for both of you.

Healthy fats

You probably know already that a healthy and balanced diet speaks volumes with regards to physical health, but a Mediterranean-like diet can actually prevent memory loss as well. 

Although it’s hard to pinpoint the exact ingredient that contributes to this effect, and it may very well be the combination of all, one study has found that diets rich in vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and fish were 20 % less likely to have memory and cognitive problems.

We’ll eat our olives and mackerel, in other words, and live to tell our great-grandchildren to do the same. 

Remember that if you have any concerns about the physical well-being of your older relative, rather than cognitive ones, it’s a good idea to have a look at medicalert.systems so that you can stress less even if they live by themselves. It will be good on their stress-levels as well, knowing that help is right around the corner. 

Socialize and play games

Enjoying a game of chess with your relatives is good for a lot of reasons. First of all, challenging your brain is alfa omega to keeping it healthy. It’s kind of like thinking you’ll gain muscles by eating the right foods but forgetting to lift weights - it’s just not going to happen. 

Engage in mind games such as chess, table tennis as mentioned above, reading, or a simple game of Sudoku to train your brain, and keep enjoying it for many years to come.

It’s sad to see a loved one affected by memory loss or Alzheimer’s and, although it’s tough to admit, we can’t always do something about it. The sharpest and most active mind may suffer from cognitive problems with age, so the best we can do is to keep interacting and be patient.