Keeping Your Brain Sharp

As we age, it’s extremely important to be actively engaging our brains to keep them sharp! Often, after retirement, many people start to experience a mental decline. To prevent that, it’s important to be regularly focusing caring for your brain, just as you should be caring for your body.

Here are a few things to try to make sure you’re keeping your brain sharp.

Play Games that Require Strategy
Flex those mental muscles by playing games that require you to sit and problem solve. Great examples would be chess, Settlers of Catan, Risk, or other strategy games.

Do a Puzzle
While physical puzzles are great, try expanding to puzzles like Sudoku or a crossword puzzle.

Experience and Make Art
Spending time around art improves brain function, as does engaging in creating it! Whether it’s playing an instrument or going to the symphony, taking a painting class or going to a local art museum, do whatever you can to get invested in the arts!

Get Social Interaction
The more time you can spend with other people and engage in conversation, the more your brain will reinforce pathways that keep your conversation skills strong.

Stop Smoking
If you do smoke, now is the time to stop. The chemicals in cigarettes and cigars inhibit your brain from properly functioning. Continued smoking will only continue to dull your mental abilities.

Get Enough Sleep
There is a very strong correlation between getting proper amounts of sleep and brain function. As an adult, you need to be getting about 8 hours of sleep a night. If you need to, see if you can sneak in a short nap as well! Naps are scientifically proven to boost mental performance.

Eat Well and Exercise
Eating a balanced diet full of vegetables and protein, as well as getting proper exercise, is recommended to help improve about every ailment out there. So it’s no wonder that a healthy diet and adequate amounts of exercise is also recommended to improve your brain’s health as well.