Age-Proof your Brain

What's good for your body is good for your brain. That means eating a balanced diet with lots of fruits and veggies and not much sugar, saturated fat or alcohol, as well as getting enough exercise and sleeping about eight hours a night. But evidence is accumulating that a whole host of other activities can help keep our brains young even as we advance in chronological age. There is no one magic activity that you need to take on, but trying a handful of the following will help.

Take Dance Lessons: Seniors who danced three to four times a week -- especially those who ballroom danced -- had a 75 percent lower risk of dementia compared with people who did not dance at all. Why? Dancing is a complex activity, it's aerobic so it improves blood flow to the brain which has been shown to improve brain connections. It also provides mental challenges. e.

Play An Instrument: Whether it's the saxophone, the piano, or a ukulele, researchers found that playing an instrument for 10 or more years was correlated with better memory in advanced age compared to those who played music for less than 10 years (or not at all). 

Learn A Foreign Language: Being bilingual may help delay the onset of dementia. Research shows that people who speak more than one language are better at multitasking and paying attention. Experts say the earlier you learn, the better -- growing up speaking two languages is optimal -- but that it's never too late and every little of language learning helps.

Play Chess: Playing chess, bingo, checkers and card games may help keep your brain fit. 

Read More Of Less: Reading, in general, is good for the brain. But reading fewer books and articles so you can give them each of them more focused attention may be even better. It's better to read one or two good articles and think about them in a deeper sense rather than read 20.

Change Your Font: Next time you have to read through some documents for work, consider changing the typeface before you print them out. Chances are, the docs came to you in an easy-to-read font like Arial or Times New Roman, but switching it to something a little less legible like Comic Sans or Bodoni may improve your comprehension and recall of the information. When you exert more effort, your brain rewards you by becoming stronger. But make sure you keep things new by changing fonts regularly.

Unitask: If you think your ability to multitask proves you've got a strong brain, think again. Multitasking hijacks your frontal lobe. The frontal lobe regulates decision-making, problem-solving and other aspects of learning that are critical to maintaining brain health. Research has shown that doing one thing at a time - not everything at once - strengthens higher-order reasoning, or the ability to learn, understand and apply new information.

Write About Your Stress: Writing gets rid of intrusive thoughts then working memory increases. If somethings bothering you, don't bottle it up.

Take Up Knitting: Activities that put your hands to work, like knitting, crocheting and gardening, are proven stress relievers, and they may also keep your brain young. 

Find Your Purpose: People who feel they've found their purpose in life have lower rates of depression and tend to live longer. Studies also show that this positive outlook also benefits the brain. To develop a sense of purpose, focus on the positive impact you have at home or at work. You could also try volunteering for a cause that's meaningful to you.

Be Social: Spending lots of time with friends and family, especially as you get older, may be one of the best buffers against mental decline. In one study, people who participated in social activities more often and who felt that they had ample social support did better on several measures of memory, as well as mental processing speed. 

Play A Video Game: Companies like Lumosity charge you a monthly fee for brain-training games, but playing puzzle games on your kid's Xbox may have the same effects -- and depending on what you play, may be even more effective. 

Use Your Time Efficiently: Don't spend an hour doing something that should take you 10 minutes. Conversely, don't spend 10 minutes on something that deserves an hour. In other words, calibrate your mental energy. Giving your full forceful energy all the time really degrades resources. You need to know when to do something fast and when to do something slow.

Write By Hand: Sure, typing is faster, but writing longhand may be better for your brain. The cursive you learned in elementary school may be particularly useful. First graders who learned to write in cursive scored higher on reading and spelling than peers who wrote in print.

Take Naps: Go ahead, sneak in a super-quick catnap: It'll recharge your brain. Also, bear in mind that sleeping seven to eight hours a night may help you live longer and, hopefully, healthier.

Wash The Dishes: It may be easier than you think to get the optimal amount of physical activity. According to one study, washing the dishes, cooking and cleaning can add to our daily activity total and are linked with a reduced risk of dementia. 

Ramp It Up: Whether it's physical activity or mental activity, you need to keep pushing your limits in order to reap the benefits. You need to challenge yourself to the next level so you get the benefits.