The Mayo Education and Research Foundation says that even though you grow older your brain can still adapt to stimuli. They also recognize that while you’ll face declines in some of your cognitive health functions, others will grow stronger to compensate for this decline. For instance, if you have a lot of knowledge as you grow older, you’ll probably adapt to the changes in your life better. You may also see your vocabulary growing better. There are some activities that will help you in these areas too. All these things are quite common but do vary vastly between individuals. Some people even demonstrate that such decline doesn’t have to happen at all.
How you can Prevent Declining Cognitive Health
There are quite a few things you can do to help yourself maintain good cognitive health as you age, including:
- Play card games, checkers, or chess or do puzzles, including crosswords. Doing so motivates your brain to remain active. Other great ways of doing this include reading books, learning a new language, or playing a musical instrument.
- Engage in brain teasers and strategy games to help you build up your ability to form and retain important cognitive associations. This happens when you’re involved in using logic and language.
- Make sure you engage in cardiovascular activity each day. This helps boost the powerful protein that connects your nerve cells together. Studies have even shown that it’ll reduce your likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease by about 35%. These activities include weight and resistance training and aerobics.
- Eat foods that contain a lot of antioxidants but not a lot of fat or sugar – things like apples, strawberries, yogurt, walnuts, berries, and salmon. Include these in several small meals throughout your day instead of filling up on foods that are packaged, processed, or refined. Doing so will help you maintain a steady glucose level so your brain doesn’t become inflamed.
- Remain socially active by joining a club, a church, or a gym. As social creatures we do better when we’re connected to others. Having a strong support system surrounding you will help prevent your cognitive health from declining. If you don’t partake in these activities because you can’t hear what’s going on around you, make sure you get hearing aids. It really is that important for your health!
- Get involved in volunteer activities if you’re no longer working a paid job. Research shows that complex intellectual work will increase your cognitive functioning. Of course, these activities also provide you with a feeling of personal accomplishment – another thing that helps your brain remain vital.
- Make sure you get plenty of rest. Whether you have a sleep disorder or your sleep is consistently disrupted, it will affect your cognitive health. These things are quite common as you grow older but the good news is that there’s treatment available to help you if practicing good oral hygiene isn’t enough.
Declining Cognitive Health is not Inevitable
Researchers have found that older adults who remain active physically, mentally, and socially don’t face nearly as many issues as those who don’t. Another important part of this is ensuring you remain healthy – especially when it comes to hearing what’s going on around you. This is why you may find that you’ll need hearing aids as you age. This shouldn’t be viewed as a negative thing because wearing them will help you remain active and healthy. If you find yourself at this point in your life, make sure you reach out to Countryside Hearing Aid Services. They have a wide selection of hearing aids to choose from so you can remain a healthy, active, aging adult.
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