7 Easy Hacks To Keep Mentally Fit Until You Are 100!
If you were born in or after 2000 in a wealthy country, your lifespan may well be 100. So, time to keep your mind sharp and fit. The one thing we don’t want is dementia.
I was born in 1948 but I am determined to make it till 100 as well, so move over and make room for me too!
These centenarians are flourishing. Just think that in 1986, there were 3,600 of them in the UK. The latest figures from the UK government show that there were 13,170 in 2018.
Let’ s start our mental fitness training!
1. You have to eat healthy food. Your brain needs nourishment. The Mediterranean diet is one of the best with its emphasis on legumes, vegetables, fruit, extra virgin oil. Go for fish and eat red meat less often. Try some white meat, dairy, and yogurt. People in Mediterranean areas live longer.
2. Read like mad. Anything from the newspaper online, novels, comics, thrillers, or romance. Lots of studies show that readers or bookworms will more likely live longer. Get stuck in lots of books and you will be around for ages and ages.
3. Play with word puzzles, crosswords, rebuses, or anagrams. You are exercising your brain. Ann Lukits has written in the Wall Street Journal about how puzzles can
“Improve memory and brain function in older adults … and can improve mental function in patients with brain damage or dementia.” — Ann Lukits
4. Try logic and math puzzles. I am not a great Sudoku fan myself. I seem to feel that my mind is always on the same old track looking for those number patterns. But it is a really great way to keep those neurons winking at each other. I prefer logic puzzles where you have to work it out by thinking outside the box. It helps to keep your memory robust.
5. Keep up to date with the news, current affairs and what is going on around you. This stimulates our mind because we can imagine scenarios, guess what the outcome may be and remind ourselves about lessons from the past.
6. Jigsaw puzzles. I know lots of people who love these. When visiting friends who were real jigsaw addicts, they had had the completed puzzles framed as a sort of trophy. They were decorating the walls of their living room!
7. Watch videos, movies and listen to music. It is great to watch controversial or thought-provoking movies that really get you thinking. This is a great way to stimulate the brain.
There are lots of other ways to keep your mind active like taking a trip, changing up your routine, learning something new every day or watching different TV programs.
Think about it!
“There are no dead ends in life, only dead-end thinking.” ― Orrin Woodward.
If you are interested in the Mediterranean Diet, read this-
