HEALTHY LIFE FOREVER

Before it's all late, Exercise and challenge your brain

Human mental decline typically begins before middle age
* We must take measures to keep our brains in shape, no matter what age
* The brain needs exercise. Practicing skills leads to better performance
* Unused parts of the brain stop working
* Challenging the brain with new activities wakes up new areas
* Try things you don’t already do – an accountant might study a new language
* Challenging creates new pathways that appear to become alternate routes when
neurones die off in middle an old age.
* Research suggests
- Reading to a small child enhances mental development
- Ongoing mental stimulation provides some protection against mental decline

How can you exercise and challenge your brain ?

* Exercising the brain is doing anything that makes you think, such as “what
did I do last weekend ? ”
* Avoid using calculators
* Swap TV for mind games or a book
* Play games that involve memory (bridge) or thinking ahead (chess)
* Take up a new hobby, learn a musical instrument, study a new language
* When you read a paper, consider your own editorial
* Prepare for retirement as a time for “serious leisure”, for a hobby or
activity that involves “the whole being”