Work Out Your Brain

Don't forget that your brain needs exercise, too. If you don't challenge and stimulate your brain, it will cease to grow new connections between neurons and put you at increased risk for mental deterioration. Mental workouts I recommend include listening to music, reading books, listening to educational tapes and books on tapes, playing games and puzzles, learning a new word every day, memorizing favorite poems or passages, writing letters, mastering new knowledge, acquiring a new skill, and stretching your imagination. Getting involved and giving of yourself to others in your community is another great way to stimulate your brain and stay mentally young.

Exercise your way to peak mental performance

I bet you didn't know physical exercise actually improves your memory. In fact, if the health benefits of exercise could be put in a pill, you would have perhaps the most powerful anti-aging medicine available. Regular physical activity supports virtually every system in your body, from your bones and muscles to your heart and cardiovascular system. Exercise improves immune function, aids digestion and elimination, increases endurance and energy, and enhances mood. By promoting circulation to the brain, it may even make you smarter.

Exercise increases oxygen and glucose availability to the brain by making the heart stronger and able to pump more oxygenated blood through the carotid arteries that feed the brain, which is a ravenous consumer of oxygen and glucose. Regular exercise also reduces blood pressure and lowers the incidence of cerebrovascular disease, a leading cause of memory loss and impaired cognition.

I recommend you start your exercise program by walking briskly 20 minutes, four times a week. Once you can do this comfortably, it's time to increase your pace. To do this, don't lengthen your stride; instead, increase the number of steps you take per minute. Work up to 30 to 60 minutes of exercise four or more times per week.