Did Mindy’s Mental Fitness group sound like something interesting or at least time-filling for me during the early months of the pandemic? It was one of the many wonderful Zoom groups Conejo Valley Village put together to help our members stay connected and stimulated in 2020. I decided to give it a try and found it was one of the things I began to look forward every week, when there were not lots of things to get excited about.
Mindy is a speech therapist who offered to develop and run this group for our members. I have never been a crossword puzzle or Sudoku aficionado, so I was not sure how this would go. There were approximately ten regular members who came every week. We did exercises with words, numbers, money, memory and even old sayings. Mental fitness had not seemed nearly as fun as it turned out to be and it quickly became a “can’t miss” for all of us.
Everyone agreed that we had gotten better, quicker and more confident in memory and problem-solving exercises, and we all wanted to continue our progress. During our class Mindy attended an online workshop on brain health based on research done at the renowned Cleveland Clinic Center for Brain Health. One of the things highlighted in their 6 Pillars of Brain Health was the importance of mental exercise, in conjunction with other life activities that can have a profound impact on our brains. What we eat and drink, our exercise regimen, our sleep habits, our socialization and stress management plus mental fitness are all critically important to our brain health.
The Cleveland Clinic developed the following 6 Pillars of Brain Health to help us navigate our journey to a healthy brain as we age.
- Physical Exercise. One of the important benefits of physical exercise is that people who exercise on a regular basis have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. It improves blood flow and memory and stimulates chemical changes in the brain that enhance learning, mood and thinking. Regular exercise can add years to your life, help you lose weight, boost your mood, improve your sleep, reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer and improve your brain health.
- Food & Nutrition. You are what you eat. As we age, our brains are exposed to more harmful stress due to lifestyle and environmental factors, resulting in a process called oxidation, which damages brain cells. Oxidation damage to your brain is comparable to damage from rust on the handlebars of a bike. Food rich in antioxidants can help fend off the harmful effects of oxidation to your brain.
- Medical Health. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, head trauma, higher cholesterol, and smoking all increase the risk of dementia. These risks can be controlled and reduced. It is important to have annual checkups, follow your doctor’s recommendations and take medications as prescribed. Adopt a brain healthy lifestyle for your body and your mind.
- Sleep & Relaxation. Sleep energizes you, improves your mood and your immune system and may reduce buildup in the brain of an abnormal protein called beta-amyloid plaque, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Practice meditation, manage stress, stay positive and happy to help fend off age-related decline in brain health.
- Mental Fitness. Mental exercise is just as critical as physical exercise in keeping your brain fit and healthy. Mental exercises may improve your brain’s functioning and promote new brain cell growth decreasing your likelihood of developing dementia. Like our muscles, particularly as we age, we need to use our brains or risk our valuable brain health.
- Social Interaction. Staying connected and living an active social life can protect you against memory loss. This includes spending time with others, engaging in stimulating conversation and staying in touch with family and friends. Studies have shown that those with the most social interaction in their community experience the slowest rate of memory decline.
Research indicates that we can improve our brain health by making beneficial lifestyle choices. Our quality of life can be increased or decreased dramatically based on our brain health as we move into our later years. The Cleveland Clinic Healthy Brains program offers an online self-assessment, which is a customized tool that tests your memory and helps you make lifestyle choices that may reduce the risk for brain disorders. This tool can be found at https://healthybrains.org/brain-check-up/.
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