7 Tips for Boosting Your Brain: Memory Help for Senior Citizens | prairie homestead Wichita kansas

Does it seem as if you are having more trouble coming up with the word you want? Do you misplace your car keys more often? Did you forget an important anniversary? If you have any serious worries about your own forgetfulness or that of a loved one, talk to a health-care professional, but there is some simple help for those smaller frustrations of memory. 
 

• Exercise. You don't have to take up tennis or jogging, but starting exercise in older age can help reverse memory decline or delay degeneration. Active walking has been shown to help strengthen brain activity.

 

• Supplements are often said to improve the mind or delay dementia, but, until there is more testing, there are no guarantees that any over-the-counter supplements will help boost your brain. Good results have been seen with Omega-3 fatty acid and Ginkgo biloba. Vitamin E has also shown some promise, but, as with any medication or supplement, you should check with your doctor before you add anything to your daily regimen.

 

• Take a nap. Snoozing for 6 to 45 minutes has been shown to help cognitive activity. Especially if you have trouble sleeping at night as you age, a quick nap in the afternoon can improve your brain's function.

 

• Eat healthy. Dark-colored vegetables (spinach, kale) and fruits (dark berries, grapes) and oily fish (ocean tuna, sardines) are known to improve the mind's ability to work. And they don't all have to be fresh. Frozen vegetables and canned fish are good, too. Just watch the sodium. Eating less sugar and refined carbohydrates like white bread, cookies, and boxed cereals, will help keep your brain healthy, too.

 

• Drink up. (Water, that is.) Being dehydrated can cause confusion and fatigue. Your brain and body work best when fully-hydrated.

 

• Keep learning. Try something new to you, whether it's reading the manual for the new phone, doing newspaper crossword puzzles or brushing up on your multiplication skills. How about a continuing education class, learning a new card game or taking lessons in a musical instrument? Above all, get your mind fully-engaged in something that really tests your brain power.

 

• Pray, meditate or be mindful. Whichever method works best for you, the value of being quiet, focusing and letting go of worries cannot be overestimated. Your brain will be clearer for having had some time to relax.

 
Prairie Homestead
yvonne@prairiehomestead.org
prairiehomestead.org
1605 W. May Street
Wichita KS 67213
(316) 263-8264