Keeping your brain healthy and active is good
advice at any age. Current research promotes an overall healthy
lifestyle as the most effective way to stay mentally fit. Physical
exercise, healthy diet, stress reduction, nonsmoking, and cognitively
stimulating activities maximize not only physical health but mental
health as well. Most cognitive activities are not done with the
deliberate intention of exercising the mind. It's not like eating well
or going to the gym, which we make conscious efforts to do. However,
cognitively stimulating activities can be as simple as reading, doing
crossword puzzles or learning something new each day.
Mental fitness is easy when we are young. By
attending school we are constantly learning, reading and problem
solving. As we age we often lose some of these activities, or at least
don't spend as much time working on them. Still, making an effort to
spend time on such activities throughout life is beneficial to healthy
living and healthy aging. According to Walter M. Bortz II, MD.,
"most [mental] decline is not due to aging; it is due to
intellectual flab. Like a leg in a cast, when unused the brain
deteriorates."
Older adults consistently express their fears
about decreasing mental abilities. They are concerned about changes in
memory capabilities and concentration. Many want to know what can be
done to keep the mind fit and youthful. Just like utilizing physical
fitness for our body, we need to employ a mental exercise program to
keep "our most meaningful organ" in its best possible
condition.
One way to challenge our thinking abilities is
to participate in structured mental fitness programs that are designed
to stimulate specific brain functions. Organizations like the
Alzheimer's Resource of Alaska offer such programs in an effort to
keep minds both active and entertained.
Structured mental fitness activities focus on
functions such as attention, memory, reasoning, creative thinking, and
language skills. Diminished word fluency (often experienced as the
"tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon) is frustratingly common
among older adults. Word generating activities such as "A to
Z" exercise areas of the brain responsible for attention and
language. The results can be rewarding and artistic too.
For example, here is a group poem generated
through an "A to Z" mental fitness class with the writing
prompt, "What do you wish in the New Year?"
Desires and Dreams for the
New Year
By the poets of Providence House, January 20, 2011
We desire ambition, art and
affection, And dream of being better behaved and kinder
We desire compassion,
contentment, comfort and care, And dream of dancing, diligence and the
Alaska dividend.
We desire energy, exercise,
excitement and empathy, And dream of fun, freedom and friendship.
We desire gentleness,
generosity, gratefulness and games, And dream of health, healing,
happiness and hope.
We desire integrity and
investments (profitable ones!) And dream of joy and jolliness.
We desire knowledge and
kindness, And dream of love, laughter, luck and long life.
We desire memories and money,
And dream of novelty and niceness.
We desire opportunities,
optimism and obedience (to us!) And dream of presents, prosperity,
pride and purpose.
We desire quantity and quality,
questions and inspiring quotes, And dream of romance, respect,
resilience, resourcefulness, remembrance and rest.
We desire success, security and
safety and what is sweet and sour, And dream of truth, trust and
tolerance.
We desire understanding and that
which is unusual And dream of vitality, veracity, voice and vigor.
We desire warmth and wisdom,
worth and wonderment, worship and walking And dream of x-ellency, x-actness
and xxxx.
We desire yeses and youthful
feelings and yielding (if necessary) And dream of zealousness, zest
and zip.
We desire and dream from A to Z.
We dream and desire of who we are and all we can be.
In short, don't forget to exercise your mind as
well as your body. And when you start to feel you may be neglecting
certain areas of the mind, seek out programs, groups and activities
that will help you target those "flabby" areas.
Marilyn McKay is an Education
Specialist with the Alzheimer's Resource of Alaska. She delivers and
develops programs for cognitively frail elders and the families who
care for them. Contact: mmckay@alzalaska.org
or 561-3313.
