Keeping Your Brain Active
Keeping Your Brain Active
HOW DO WE KEEP OUR MINDS ACTIVE AND ALERT?
There are so many ways we can keep our minds and body active. There is a lot of research to help support the many ways that people can keep their minds aware, alert, and active. I decided to sidestep the research for a minute and ask people what they do to vary their daily routines and keep their minds and body sharp as a tack.
In a survey that I did of 50 seniors that live in my apartment complex, I found that many of them watched television at least four hours a day. About 20 liked to walk to the supermarket, and the stores on the avenue, and often take a long way home.
The average ages of these people were 55-65, and they were in fairly good health. None of them complained about having arthritis, fatigue, or heart problems to prevent them from taking a 15-20 minute walk each day.
An older group of people ages 70-75 (about 10 people) had trouble walking down the block, could not walk the stairs when the elevators were out, and would huff and puff just walking up the street into the building. Many of these people complained of many illnesses like high blood pressure, diabetes, and arthritis.
Some of these people were smokers, drinkers and spent their mornings eating donuts and coffee with a lot of sugar.
Before losing weight, I fit into that second group, not age-wise but the rest. I never smoked, I do not drink, but I ate a lot of fried foods, junk foods, was really overweight, and never realized what I was doing to myself.
I had retired early from teaching when my mom was diagnosed with AlzheimerÕs, and rather than doing something else, at first, and keeping myself in shape, I ate, sat, complained, and pigged out. I had a thyroid problem and was on medications that caused weight gain. But, when I did not have to take the medications anymore, I thought this was my chance to eat anything I wanted, and I would lose weight. NOT SO and NOT TRUE!
The morning my doctor called and told me that I needed to lose weight and that my cholesterol was high, I got the wake-up call (at 6:30 A.M.) in the morning that I needed. I then proceeded to wait until his office hours and asked for help.
I needed a plan, not a diet, to guide me on what I should and should not eat. I did the research and struggled for a long time until I devised my own weight plan and finally lost all the weight I had gained. But that was the first step. The next was to create a career for me to keep active, to feel important and not useless, as I was beginning to feel.
I started taking long walks every morning for about an hour and felt invigorated when I returned. I even took the stairs halfway up in order to continue and try and strengthen my leg muscles. Reading and reviewing books written by other authors keeps my mind alert and really on target. Some of the books I have been reading are different from what I would normally take out of the library or buy in the bookstore.
Some of the books are medical, self-help, murders, metaphysical, true crime, and more. There are times I have done research based on the topic or content of a book in order to understand what
Sharp As A Tack or Scrambled Eggs: Which Describes Your Brain – the author has written and what his/her message might be. But, there are so many other ways to keep your mind active and alert. That is the purpose of writing this book and hopefully helping you and other readers keep your minds from going to mush.
Fran,
Great article and so true. Once you lose the ability to move around and enjoy yourself physically then I think you feel truly old. Old is a state of mind and I hope I never get there.:)
I agree wholeheartedly. Keep active, not only physically, buy mentally, keep sugar out of your diet; it’s a killer. Most elderly people have already had enough of it in their life time for ten people. It’s addictive especially for old people. Thank you, Ray Ray
So very true, Fran. A really good article, which explains the pitfalls of old age. A little more exercise does work wonders.
Thanks for that. Eileen
Great article – all true – all your suggestions seem valid!
I, for one, will keep an eye on your future ramblings.
P. Bardem
Terrific thoughts Fran, these ideas can work for anyone, but especially us who have a bit more “experience.” Thanks.
Best of luck regaining your true soul when you transformed back into your true body.