Mental Fitness is Essential to Living Better, Longer

Maintaining your mental fitness should be a very important element of your over overall health and fitness program. You should include mental conditioning into your lifestyle. I think of it as being mentally active.

There are many lifetime activities that promote your mental agility. Playing bridge, for example, is one of the best mental fitness activities for all ages. I started playing bridge during my college days and became a Life Master in 1964. Later I became an American Contract Bridge League certified bridge instructor and have helped hundreds of students get started with the game (I can still teach a complete novice how to begin playing bridge in just one lesson).

Another great mental conditioning activity is the use of computers. Programming, games, expanding you technical skills all require and help maintain your mental agility.* Some years ago I managed the development of software programs in support of the federal government. Today I have a web business consulting company and am on a daily basis working with a variety of new software applications. I have built mental conditioning into my lifestyle through my avocation.

Many actions that will keep your body strong will do the same for your mind. Proper - food, diet, supplements and exercise all lead to better health and delaying the onset of the diseases associated with aging. For example, Alzheimer's disease research has documented that say that neural reserve—a built-in redundancy of the machinery of the brain—allowed those with the disease to continue thinking normally, even as the disease progressed.

Think of maintaining your mental fitness a process of learning throughout you life. The human brain is a learning machine and recent research supports an approach to maintaining brain health. 

In Mental fitness--exercises for the brain  Susan Tannen observes that mental exercising conditions as does physical exercise help maintain body tone, strength, and endurance. Together, such exercising has positive effects for people of all ages. Put succinctly: Use it or lose it!

She covers a number of  exercises that are simple and fun to do -- and recommends that you integrate them into your daily routine. These exercises include exercising your perceptive abilities of sight, smell/taste, memory, visual space, structuralization, logic, and verbalization.

In Stay Sharp Longer  Kelly Griffin outlines nine simple habits that can boost your brainpower. They are :

Switch Sides - e.g., consciously change the way you do you do daily things -- such as getting dressed.

Change the Scenery -  e.g., rearrange a room.

Make Hand Signals - e.g., learning to spell using the manual alphabet

Do It Blindfolded - e.g., try familiar activities with your eyes closed.

Puzzle It Out -  e.g., try crosswords.

Share Story Time -  e.g., take turns reading aloud with a friend or loved one.

Catch a Whiff - e.g., listen to musing while burning a scented candle.

Report the News - e.g., tell others in detail what you have seen or heard.

Take a Walk - e.g., make walking a part of your overall fitness program.

Take a look at this AARP Stay Sharp pamphlet to find out how learning changes with age.

View Staying Sharp: Learning Throughout Life
(You will need Adobe® Reader® to view this file.)

See also my article on boosting your memory.

*To become proficient in the use of computers requires that you first learn how to teach yourself. Try to learn something new every day.

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