Seniors’ Health is About Making Positive Choices

Always check with your physician before embarking on an exercise regime to see if it is the right plan for you.

How to Exercise Your Brain (courtesy of wikiHow):

Scientists believe that exercising your brain can create a 'cognitive reserve' that will help you stay sharp as you age. Here are some fun exercises - post them on your fridge to prompt you.

1. Take a class to learn something you have always wanted to know about.
2. Do games and puzzles such as and play word games like Scrabble.
3. Read often and read a lot of different types of books. Take a magazine and dedicate a certain amount of time to reading it each day or each week. Read the newspaper. Set your computer homepage to bring up news items of particular interest to you. And then read them each time you open the computer.
4. Remember and repeat groups of words. Try memorizing your grocery list.
5. Play computer brain games, such as Brain Age for Nintendo DS.
6. Test and monitor your memory and attention with special computer games.
7. Write or edit an article every now and then.
8. Memorize a poem.
9. Meditate often. Take calm, deep breaths. Your brain needs a lot of fresh air.
10. Eat foods containing omega fatty acids such as flax seeds, hemp seeds and fish. Omega fatty acids have been known to boost intellectual stamina.
11. Perform math functions regularly.
12. Learn new words from a word a day calendar or from a dictionary.
13. Use your left hand if you are right handed, and reverse. You will be exercising the opposite side of the brain.
14. Learn to read and play music (classical music is known to have the best effects.)
15. Use the Mozart Effect - classical music increases brain activity more positively than other kinds of music. Two pieces of Mozart's music; Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K. 448) and Piano Concerto No. 23 (K. 488), were found to have this effect.
16. Draw or paint.
17. Try to think of a different possibility of how something could've gone, and explore the further consequences. This will improve creativity.
18. When you try to learn something or review for a quiz, listen to your favorite song on repeat. This is anassociation technique in which your brain connects what you learned to what you heard. Plus, after a half hourof one song on repeat, you should be able to remember the lyrics!
19. Avoid monotonous routines- change things up.
20. Remember to exercise your body - a healthier mind results from a healthy body. Get plenty of physical exercise.