Keep Your Brain Healthy Past Your 50s: 8 Tips for 2023
Hitting your 50s is an opportunity for the wonderful beginning of a new experience in life. However, this natural aging process also raises concerns about a decline in brain health. It can be difficult to see the bright side when you’re constantly worrying about the ills. That, however, doesn’t mean you can’t take back control of your brain health and live a fuller and richer life. How then do you slow down the aging of the brain and improve brain health past your 50s?
Let’s find out!
Tip 1: Engage In Physical Activity
Engaging in some form of physical activity, even for 10 minutes a day, can prove quite useful. It is known to release feel-good chemicals in the brain, while also helping reduce stress levels and improve physical health. All of these help keep the brain in good shape. Research also suggests physical activity can improve both short and long-term memory. Once you’ve gotten into the habit of regular exercise, try aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week. Or at least 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity every week.
Tip 2: Keep Your Mind Active
Along with physical activity, you also want to give your brain some exercise. One way to do this is to engage in brain training games such as Sudoku, crossword, and jigsaw puzzles. You can also take up learning a new skill if you like.
Research suggests that brain-training games support cognitive abilities. If you have a tight schedule, try installing brain games on your smartphone so you can play them while traveling to work.
Tip 3: Get Enough Sleep
The restorative role of sleep is well-realized at any stage of life. If you’re not getting ample sleep or having trouble staying asleep, this is the time to solve the issues causing it. You can try simple solutions like getting enough exercise during the day and avoiding daytime naps, for starters. If your insomnia seems like something more, identifying its cause is the best next step. Once you know the underlying cause, work with a medical practitioner to devise a way to manage the condition. Try to avoid medication, as it will only end up doing more harm than good in the long run. If you’re already on some form of medication, resolve to gradually reduce your dependency on them.
Tip 4: Eat A Healthy Diet
Everything you consume affects your mind and body, and the effects are even more pronounced past your 50s. But that also means a healthy diet will show results more quickly. You can begin by avoiding or reducing the consumption of all unhealthy food items like alcohol, caffeine, processed foods, and tobacco. Also, try making small healthy changes like consuming more salads or drinking enough water. We also recommend taking supplements to address nutritional deficiencies after consulting a doctor. If you’ve already jumped the healthy diet bandwagon, why not take it a step further with diets that improve brain function? Mediterranean diets offer promising results in reducing the risk of cognitive decline.
You can also try intermittent fasting, which is proven to minimize the risk of neurological disorders. Check with a doctor first, to see if this works with your health prescription.
Tip 5: Manage Chronic Stress
Chronic stress can have negative effects on the brain and body. But for the majority of us, its sources are numerous and impossible to avoid. Manage stress by incorporating some relaxing practices, such as meditation, yoga and massage into your routine. If you have chronic stress that’s difficult to manage, try consulting with a counselor on the best options available.
Tip 6: Manage Chronic Health Problems
Chronic health issues like chronic anxiety, pain, diabetes, and obesity can negatively impact cognitive functions in adults over fifty. Refuse to let any health issues control how you live out your 50s and beyond.
If you have a chronic health problem, visit your healthcare supervisor to plan a better way to manage your problem moving forward. Focus your management strategy on less aggressive and more long-lasting solutions.
Keep your blood pressure, sugar levels, and other parameters in a healthy range to minimize the risk of decline.
Tip 7: Stay Connected With Others
Lack of socialization can affect our mental and emotional health. Keeping in touch with others helps us fight cognitive decline by helping us combat feelings of loneliness and boredom.
Older adults who are more socially active are also:
- Healthier
- Have a sense of purpose
- Cope with stress better
- Less at risk of depression
- Have a high self-esteem
To live a more connected life, try cultivating diverse friendships by engaging in volunteering, starting a group, or joining a class. Also, make an active effort to stay in touch with old friends, family members, and neighbors.
Thanks to technology, remaining in touch is only a matter of choice and less of an issue of accessibility.
Tip 8: Try New Things
Having a routine keeps you organized and consistent in your efforts, but engaging in new experiences can improve memory, reduce stress levels, and make your brain younger. Overall, learning new things or gaining new experiences can protect the brain from cognitive diseases. You can continually try new things on occasion as opposed to completely changing everything. Going on a hike, attending a play, visiting new places, trying new food, and meeting new people should often make it to your to-do list.
Takeaway
Aging might be out of our control, but aging gracefully certainly isn’t. Now that you know what is good for your brain and what isn't, tackling the risk of brain health issues and keeping your brain healthy is easier. Try making the changes suggested here for a start. You may even continue them even past your 50s. You can start with whichever seems easiest and gradually add more healthy practices to your schedule.