In my post, ‘Training the Aging Brain in Your EPPP Preparation’, I suggested that preparing for the EPPP is just the type of brain-stretching activity that can keep the brain of a person in mid-life or older sharp. Here are some other activities you can do as you age to foster cognitive growth:
- Force yourself to participate in new social situations that will stretch you;
- Engage in activities that foster cognitive health, such as reading good quality literature’;
- Engage in physical exercise such as walking at least three times a week, if not every day (researchers from Tufts University found that exercise is the single most important factor in maintaining healthy functioning as individuals age);
- Don’t be afraid to make new friends and learn new skills;
- Go regularly to the brain-fitness gym and play brain exercises;
- Be attentive to nutrition;
- Maintain good relationships with family members and relatives;
- Don’t just live for yourself but look for ways to invest in younger people;
- Reject our culture’s stereotypes about aging.
This last point requires further attention, but that will be the subject of our next post.