Wellness & Balance | Week 3

Staying Sharp as We Age

According to an AARP survey, a majority of us – 84% – rank staying mentally sharp as a primary concern in advancing age. The fact is that cognitive aging, defined by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) as “a process of gradual, ongoing changes in cognitive functions that occur as people get older,” happens to everyone. And like other natural aspects of aging, each of us is affected to different degrees due to a number of factors, including genetics and lifestyle.

“Your 60-year-old brain isn’t going to function like it did at age 25 any more than your skin will look like it did at that age, but that doesn’t mean you’ll become senile,” science journalist Christie Aschwanden wrote in a story on brain health. “The brain’s frontal cortex, which is used for problem-solving and some aspects of word processing, shrinks with age, but it also shows more activity as you get older.”

It’s commonly believed that cognitive decline is inevitable, or there’s nothing you can do to improve your cognitive health, when in fact there are actions we can take to maintain awareness and mental acuity, and adapt to changes as we age.

Here are the steps NAM recommends we all take to promote cognitive health – mental functions and capabilities necessary to perform daily tasks – with the first three being most important:

• Be physically active. In this series, you can read our newsletter on exercises that are safe for any age and fitness level, and can mostly be done at home. It’s important to overall health that we incorporate some form of movement into our routines, even a daily walk.
• Reduce and manage cardiovascular disease risk factors, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking.
• Regularly discuss health conditions and medications that might have an effect on cognitive health with a health care professional. Some medications can have a negative effect on cognitive function when used alone or in combination with other medication. If your doctor doesn’t ask you about this, be proactive and remind them to help you.
• Be socially and intellectually active, and continually seek opportunities to learn.
• Get adequate sleep, and have sleep disorders treated.
• Take steps to prevent delirium, a sudden decline in cognitive function which can be brought on by hospitalization, illness, or some medications. Learn more about delirium causes and prevention here and here.

In addition, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute offers these tips for maintaining a healthy brain:

• Avoid a diet high in sugar and saturated fats; high blood sugar can increase the risk of dementia. Researchers have found evidence that green, leafy vegetables, berries, and seafood are good for brain health. Studies have also found the Mediterranean diet and the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, which emphasize vegetables, fruit, healthy fats like olive oil, omega-3 fatty acids from fish, whole grains, lean meats or protein alternatives such as beans, eggs, or yogurt, and cutting back on processed foods, can help protect against dementia. Here are the American Heart Association’s recommended portion sizes for older adults. Here are the 12 best “brain foods.”
• Limit alcohol consumption. Drinks have a stronger effect on our bodies as we age.
• Stay hydrated. Keep a bottle water with you throughout the day as a reminder to drink. And, in addition to water, studies show that coffee increases the brain’s capacity for processing information and has antioxidants, which may support brain health as we get older, reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, or stroke.
• Keep stress to a minimum. It may take longer to recover from anxiety when we’re older, so it’s important to develop coping strategies. Read our newsletter in this series on how to avoid stress.
• Prevent falls, which can cause a head or other injury leading to loss of function. Monitor medication for any side effects that can lead to loss of balance, and practice balance and strength exercises. When you walk, be aware of uneven surfaces, steps, and other tripping hazards, such as electrical cords. Wear shoes you feel comfortable in, and if you bike or ski, wear a helmet.

One of the most valuable ways to stay sharp is keeping your mind stimulated and engaged through work or other enjoyable activities, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. A study in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry suggests that acquiring skills in later life, including learning to adopt computer skills and other new technologies, helps reduce cognitive decline.

Consider getting involved in volunteering and other social activities, such as participating on a board, or joining a book club or dance group; or try gardening, crafts, or cooking. You can also challenge yourself to do familiar, routine things in a new way, such as how you prepare your favorite food. Stay connected with friends, family, or other social circles.

The Harvard Medical School Healthbeat offers these seven ways to keep your memory sharp at any age:

1. Keep learning.
2. Use all your senses.
3. Believe in yourself!
4. Economize your brain use.
5. Repeat what you want to know.
6. Space out that repetition.
7. Use a mnemonic, or pattern, to remember lists.

We live in a time when there are an unprecedented number of demands competing for our time, attention, and energy; it’s hard to keep up with them all at any age. Coach Scott Eblin, author of Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative, proposes these seven action steps to simplify your routine and stay focused.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and author of Keep Sharp: Build A Better Brain At Any Age, says it’s good for our brains to find new routines, new patterns, and “mix it up a little bit.”

“When you start to do procedural things over and over again, you can get very good at them. And that’s important in a lot of jobs,” says Gupta, a neurosurgeon. “But we want to constantly be using new paths and trails and roads within our brain. That can be as simple as doing something a little differently, eating with your left hand instead of your right hand if you’re right-handed; if you put a tie on in the morning like I do, closing your eyes and doing it in the dark. The more you can recruit different parts of your brain to do even simple activities, the better it is for your brain now and for your long-term brain health.”

Gupta also says new research since 2010 shows that brain cells can regenerate throughout our lifetimes. “That was pretty significant. Before that, the brain was thought to be largely immutable, sort of fixed,” he says. “The act of learning new things, of experiencing something new or even doing something that’s typical for you but in a different way, can all generate these new brain cells and these new functional pathways throughout the brain.” Listen here to Gupta’s full interview.

As we live longer and more of the population is older, people “shouldn’t be thinking about what their parents or grandparents did at this age. Mindset is really, really important. People in their 50s and 60s today are in better shape than in the past and have better technology,” says Mauro F. Guillén, author of 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything. “Be as up to date as possible with everything that has to do with tech. We’re in an explosion of technology and some of the biggest beneficiaries will be people over 60.”