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As with your body, keeping your brain healthy and active helps it to function at its best. Like building muscle, you can build matter in your brain with brain exercises in order to help it to get stronger and faster.
Grey matter and white matter are essential to cognitive function, but these naturally decrease in density with age. The good news is that people of any age can build denser grey and white matter; this can improve your memory, problem-solving skills and the speed at which you process information.
While there is no cure for dementia, some lifestyle changes have been proven to help to prevent cognitive decline and even slow the rate of dementia progressing.
It’s never too early (or too late) to incorporate brain-boosting habits into your life.
Do puzzles
Regularly doing puzzles like sudoku, crosswords, word searches, jigsaw puzzles and many, many more all stimulate and strengthen the brain.
You can even get dementia-friendly puzzles, such as jigsaws with larger pieces and word searches with large lettering and fewer words.
Entertain yourself without the TV
A 2019 study by University College London found that excessive telly-watching can contribute to memory loss and even dementia. ‘Excessive’ was considered more than three and a half hours a day in people over 50, but excessive television time has also been shown to affect younger people, even impeding the development of the brain in children because it can interrupt sleep.
Getting into the habit of amusing yourself in other ways, such as reading or listening to the radio, podcasts or audiobooks, can help to keep your brain active. Even video games have been shown to have some cognitive benefit.
Do memory exercises
You can improve your memory through training and practise, just like any other skill. You can also buy memory activity books and games for adults.
The Channel 4 programme ‘Can I Improve my Memory?’ explored techniques such as creating a visual image in your mind in order to remember something. Using memory techniques in everyday situations, or even setting yourself memory challenges, can hone your memory skills.
Write a diary
Writing a diary may seem like the pastime of teenage girls but it’s actually very beneficial to people of all ages.
Benefits include:
- Organising your thoughts
- Helping with planning, analysis and problem-solving skills
- Managing your emotions and relieving stress
- Boosting your memory
- Improving your likelihood of remembering events and conversations
- Increasing communication skills
- Strengthening your creativity and sense of self
Learn a second language
In a 2017 study, the Alzheimer’s society found that adults who were bilingual had increased brain function compared to those with who only spoke one language, with their brains being an average of five years younger, despite being of the same biological age.
Language learning is more accessible than ever, with online courses, YouTube videos, free websites and apps like DuoLingo adding to the traditional evening classes and books.
Learn something new
Learning something new is one of the best ways to keep your brain active and healthy. Practising a new skill or studying a new topic has been shown to increase myelin (a substance that covers and protects white matter) in the brain.
No skill or topic is better than another, so whether you want to do an online course, study topics of interest at home or learn to fix an engine, programme a computer or sew a dress, anything that you find engaging and challenging works.
Be creative
As well as strengthening the brain and being great for mental health, creative pursuits have been shown to be particularly therapeutic for people with dementia.
Painting, drawing, sewing, knitting, sculpting, making music, writing, flower arranging, pottery and many more are all stimulating activities for the brain. As well as improving cognitive function in people with dementia, they can also rouse long-forgotten memories and help the person to express themselves if they struggle with language.
Meditate
Meditation has long been shown to physically strengthen the brain in areas that control emotions and concentration, but more recently, Harvard University neuroscientist Sara Lazer found that mindfulness meditation builds grey matter in the brain and can improve memory, anxiety and even compassion.
There are various types of meditation that you could incorporate into your routine and apps like Headspace and Calm are great ways to learn, but you can also find free tutorials online.
Exercise your body
Many studies over the last twenty years have shown that regular physical exercise significantly improves cognitive function and even reduces the chances of developing dementia. This is because exercise increases blood flow, antioxidant levels, certain hormones and growth in all areas of the brain.
Exercise has been shown to provide short-term and long-term improvements in concentration and memory, and can even help with difficult behaviours in dementia.
Feed your brain
The brain needs nourishment to function at its best just like any other organ. Maintaining a healthy diet, with plenty of green vegetables, berries, nuts, fatty fish and eggs (or plant-based alternatives) keeps the brain healthier and helps you function better day to day.
Excessive alcohol can cause damage and shrinkage to the brain over time, as well as alcohol-induced dementia, but even small amounts have been linked to decreased grey matter.