Wrap Your Mind Around a Healthy Brain
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It’s the control center that expresses your personality and guides your actions. A healthy brain allows you to remember, learn, plan, concentrate and function in the world. It’s the processor and synthesizer that manages information, employs logic, gives you perspective and translates experience into wisdom.
The brain naturally shrinks with age, but that doesn’t mean you’re losing your essential brain power. It’s entirely possible to maintain your creativity, wisdom, and personality over a lifetime.
There’s some normal forgetfulness as we get older. Think of the brain as a big filing cabinet (or computer) with a bunch of files.
Being engaged in social activities and relationships is intimately related to brain health. As we try to remember, we have to think which drawer, which folder, which piece of paper holds the information you want. With age, it takes longer to retrieve that information.
People may have trouble with names or word finding, but most of that’s very benign. This benign forgetfulness can be exasperating or even scary, but the big thing is that it doesn’t interfere with everyday life.
Even so, health care providers don’t discount these tendencies, which in some cases are early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Learn more on diagnosing dementia.
Society bombards all age groups with so much information that most of us are simply unable or unwilling to retain it all.
Older people are pretty good at discarding junk, in terms of what they remember. They are not wrapped up in multi-tasking and are more content to finish one task at a time.
Another positive aspect of aging is the wisdom and sense of self that evolves, he adds. The experiences of a lifetime may create greater emotional balance and better integration of left and right brains.
What Helps and Hurts Your Brain?
Although you can’t change your genetic makeup, there are many lifestyle changes you can make to keep your brain healthy. 
Being engaged in social activities and relationships is intimately related to brain health. Frequent interactions with a spouse, close friends, and family members is like giving the brain a little plant food and water to keep it thriving.
Studies show that exercising can delay the brain’s aging process and even reverse it. On the other hand, factors such as smoking, poor sleep, excessive drinking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol all can have potentially harmful effects on the brain.
Manufacturers of myriad supplements want to convince you that their products will help your memory, but there’s conflicting evidence on their effectiveness.
If you’re wondering about activities such as crossword puzzles and brain-training computer games, they don’t appear to challenge your brain enough to boost your thinking power. However, mental activity of any kind is always a plus.
Learn seven ways to keep your brain healthy and read about Alzheimer’s disease myths.
Answer a few questions and we'll provide you with a list of primary care providers that best fit your needs.
Source: Alzheimer’s Association; AARP; U.S. Administration for Community Living
