Why you NEED to keep your mind active
From time to time we all have the occasional “senior moment.” Perhaps you’ve gone into the garage and can’t recall why, or can’t remember the name of your local butcher. While memory lapses can occur at any age, ageing alone is generally not a cause of cognitive decline.
The Harvard Medical School says that studies have shown that you can help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia with some basic good health habits: staying physically active, getting enough sleep, not smoking, having good social connections, limiting alcohol to one drink a day, and eating a balanced diet low in saturated and trans fats.
As well as doing puzzles and games that stimulate your mind and improve your memory, learning a language, taking a course in a subject that you find interesting, or taking up a new hobby are some of the best and most rewarding ways of staying healthy and happy.
Continuing the learning process throughout your life can help your mind to stay younger than it otherwise would. Further education is increasingly open to people over 60, with many choosing to do free courses at home through Open University Australia’s Open2Study.
Top benefits of studying when you’re over 60:
- Experts think that continuing with an education may help keep memory strong by getting a person into the habit of being mentally active.
- Improving your memory can also improve your concentration as it helps your mind to become more alert.
- Keeping your mind active will likely promote a happy mind – less likely to feel lonely and depressed.
- Challenging your brain with mental exercise is believed to activate processes that help maintain individual brain cells and stimulate communication among them.
Click here to read about the wide range of FREE courses offered by Open2Study.