Engaging Your Brain

The brain wants to learn: it wants to be engaged as a learning machine states Michael Merzenich,Ph.D.,University of California @ SanFrancisco. Merely replaying well-learned
skills that you have already mastered in your life is not enough, he says. "The brain requires active continuous learning. It requires change, and that requires that you are acquiring new skills and abilities, new hobbies and activities, that require the brain to remodel itself. That's the key."

Grow Old Don't Get Old

Growing old is a natural progression of life. Growing old is not optional, it is a privilege. Growing old is an opportunity for you to explore exciting new ideas, to meet new people and to develop new wisdoms and passions. It gives you time to take care of your body, to exercise your mind and to learn from your own mistakes- YOU GROW, YOU CHANGE and YOU IMPROVE WITH AGE, just like wine.

Getting old means that life passes you by, you never try new ideas or develop new challenges, you are satisfied with "hum drum."

ARE YOU GROWING OLD or JUST GETTING OLD ?

Build Your Brain Power

Build your brain power by using your creative abilities in activities such as playing a musical instrument, writing poetry, painting or learning a foreign language. Creative activities such as these examples can strengthen your powers of association and imagination plus playing a critical role in tasks such as remembering information and finding solutions to problems.

Look on the Bright Side of Life

Looking on the bright side of life and being optimistic in your thinking and actions can have a direct impact on your life.

Recent studies out of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, indicate that optimists live longer as well as enjoying a highter quality of life, report better physical and social functioning, more vitality, less pain and fewer limitations due to physical and emotional problems.

Christopher Peterson, PhD at the University of Michigan writes that optimists feel that they are"masters of their own fate", they believe that they can make good things happen. They regard their health as something they have control over and therefore engage in more healthful behaviors.

Researchers have also found that optimism leads to development and maintenance of social support systems and the ability to reduce stress better than most of us.

Our thoughts create our reality. Our thoughts regarding health, life and age all mix together to determine how successfully we age.

Watch Your Head

There is now evidence that people who have a blow to their head perhaps experience loss of consciousness may be more apt to have memory loss as they age. In light of these findings all of us need to practice protecting our heads by:

. Wearing Seat Belts
. Wearing helmets while riding a bike or driving a
motorcycle
. Not drinking and driving
. Not using cell phones while driving
. Not driving when you no longer have the ability to drive

BE SAFE NOT SORRY !

Flexing your humor muscles boosts your immune system, helps to reduce stress as well as reducing pain. As they say "laughter is the best medicine." For one thing it costs nothing, you do not have to buy special clothes or shoes and not even leave your easy chair.

Adults laugh about 15 times/day, while children laugh about 400 times/day. When we grow up, somehow we loose a few hundred laughs a day. That's sad! And it also could threaten your health.

Laughing along with exercising, not smoking and eating foods low in
saturated fat will reduce your risk of a heart attack and improve your memory. Give it a try!

Memory and Sleep

It is very easy to skimp on your sleep during this busy holiday season with family visiting and get-togethers . But sleep and memory go hand in hand. Without adequate sleep your memory will suffer. Ever wonder why you can't seem to remember as well after your grandchildren have visited ? Probably the reason is a disturbance in your sleep patterns. Get back to your regular hours of sleep and see if your memory improves. If that doesn't do the trick seek medical assistance.