Brain health is something that almost every aging adult is concerned about regardless of other health concerns. Memory issues and cognitive problems make your senior fear other problems, like dementia. Keeping her brain as health as possible helps battle those concerns.
Help Her Evaluate Her Habits
Healthier habits overall can translate to a healthier brain. The foods your senior eats, the sleep that she gets, and ditching or limiting some vices can help her brain to get what it needs on a regular basis. If she’s not willing or able to make some of these changes, it’s important that she understands how that can impact her health overall.
Exercise Gets the Blood Flowing
Exercise is something often recommended by your senior’s doctor in order to help boost her immunity, keep her healthy, and battle chronic health issues. It might not be something your senior enjoys much, though. It helps your senior’s brain because it improves blood flow and that’s vital. Talk to your senior’s doctor about what type and amount of exercise are right for her.
Games, Music, and Crafts Help
But keeping your elderly family member’s brain healthy isn’t just about doing things that she doesn’t enjoy, like exercising and eating more vegetables. It’s also about doing things that work her brain, but that are enjoyable for her. Listening to or creating music, playing games, and getting busy with art and crafting can all be a part of keeping your aging adult’s brain going.
Learning New Skills and Information Keeps the Brain Active
In addition, if some of those games and other activities are new to your senior, that’s even better. Learning keeps the brain young and engaged, so it’s never too late to add to your senior’s knowledge repository. With the Internet, your senior may find that online courses help her to seek out subjects that are more difficult to learn about in person where she lives. It never hurts to explore the options.
Socializing Plays a Big Part in Brain Health
Humans are social creatures, even though some people require a little less social activity than other people do. Having regular contact with other people is vital for staying healthy. Senior care providers are excellent at providing companionship and they have the added benefit of being able to drive for your senior. That way she can meet up with other people that she knows and enjoys spending time with on a regular basis.
Brain health is highly individual. Some of these activities might be more fun for your senior than others are. You might want to try mixing and matching until you find the combination that your elderly family member enjoys the most and that gives her the best results.