Exercise your mind

Just as physical activity keeps your body strong, mental activity keeps your mind sharp and agile. One way to do this is to continually challenge yourself by learning new skills. If you continue to learn and challenge yourself, your brain continues to grow, literally. An active brain produces new connections between nerve cells that allow cells to communicate with one another. This helps your brain store and retrieve information more easily, no matter what your age.

How can you challenge yourself? Try:

• Learning to play a musical instrument
• Playing Scrabble or doing crossword puzzles
• Interacting with others
• Switching careers or starting a new one
• Starting a new hobby, such as crafts, painting, biking or bird-watching
• Learning a foreign language
• Volunteering
• Staying informed about what's going on in the world
• Reading

A mentally stimulating job, taking classes that interest you or even just reading more can help you maintain your memory longer as you age.