5 Cognitive Health Hacks to Keep Your Mind Razor Sharp

Your brain is like a muscle, if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. No one wants that to happen, so to keep your mind razor-sharp, here are some cognitive health hacks to keep your wit cutting as you age.

Cognitive Health Hacks

Practice positivity.

As we have discussed in this article, anxiety is created by uncertainty, worry, nervousness, and unease. One effective way to counteract the negative effects of anxiety is positive thinking. Studies show that positive thinking is one of life’s most powerful health hacks. Psychology and neurology support the theory that when people are optimistic they are likely to see more options when thinking about their current and future life. This leads people to develop physical, social, and creative skills which all contribute to better cognitive health. 

Exercise

Exercise is not only good for your body but good for your brain. This is especially important when it comes to problem-solving and developing new ideas. 

Sleep

That’s right, sleep is once again important to cognitive function. All you need to figure out how important sleep is to cognitive function is to miss a few hours of it. But missing your Z’s does more than just give you a rough morning. According to research, not getting enough sleep can increase the probability of dementia and other memory-related conditions. So, if you want to keep your mind sharp as you age, make sure you aren’t sabotaging your slumber. The ideal amount of sleep is between 6.5-8 hours per night. Anything less, and you run the risk of consequences.

Learn Something New

 Acquiring or mastering a new skill is easy if you keep at it and it’s great for your cognitive health. With only 15 minutes per day, you can learn how to cook or build a computer. In fact, it may be more effective to allow a small amount of time every day to practice a new skill as incremental learning is better for task retention.

Read and Read Out Loud

Reading out loud is a great cognitive exercise. It doesn’t matter what genre you prefer, just so long as you speak what you read. When you do this, multiple parts of your brain light up since your brain needs to work to translate what you are seeing and comprehending into speech. It adds an extra cognitive step to an already robust psychological workout. If reading is a mental exercise, think of reading out loud as becoming a cognitive heavyweight. Check out our book list to cure your wanderlust and exercise your mind!

Want to learn more scientific tips and tricks about aging well? Here is your FREE A-Z guide on Living and Aging the Way You Want. Click the icon and get your copy today!