You're probably always hearing about how you should stay physically active, but did you know that it's just as important to stay mentally active? Staying mentally fit is essential to maintaining a high quality of life.

Like your muscles, your brain needs to do work on a regular basis to stay strong and healthy. Eating a heart healthy diet, and exercising regularly are the first step to a healthy brain because this improves blood flow to the brain. 

As we age, our brains naturally lose some of the structures that connect nerve cells to each other, which can slow down some of our thought processes like memory. To counteract this effect, make sure you're doing things every day that engage your memory, critical thinking skills and eye-hand coordination. The following list is a good place to start.

 

• Do fun crossword puzzles, word jumbles or word finds.

 

• Play cards or other games. See if you can find a group in your community, (perhaps at a senior center or church) that likes to play card games together.

 

• Shuffle a deck of cards and focus on how you're shuffling. Pay attention to every aspect, noting how your hands are positioned and how the cards move.

 

• Learn a new phone number each day. Repeatedly pretending to dial the number can help you remember it.

 

• Memorize lines of poetry or lyrics from a song you like.

 

• Learn phrases from another language. If you're really ambitious, seek out a foreign language class at a local community college.

 

• Use your non-dominant hand to write or to use the computer mouse. Try unlocking the door with your non-dominant hand (though certainly not when you're rushing to use the bathroom!).

 

• Read the newspaper and recount different news stories you found interesting to your friends and families.

 

• Share jokes with friends. Try to remember new jokes they may tell you.

 

• Make a to-do list or schedule for the next day. Try to think ahead about what might happen and when.

 

• Challenge your short-term memory: Pick an event in the recent past, something that happened within the past two weeks. Sit down, close your eyes and picture the event. Think of it as a story with a beginning, middle and end. Try to remember all the details-sights, sounds, smells, dialogue. Replay the story in your head.

 

• Challenge your long-term memory: Pick a fond memory that's at least five years old. Recreate it in your head as if you were writing your memoir. If the memory is exciting or interesting, imagine you're a news reporter and recall the event in a way that would keep readers or viewers' attention.