4 Healthy Mind Habits to Promote Brain Health

Take a moment and think about your daily routine. What does it look like? Does it involve waking up early and making a delicious breakfast? As you enjoy the early moments of the day, do you complete the daily crossword puzzle in your local newspaper? You may enjoy going for a walk every morning to appreciate the beauty of the brand-new day.

If you participate in any of these morning rituals, you’re already taking a great step towards creating healthy mind habits! At Village Green Senior Living, our Washington senior living communities are dedicated to embracing positive changes to help people enrich their lives and wellness every day. 

To help you get started, our team is sharing simple healthy mind habits that you can implement into your routine to improve, promote, and maintain brain health.

1. Stay Active

The benefits of regular exercise are plentiful and well-known when it comes to maintaining physical health, but keeping your body active is also strongly linked to improved mental health and cognitive function. For instance, research has shown that when older adults participate in enough activity, they’re less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. 

When you exercise, blood flow is increased in the brain, which has been suggested to counteract the cognitive effects of aging. When blood flow is increased in the brain, it delivers oxygen, glucose, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and other nutrients that the brain needs in order to thrive. Cerebral blood circulation can also help to eliminate things the brain doesn’t need, such as carbon dioxide and toxins.

At Village Green Senior Living, our warm and welcoming residences, natural surroundings, and planned outings create endless opportunities to gather, chat, laugh, and stay active and entertained.

2. Connect with Others

A lack of social interaction or feelings of loneliness and isolation have been heavily linked to cognitive decline. This is especially true for older adults who are more likely to face age-specific factors that can lead to isolation, like:

• The loss of friends or family members
• Living far away from relatives
• Chronic health conditions

Fortunately, you can increase your social activity by seeking out opportunities to connect with friends and family,  joining clubs, and even scheduling regular phone calls with loved ones. 

Senior living communities provide countless opportunities to keep individuals connected through planned activities and programs, special events, and excursions into the surrounding areas.

3. Pick Up a New Hobby

For retirees or individuals with more time to spend on passions and interests, this is the perfect time to discover a new activity or hobby! Research has suggested that chronic inactivity, especially in older adults, can lead to depression, anxiety, and decreased cognitive abilities over time. 

You’re never too old to learn something new, and when a person reaches their 60s and 70s, their brain is actually at its peak with knowledge and fact quantity. This means that new skills are actually easier to learn during this period of life! 

Whether you want to brush up on an old passion or discover something new, spending your spare time learning new skills or working on something meaningful brings accomplishment and fulfillment, and keeps your brain active. 

4. Healthy Diet

Dietary habits play a significant role in cognitive ability, and healthy eating choices have been suggested to slow cognitive decline. For example, one study found that older adults who maintained a Mediterranean diet were more likely to preserve and improve cognitive function. 

The Mediterranean Diet is made up of high contents of vegetables, whole grains, fish, and olive oil. Of course, this diet is not meant to be strict; it’s intended to serve as a guideline to help you understand how healthy ingredients can come together to make up delicious and fresh meals. 

Foods in the Mediterranean diet you should consider adding to your diet include:

• Moderate amounts of seafood
• Whole grains and legumes
• Healthy fats, like olive oil and nuts
• Low amounts of dairy and red meat
• Red wine, in moderation
• A variety of fruits and vegetables

These healthy mind habits – and others! – can be easily implemented into your everyday life, whether you start small with just one or hit the ground running with all four. By adding these habits into your days, you’ll notice the benefits in no time and quickly transition into your healthiest mindset yet!

Village Green Senior Living is proud to offer active and engaging senior living communities in Federal Way and West Seattle, Washington. Our engaging communities feature a range of opportunities for residents to grow new interests and friendships while enjoying access to our conveniences, services, and compassionate care. 

At Village Green, we want you to feel inspired, connected, and free to be yourself. Contact us today to learn more.