How To Prevent and Combat Mental Decay

As people age, it can be difficult to maintain the same mental proficiency that was present in their younger years. Diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia are terrifying to many people. Luckily, there are strategies you can use as you age to keep your brain in the best shape to fight mental decay.

How To Prevent and Combat Mental Decay

Brain Games

Challenging your brain with puzzles and games regularly is one of the best ways to keep your brain young and able. These games and puzzles can range from crossword puzzles in the newspaper, to cell phone apps, to programs specifically curated to keep the brain sharp. Not only can these games help stave off mental decay, but they are also scientifically proven to improve your memory, help with real-life problem-solving skills, and raise your IQ. Free brain games for seniors are available everywhere, both on and off the internet in almost any format you could want.

Stay Healthy

Keeping yourself generally healthy is another way to prevent mental decay. People who are at a lower risk for heart attacks and strokes are also less at risk for Dementia, and the most effective way to prevent those issues is by keeping yourself in good shape physically. Getting plenty of exercise and eating a healthy diet helps you stay both physically and mentally helping. In addition to proper diet and exercise, not smoking and having a vibrant social life will help keep your mind and body safe and healthy so that you can hopefully avoid any adverse health conditions.

Music Therapy

Recent studies have shown that Alzheimer’s patients tend to respond to music. Music promotes activity in several areas of the brain, and it promotes memory better than many other sensual experiences. When Alzheimer’s patients are exposed to music that was popular when they were young, they tend to have extreme, physical responses, such as uncharacteristic singing, dancing, and clapping. Research into this subject is still somewhat primitive, but music does seem to help Alzheimer’s patients, at least superficially. Perhaps in the coming years, scientists will be able to pinpoint a musical treatment that can reverse the effects of brain degeneration.

Medication

Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for brain degenerative diseases. However, there are a few medication options that can help combat some of the symptoms that come with these diseases. Two types of these medications have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and are widely prescribed by doctors in the United States. If you or your loved ones have Alzheimer’s or Dementia, talk to your doctor to decide which of these treatments is right for you. There are still other treatments and medications being researched and tested every day to help combat these horrible diseases.

Mentally regenerative diseases are an unfortunate reality of life. Scientists have found a gene, within some people, that is guaranteed to cause Alzheimer’s at some point in that person’s life. Hopefully, with vigilant study and research, widespread mental decay in older people will become a thing of the past.