How to Keep Your Brain Young
A recent news story caught my attention. A medical study indicated that the longer people delayed their retirement from the work force, the better their chances of delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.
The rationale is when people keep working, their brains remain active. Researchers have long suspected a correlation between keeping the mind sharp and warding off Alzheimer’s.
This report hit close to home because, like too many people, I had to witness at least one family member suffer and die from this disease. It is a terrible way to go, and it doesn’t put me at ease knowing that heredity also plays a role. That is why this study made me think about how to prevent it or at least delay it as long as possible.
I advocate that we take the Alzheimer’s study one step further. I argue that it takes more than just staying in the work force to keep your mind sharp and ward off age-related dementia.
Anyone can report to a job, go through the motions, and check out for the day. That, in and of itself, cannot be the answer to keeping the brain young.
What really keeps the mind sharp is a willingness to try new things, embrace new technology, meet new people, and experience change just for the sake of change.
It is similar to why we should alter our exercise routines every few months. The muscles in our body eventually adapt to the exercises, which halts any gains we achieve from performing them.
Our brain is not technically a muscle, but it operates as one, in that we must continually engage different parts of it, or else we just maintain or lose whatever function we currently have.
Think about this:
- When a new application or business process is proposed, do you initially resist it only because it is new and unfamiliar?
- When you are asked why you perform a particular activity, do you struggle to find an answer besides “that’s just the way we’ve always done it”?
- Have you been performing the same duties, following the same processes, and interacting with the same people for more than a few years?
Getting caught in these comfort zones is exactly what could eventually turn our brains to mush.
Why do people tend to resist these types of changes? It is likely because the “familiar” is more comfortable, like an old t-shirt or pair of shoes that you’ve had for years. It may be outdated, worn out, and it looks like hell — but it still “fits”, which is why it’s so hard to part with it and replace it with something else.
There is no guarantee we will not succumb to age-related brain impairment down the road. But why not do what we can now to reduce the risk?
Let’s make the effort while we are still reasonably young to engage our gray matter and embrace any new opportunities to grow, change, and evolve in our careers and lives.
There will still be times when we walk into a room and forget why we went there. We will also fail on occasion to remember someone’s name who we met just ten minutes ago.
Those momentary lapses are just an opportunity to laugh at ourselves a little — because laughter is another thing that keeps our brains young.
If you are reading this sentence, thank you for being with me until the end!
