Successful Aging

• Don’t retire: stay engaged with meaningful work

• Look forward, not back (ruminating on the past doesn’t promote health)

• Exercise: get your heart rate going, preferably in nature

• Embrace a moderated lifestyle with healthy activity, nutrition and sleep practices

• Keep your social circle exciting and new

• Spend time with people younger than you

• See your doctor regularly, but not obsessively

• Don’t think of yourself as old beyond taking prudent precautions

• Appreciate your cognitive strengths (more on this below)

• Promote cognitive health through experiential learning: traveling, spending time with grandchildren and immersing yourself in new activities and situations. Do new things.

Although we often think of old age as a time of mental decline, it also brings improvements in certain brain functions—pattern recognition, crystallized intelligence, wisdom and accumulated knowledge.

Another thing is that older adults tend to feel more gratitude, and gratitude is a great equalizer. It reduces stress because you’re not thinking about all the things you don’t have; you’re thinking about what you do have and are grateful for it. This puts you in a better mood, which then helps you to take pleasure from things and start new projects.

There has been much media attention paid to the idea of “brain games for better aging.”  Added to the old standbys like crosswords, KenKen and Sudoku are new internet- or computer-based brain-training games.

The important questions about these puzzles and games, both old and new, are: If I play brain games, will it make me less likely to lose my glasses? Will I drive more safely? Will my memory improve? In other words, will the skills and practice I gain transfer from one activity to others? Unfortunately, the answer for most of these is no.

If you spend time doing Sudoku, there is little evidence that you’ll get better at other things—all that happens is that you get better at doing Sudoku. Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses have concluded that there is no convincing evidence that brain training games enhance cognition beyond the realm of the game, nor do they fend off dementia.

That depends. Being a live-in carer for your aged partner can be emotionally and physically draining. That stress can negatively affect one’s healthspan. On the other hand, living with one’s partner often provides opportunities for companionship and meaningful shared experiences, which can have a positive effect. Finding a solution that balances the benefits and demands is best for everyone involved.

Any exercise routine you will stick with is certainly good—I have an elliptical trainer and use it. I like getting my heart rate up and oxygenating the blood, which is good for the brain, but is mostly about heart health.

Focusing on brain health, the hippocampus—the brain structure that mediates memory—evolved for geonavigation to help us remember where we are going so that we can move toward food and mates and away from danger. If we don’t keep that part exercised, we do so at our own peril because the hippocampus can atrophy.

Being outside is great because anything can happen. When walking, hiking, or running on trails, you encounter twigs and roots and rocks and creatures. There are low limbs that you have to duck under and downed trees that you have to step over. All that kind of stuff is essential to keeping a brain young.

If you can’t walk—if you’re in a wheelchair, for example—even navigating under your own locomotion is very helpful, if you can do it. Furthermore, there’s some evidence now that virtual reality environments exercise the brain to some degree.

Unfortunately, there is no way to counteract sleep deprivation, but there are strategies to improve our sleep at any age. This is generally referred to as sleep hygiene and as we get older, it can become increasingly necessary to be strict. Try following these steps:

1. Start getting ready for bed about two hours before sleep time. Stop watching TV, using a computer, tablet, or smartphone, or exposing yourself to other sources of blue light (daylight wavelengths) that could act as a zeitgeber for the pineal gland and cause your brain to produce wake-up hormones. Do something that helps you relax—a warm bath, reading, listening to music, or whatever works for you.

2. Ensure that the room you sleep in is completely dark. If you have a clock, charger, or other device that emits blue light, cover it up. Make sure that your curtains block out both daylight and any artificial light that may come into the bedroom.

3. Sleep in a cool room if possible.

4. Help to keep your sleep and wake cycle synchronized properly. Get sunlight in the morning—even on a cloudy day, the wavelengths you need can activate the pineal gland. A simulated dawn (blue light) lamp for fifteen to thirty minutes in the morning can help.

5. Write in a journal before bedtime. Recent research shows that it helps you relax and can improve memory. It’s especially effective if you write a quick to-do list for tomorrow. Worrying about incomplete future tasks is a significant contributor to difficulty falling asleep.

6. Don’t rely on sleeping pills for more than one or two nights. The sleep they induce is less productive and less restorative than natural sleep.

7. Go to bed at the same time every night. Wake up at the same time every morning. If you have to stay up late one night, you should still get up at your fixed time the next morning—in the short run, the consistency of your cycle is more important than the amount of sleep.