August 26, 2008

Health Tip: Exercise Your Brain

(HealthDay News) -- Workouts for your mind are as important as they are for your body, especially as you get older.

Here are suggestions on how to keep your mind sharp, courtesy of the Cleveland Clinic:

• Challenge yourself with activities. Try a crossword puzzle, take a class, or build something.
• Create to-do lists to help you remember appointments and activities.
• When learning something new, make sure you are not distracted. Give it your full attention, and use all of your senses to become familiar with it.
• Break an activity into multiple steps, and stretch it out over several days. For example, take a few days to learn how to program a new electronic device.
• Go over in your head what it is you want to remember, and be habitual in your tasks. Put things in the same place, for example.
• Get plenty of social interaction, sleep and regular physical exercise.
• Reduce stress whenever possible.

-- Diana Kohnle

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