Cognitive Decline

Grandma had it.  Dad had it.  Brother and I have the crazy that preceded it for them.  Cognitive decline is in the future.  Just swiping this space to write down a few tips for myself to weave into my lifestyle to combat it.

1.  Eat fatty fish; get omega 3s - salmon, mackerel, anchovies, herring, lake trout, albacore especially.  I take fish oil supplements every day and eat salmon once every other week.  Could eat more fish, but still doing ok.

2.  Drink a lot of coffee - 3-5 cups a day reduces chances of dementia and Alzheimer's by 65%.  3-5 cups of coffee per day to be drank before 2pm?!  Ugh.  Still... 65% is a lot.  And I like coffee.  It's just that I'm also drinking tea.  It's the anti-oxidants I need.  I don't know.

3.  Walk - Walking a few times each week increases the volume of the hippocampus 2% per year.  In older adults it typically shrinks 1-2% per year.  40 minutes 3 times a week?  That's already my weight loss plan.  Keep the heart rate low to burn fat.

4.  Learn a new language - I'm probably fine here.  The study was for bilingual adults who had English as a first language, which I am.  And my constant inching towards polyglotism has got to help.

5.  Meditate - I am not the sit still and do nothing type, but I wanted to learn to meditate.  The answer came when reading on Taoism and mindfulness how sitting and meditating was the first step and then you move to an advanced sitting and also meditate while you do things.  I've been practicing the latter and I've gotten pretty good at it.  Driving, watching cartoons with Hunter, laying in bed, slicing vegetables, cleaning, teaching... I've figured out how to use those activities to meditate for three or four minutes at a time.  Of course, since I'm supposed to get a daily session of 30-40 minutes, maybe I'm getting bumpkiss.

6.  Keep the mind active - Puzzles and challenges and stuff.  Advanced reading.  That's just how I chill so I'm good there.