We often think about how to best take care of our physical health as we age, but what about taking care of our mental health? There are many overlaps between the two, but here are some specific tips for keeping your brain and psyche healthy throughout your lifespan. Like physical muscles, your mind is subject to the ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ rule and it is important to keep mentally engaged as you age – puzzles and crosswords are your best friend!
1. Keep Moving – Exercise and movement are key for maintaining both your physical and mental health. Try to incorporate both aerobic exercise and strength training into your routine with the goal of 150 minutes per week. Research suggests that regular exercise can lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
2. Challenge Your Mind – The same way physical exercise keeps your muscles in shape, cognitive challenge keeps your brain in shape. Learning new skills such as speaking another language or playing an instrument activates multiple brain networks and slows cognitive decline. Try incorporating a new habit as part of your routine like crosswords puzzles in the morning while drinking coffee or playing along with Jeopardy in the evening. Also consider traveling to new places as novelty helps increase neuroplasticity and keeps your brain sharper, longer.
3. Stay Connected – It’s vital to keep up social connections at all ages. As people age, they experience significant life changes like losing a loved one or developing a serious illness. These changes can trigger feelings of grief, social isolation and loneliness. Lower social support is associated with worse health outcomes, and some studies show loneliness can be as dangerous for your health as smoking cigarettes. Reach out to your support system, doctors and community to stay connected. See below for more Orange County resources.
4. Seek Help – Mental health care is important at every stage of life. Sadly, suicide rates among older adults have been rising in the past 25 years. Reach out for help if you need. Call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for free emotional support for people in suicidal crisis or distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States. Talk to your primary doctor, therapist or psychiatrist for more support. See below for more Orange County resources.
5. Prioritize Sleep – Research shows that poor sleep quality (or quantity) is associated with a higher risk of developing dementia. Poor sleep also makes most mental health conditions like anxiety and depression worse. A good goal is to sleep 7 to 9 hours nightly. If you snore or wake up in the night with trouble breathing, talk to your primary care physician (PCP) about the possibility of having obstructive sleep apnea. Also, talk to your doctor if you use over-the-counter sleep aids such as Benadryl or Diphenhydramine as long-term use of these could actually increase your dementia risk.
6. See Your Doctors – Serious mental health conditions like schizophrenia are associated with lower life expectancies. This may be due to difficulty patients have with keeping up with medical appointments and managing chronic diseases. Stay up to date with your doctor’s visits, screenings (like colonoscopies and mammograms) and vaccinations. Chronic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease also increase the risk of stroke, which can damage blood vessels in your brain.
7. Eat Well – Evidence supports implementing a healthy diet to enhance long-term brain health and there is even a name for it – the MIND diet or the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurological Delay. This diet avoids processed and sugary foods and prioritizes eating plant-based foods and includes leafy greens, berries, whole grains, poultry, fish and healthy fats. Try to maintain a healthy weight as being overweight or obese increases the risk of metabolic diseases and can impact overall brain health (being underweight can have negative effects, too!).
8. Limit Substances – Alcohol and other substances can affect you differently as you age. The best recommendation is to avoid alcohol (and other drugs such as nicotine and marijuana) but if you choose to drink alcohol be careful to follow guidelines (one drink per day maximum for women and two drinks for men) and to drink safely. Talk to your doctor about drinking alcohol if you are taking medications. Do not drink every day and the less you consume, the better. Quitting smoking also reduces the risk of heart disease and strokes and ultimately improves circulation and brain health.
Resources:
OC Navigator Older Adult Resource Guide – Designed to help older adults easily find resources.
OC Navigator Caregiver Resource Guide – Designed to help caregivers easily find resources.
National Mental Health Hotline – 988 Lifeline website or call 988
Information, Referrals, Crisis Response And More – OC Links website or call (855) OC-LINKS (855-625-4657)
Healthy Aging: Keeping Mentally Fit as You Age - American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
Brain Health Matters – Senior Health Outreach & Prevention Program which includes link to the Brain Health Toolkit
About Dr. Gabrielle Williams
Gabrielle is originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, though moved to California to attend college at Chapman University and has been in the Orange County area ever since. She attended University of California, Irvine both for medical school and psychiatry residency training. Gabrielle is a Board-Certified psychiatrist and has worked at the OC Health Care Agency with both adult and older-adult populations. Gabrielle enjoys working in our community-based healthcare system treating serious mental illness and substance use disorders.
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