Are You Really Keeping Your Mind Active?

Research tells you to challenge your brain and most people feel that they do it with their favorite activities.

Kathryn Kilpatrick offers suggestions for lifelong learning and successful aging. As a speech-language pathologist with over four decades of experience working with older adults, Kathryn Kilpatrick specializes in working with older adults and their families facing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. In the last decade people of all ages seem to be complaining about their memory.

Have you noticed that your memory is not what it used to be? Join the many people, both young and old, complaining about forgetting something or trying to figure what they were just doing. There is no quick fix for improving your memory. Like losing weight, you need to be aware of what will help in your particular situation then make a conscious effort to work your plan.

Keeping the Mind Active

Research tells you to challenge your brain and most people feel that they do it with their favorite activities. Sometimes it is reading, playing cards, doing puzzles or a word game. Yes, that is great, but too often you like the familiar and do not change it or take it to the next level.

Brain Fitness Routine

Think of how you feel when they change the layout in your grocery store. Most people moan and groan at the thought. What happens is that it takes you out of your automatic pilot and makes you think. That is what you are looking to accomplish. It may involve some new learning.

If you like to read, vary what you read. Read viewpoints from other sources and different types of books. Listen to a book on CD to encourage better listening skills. Teach someone how to read or read aloud for periods of time.

Brain Fitness To Do

1. Pick one or two things that are part of your daily ritual and change them up a bit.
2. If you always drive or walk the same way to a particular place, vary it.
3. If you stop at the same place for a quick bite to eat or your morning coffee, order something different.
4. Do not always go to the same restaurant, sit in the same place or go with the same people.
5. Pick up a newspaper you do not normally read once a week.
6. Read a new type of book.

Kathryn Kilpatrick received her Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology in 1968 from the University of Massachusetts. She has worked in a variety of settings, primarily in Ohio, including hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and for decades in the area of home health care. Kathryn is president of Memory Fitness Matters and Communication Connection. She offers memory coaching for all ages and has a geriatric consulting practice. She is a national motivational speaker and author of more than 30 products to enhance communication and connection as well as a Memory Fitness Toolkit. Kathryn brings her decades of experience as a speech-language pathologist to all those wanting to enhance their quality of life, particularly when there are communication, memory and cognitive challenges. Her websites offer information on a wide variety of topics related to elder care concerns as well as memory fitness and successful aging.