upworthy

alzheimer's disease

Health

Boomers and older Gen Xers share 40 innovative ways they keep their brains sharp

They do so much more than crosswords.

Image via Canva

Older people share surprising and simple ways they keep their brains healthy and sharp.

One of the biggest battles of healthy aging is staying mentally sharp. Having a healthy brain is important for mental and physical longevity.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 6.7 million older adults in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia. The CDC notes that by 2060, that number will double.

However, being proactive about brain health can help keep aging brains thriving. In an online forum of Boomers and older Gen Xers, they opened up on how they keep their brains sharp and memory strong. These are 40 surprising (and simple) ways they've maintained healthy brains as they've aged.

 aging, healthy aging, mental sharpness, sharp brain, aging well Aging Old Man GIF by A&E  Giphy  

"I take on-line college courses. Pick one out that piques my interest and sign up. The advantage at my age is I can study whatever I want, I'm not really concerned with advancing my career. Ancient Mediterranean History? Sure why not? History of Beer? Why not? Psychology of Evil? Sounds interesting. All on-line, all cheap. Keeps my brain active." - mike11172

"I'm way into fitness and still work out with weights. Also walk a lot and do fun things outdoors. I make sure that I get outside at least an hour every day. I'm careful to eat good foods that meet nutritional requirements, especially since I work out. I drink plenty of fresh filtered water. Taking care of your health in these three ways really makes a difference in one's mental sharpness and attitude. I belong to a religion that encourages me to treat others kindly and to be thankful for the life I have. Participate in activities that involve helping others. That really makes anybody feel good, have a purpose, and be glad they have the means to give of themselves. My husband and I make a point to always treat each other like we're newlyweds. Keeping the stress in your home to a minimum improves your mental state. In my down time, I've gotten into paper art. It's fun and an easy way for anyone to stay creative. I make cute things and greeting cards for others." - Bebe_Bleau

 knowledge, learning, brain health, sharp brain, sharp mind Learn The More You Know GIF by @InvestInAccess  Giphy  

"I write novels and memoir essays. The novels require a lot of research about settings and history. Unexpectedly, even the memoirs require research, because I took for granted behaviors and ideas that need to be explained for modern readers since nobody takes them for granted anymore. I volunteer for a local organization that helps provide food and medicine to households who have run out of money before the next paycheck. I work with recent immigrants who speak little English and am constantly learning new things about what it's like to struggle for survival in lives of utter poverty." - Building_a_life

"Just use it. The brain works a lot like muscles in the sense that it will degrade quickly if you don't use it but can maintain its abilities for a long ass time if you do use it. I've met so many older people who basically just stop doing anything that requires a lot of thought when they get older because thinking is a lot of work. And you can definitely tell that kind of person when interacting with them. Conversations with them feel more like talking with a bunch of pre-recorded responses. Just do stuff that requires a lot of thought. Learn new skills. Read about complex, interesting ideas. Do puzzles. Play chess." - Yak-5000

"Started flying a small airplane a few years ago at 64. Mentally challenging." - slick62

 wordle, puzzles, wordle puzzle, doing puzzles, brain health New York Times Running GIF by PERFECTL00P  Giphy  

"All the many word puzzles: Wordle, Quordle, Octordle, Connections, Squaredl, Blossom, etc. Crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, hour + walks per day. Writing, reading, cooking. Day trips and quick trips of 1-3 nights. Working really got in my way!" - Conscious-Reserve-48

"Counseling. It is important to keep processing your feelings, otherwise they pile up." - arkofjoy

"I quit smoking and started juggling. I'm no performer, but it keeps the nervous system active and it's fun for the whole family. Learning new tricks that are counterintuitive is the hardest, especially with new devices. I mostly stick to 3 balls, as I prefer to get good with simple things." - Tempus_Fuggit

"I'm fixing up an old sailboat when I'm not doing house maintenance /upgrades." - darkcave-dweller

 gen z, gen z gif, gen z kids, gen z life, gen z culture Nick Kroll Fx GIF by Adults  Giphy  

"I have in-depth conversations with my GenZ kids. No restrictions on topics. They are phenomenally smart, well-informed, and engaged." - CommissarCiaphisCain

"Crossword puzzles. More importantly I work with teens who teach me the latest jargon among other things. I adore them all." - Kissoflife1

"I've spent most of my life living in foreign countries and really don't know any other life. My budget in old age allows me to annually travel solo to third world countries. I'm keeping my mind active by always trying to figure things out like communicating in some foreign language, organizing my own hotel reservations, traveling arrangements etc. Things frequently get off the rails, so I have lots of practice figuring out the answer to the questions like, what the heck should I do now?" - nonsense39

 spanish, learning spanish, speaking spanish, learning language, new language spanish gif Giphy  

"I learned to play a musical instrument and I’m taking Spanish lessons. These activities really challenge the brain." - ClawhammerJo

"I consume very little mainstream news. The more mainstream news you watch, the less you understand about the world--it's not meant to inform, it's meant to divide us and manipulate our prejudices. Finally, I've adopted the idea that pessimists are pessimistic because they imagine they can predict the future. I know and accept that I can't predict the future, so I'm optimistic. The possibilities are, as they've always been, infinite. I don't dwell on the past, and I don't worry about the future." - crackeddryice

 line dance, line dancing, learning line dancing, line dance gif, line dancing hobby Country Music Old Town Road GIF by Lil Nas X  Giphy  

"Line dancing. It uses the brain and the body, and in my area I’ve found I can dance several times a week." - littleoldlady71

"I read a lot of books. I listen to a lot of music. I hike as much as I can. I meditate daily. All seem to be important for my brain." - WingZombie

"A good brain takes regular practice. Think like a young person by talking to young people…asking them about their thoughts and ideas…they aren’t interested in my opinions much. Read about technological advances, social studies, philosophy and art. Learn and practice languages. And ride a motorcycle on and off road. My wife and I go somewhere or do something new once a week. I like getting strangers to laugh. I also smile and share joy wherever possible." - gorongo

"My Amazon deliveries are made to a set of lockers onsite. I will never walk up to the lockers and THEN pull out my phone to look for the code. I will look at the message with the code and force myself to remember it before I ever enter the building so I can just walk up to the lockers, enter my code and get my stuff without anyone having to wait on me. I find that my brain will spontaneously make all sorts of associations to the numbers that help me remember them. Whether this helps in the long run, who knows? I just know it kind of makes those trips to the locker like a game for me." - chonnes

From Your Site Articles
brain health
Joy

Talk about timing! Toddler chasing bubbles finds missing elderly woman with Alzheimer's

'Angels come in all shapes and sizes.'

Courtesy of Brittany More

Toddler chasing bubbles finds missing woman.

Bubbles are the best thing in the world if you're a toddler. Giggling behind bubbles that you just can't seem to catch can provide hours of fun. But sometimes, imaginary adventures with bubbles can lead to real discoveries, and that's exactly what happened to a Georgia toddler named Ethan Moore. The 1 1/2-year-old was chasing after bubbles in his yard when he became an unexpected hero. His bubble chasing led him to a missing woman that local rescue teams had been looking for.

Ethan chased his bubbles to the fence line and something caught his attention on the other side. His puzzled look made his mother, Brittany Moore, curious and that's when Ethan said "feet" in his tiny toddler voice. Sure enough, the little guy saw feet belonging to Nina Lipscomb, 82. According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Lipscomb has early stage Alzheimer's disease and was reported missing August 9 by her family members after they discovered she had wandered away from her niece's home in Senoia, Georgia.

Brittany and Ethan Moore.

Courtesy of Brittany Moore

Local authorities searched for several days using everything they had at their disposal, including helicopters with thermal cameras. But searches continued to come up empty. Thomas Lipscomb, the missing woman's son, told Fox 5 that his mother makes an annual trip to Georgia to spend time with her family, and when he heard that she was missing he jumped in his car and drove from Virginia to help find her.

After several days of someone being missing it would be natural to think something terrible happened to them, especially when you know they're impaired. Thankfully for the Lipscombs their mother was found safe by a toddler and his mother. Moore told CBS46 News that she did not see the missing woman at first due to the overgrown trees, and added, “If you get on his level and look through, you can see some of the broken sticks and that’s where she was laying."

When authorities arrived, they realized the woman in the woods was Nina Lipscomb and that although she was disoriented, thankfully she was alive, according to CBS46 News. After she was released from the hospital, Nina was able to meet her tiny hero. The family told the local news station that they would always be connected. Moore said, "I truly think this was something outside of what any human could do. It took a child who was being worked by God. We will always teach him what he did, how he played an impact in it.”

Who knew playing with bubbles could lead to such an amazing outcome. Ethan certainly has quite a story for his short time here on earth. Much to everyone's delight, the elderly Lipscomb is doing well and is safely home. Her daughter Karen Lipscomb shared about the event on social media saying, "Angels come in all shapes and sizes."

Ethan Moore and one of the firefighters on the scene.

Courtesy of Brittany Moore

Moore celebrated her son finding Lipscomb in a social media post writing, "We knew Ethan was something special. We knew he was smart. But damn my boy found her!" He sure did and it's a story that will be told for years to come.

From Your Site Articles
missing woman
Wellness

Doctor shares 'dementia whiteboard' daughter wrote for mother

Philip Grimmer/Twitter

Anyone who's had a relative or friend with dementia will know just how destructive the group of diseases is. The condition can impair memory, communication, focus, reasoning, and visual perception, transforming a sufferer into what can seem like an entirely different person in a matter of seconds.

Dr. Philip Grimmer, from Wiltshire in the United Kingdom, was visiting one of his patients with the disease when he saw the words of reassurance written on a whiteboard by a daughter to her mother that he decided to share on Twitter.

"Words of reassurance left for an elderly lady with dementia by her daughter," Dr. Grimmer explains. "A simple white board left in her sight line in her sitting room. Helped to reduce constant anxious phone calls."

The white board reads:


Your meals are paid for

You're okay

Everyone's fine

You are not moving

No-one else is moving

Keep drinking,
 
it will help your memory

You don't owe anyone any money

You haven't upset anyone."

Dr. Grimmer's tweet attracted over 40,000 likes and 7,000 retweets. Dr. Grimmer explained to the BBC that he'd initially posted the tweet to share it with his colleagues. "I'd not seen anything like it before in thousands of house visits. It's caring, reassuring and sensible - it's just such a simple idea," he added.

Other social media users took the opportunity to share how they help those suffering from the disease.



Dr. Grimmer's image was also posted on Reddit, where it received more than 112,000 upvotes.

Reddit user Kryptosis suggested that "you can use the bathroom whenever you like" be added as a former relative with dementia believed they couldn't use the bathroom.

Hailley, a nurse from Canada, added:

"I had one resident where I worked who would be in tears because he was worried about his children and having to pay for his meals."

"It was sometimes tough to reassure him. We had to call his children to talk to him a few times. It was hard to see him so upset."

She expanded on her comment for the BBC:

"I have seen people talk down to those with dementia, which is just not right. They are still adults who know when they are being treated differently.

"People just do not know how to interact with them. It takes patience and you may not be able to have a conversation with them in the same way you would with someone without dementia.

"The whiteboard addresses what gets asked the most [by those] in long-term care."

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
well-being
Wellness

Revolutionary 'Department of Future Aging' transformed a German town for its elders

Photo by Steven HWG on Unsplash

The world is getting older, and it's getting older quickly. In 2019, there were approximately 700 million people aged 65 and older. The UN predicts that the number will more than double by 2050. In the U.S., the Census Bureau estimates that retirement-age residents will outnumber children for the first time in the nation's history by the 2030s.

Clearly, helping the aging population live their later years with as much comfort and dignity as possible is a growing concern. And one German town is serving as an example of how to create a community where the elderly can thrive.

According to Reasons to be Cheerful, it all started in 1995 with a survey of 28,000 people aged 50+, exploring their wishes and expectations for their latter years. What the city of Arnsberg discovered was that aging residents wanted to participate in social life, actively contribute to society, continue learning, and—most importantly—not live alone.

Previously, Arnsberg had taken a "deficit-oriented" approach to its elderly population, focusing on what they couldn't do instead of what they had to offer.

Today, the city sees its aging residents totally differently, in large part thanks to its Department of Future Aging (DFA). That's right. In 2004, the town created an entire (albeit tiny) department dedicated to making sure elderly residents can live full, fulfilling lives as part of Arnsberg community.

"It is about strengthening resources and capacities, empowering, and enabling elderly people to stay or become active citizens," Martin Polenz, who leads the DFA, told Priti Salian.

Arnsberg is a city of approximately 74,000 residents, around 17,000 of whom are 65 and older.Wikimedia Commons

Polenz also told Channel News Asia that they don't want older residents living in the isolated fringes of the city. "We call it a city of good and long life, and we want to establish that for everybody," he said.

The DFA is tiny but mighty, leading more than 200 projects with a staff of two and a budget equivalent to approximately USD$24,000. They work closely with the Department of Citizens Involvement and the Department of Planning and Building to make sure the needs and desires of the elderly are woven into both the social fabric and physical design of the city.

Here are some examples of what that looks like:

- Numbered benches every 200 meters in some markets and on the promenade along the River Ruhr for rest and for people experiencing dementia. "If someone is lost, they can call for assistance quoting the bench number," Polenz told Salian.

- Volunteers who travel with older people as bus companions on shopping days, allowing seniors to shop for themselves but providing assistance with heavy bags and a sense of security

- Housing complexes that are both affordable and accessible, allowing seniors to live independently for longer

- The Dementia Learning Lab, introduced in 2008 by the DFA, which explores and implements solutions for meeting the needs of people with dementia and their families

- A quarterly magazine, SICHT, printed by the city and run by seniors for seniors

- A senior citizens' advisory council, which new residents are put in touch with

- Intergenerational initiatives, such as Café Zeitlos ("Timeless Cafe"), which aims to provide an inclusive place for people with dementia and their caregivers to hang out with people of all ages and create art together

And that's just a sampling. The DFA serves to advise, direct, train, develop, network, and collaborate to raise funds for programs, and they've been remarkably successful at it.

Channel News Asia did a video feature on how Germany, and Arnsberg in particular, cares for its aging population:

The German Town That's Embracing Dementia | How Germany Gets Ageing Rightwww.youtube.com

The town has earned recognition worldwide for its approach.

"In Germany, most local administrations provide only information and counseling services to help older persons and persons with dementia find points of support in their city," Anne-Sophie Parent, Secretary General of the European Covenant on Demographic Change and 28-year veteran of working on aging population issues, told Silian.

"Arnsberg's co-production approach is innovative because the city involves older persons and persons with dementia as key actors in the solutions that are developed for them. It makes them feel heard, a key element for them to feel valued and included in the life of their city."

Parent also called Arnsberg's work "exemplary and replicable in other European cities with similar demographic profile and population size."

Even if individual programs won't work everywhere, seeing people in their twilight years as active agents in their own lives and communities is an approach all municipalities can take as they prepare for a growing aging population.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Trending Stories