To help ward off dementia

Implementation of some of these ideas may help!

To help ward off dementia, train your brain. Timing is everything. It's also important when it comes to taking care of your brain. Yet most of us start worrying about dementia after retirement - and that may be too little, too late.

Experts say that if you really want to ward off dementia, you need to
start taking care of your brain in your 30s and 40s - or even earlier.

"More and more research is suggesting that lifestyle is very important
to your brain's health," says Dr. Paul Nussbaum, a neuropsychologist and
an adjunct associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine. "If you want to live a long, healthy life, then many of us
need to start as early as we can."

So what can you do to beef up your brain - and possibly ward off
dementia? Nussbaum, who recently gave a speech on the topic for the
Winter Park (Fla.) Health Foundation, offers 20 tips that may help.

1. Join clubs or organizations that need volunteers. If you start
volunteering now, you won't feel lost and unneeded after you retire.

2. Develop a hobby or two. Hobbies help you develop a robust brain
because you're trying something new and complex.

3. Practice writing with your nondominant hand several minutes every
day. This will exercise the opposite side of your brain and fire up
those neurons.

4. Take dance lessons. In a study of nearly 500 people, dancing was the
only regular physical activity associated with a significant decrease in
the incidence of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. The people who
danced three or four times a week showed 76 percent less incidence of
dementia than those who danced only once a week or not at all.

5. Need a hobby? Start gardening. Researchers in New Zealand found
that, of 1,000 people, those who gardened regularly were less likely to
suffer from dementia. Not only does gardening reduce stress, but
gardeners use their brains to plan gardens; they use visual and spatial
reasoning to lay out a garden.

6. Buy a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps a day. Walking daily can
reduce the risk of dementia because cardiovascular health is important
to maintain blood flow to the brain.

7. Read and write daily. Reading stimulates a wide variety of brain
areas that process and store information. Likewise, writing (not
copying) stimulates many areas of the brain as well.

8. Start knitting. Using both hands works both sides of your brain. And
it's a stress reducer..

9. Learn a new language. Whether it's a foreign language or sign
language, you are working your brain by making it go back and forth
between one language and the other. A researcher in England found that
being bilingual seemed to delay symptoms of Alzheimer's disease for four
years. (And some research suggests that the earlier a child learns sign
language, the higher his IQ - and people with high IQs are less likely
to have dementia. So start them early.)

10. Play board games such as Scrabble and Monopoly. Not only are you
taxing your brain, you're socializing too. (Playing solo games, such as
solitaire or online computer brain games can be helpful, but Nussbaum
prefers games that encourage you to socialize too.)

11. Take classes throughout your lifetime. Learning produces structural
and chemical changes in the brain, and education appears to help people
live longer. Brain researchers have found that people with advanced
degrees live longer - and if they do have Alzheimer's, it often becomes
apparent only in the very later stages of the disease.

12. Listen to classical music. A growing volume of research suggests
that music may hard wire the brain, building links between the two
hemispheres. Any kind of music may work, but there's some research that
shows positive effects for classical music, though researchers don't
understand why.

13.. Learn a musical instrument. It may be harder than it was when you
were a kid, but you'll be developing a dormant part of your brain.

14. Travel. When you travel (whether it's to a distant vacation spot or
on a different route across town), you're forcing your brain to navigate
a new and complex environment. A study of London taxi drivers found
experienced drivers had larger brains because they have to store lots of
information about locations and how to navigate there.

15. Pray. Daily prayer appears to help your immune system. And people
who attend a formal worship service regularly live longer and report
happier, healthier lives.

16. Learn to meditate. It's important for your brain that you learn to
shut out the stresses of everyday life.

17. Get enough sleep. Studies have shown a link between interrupted
sleep and dementia.

18. Eat more foods containing omega-3 fatty acids: Salmon, sardines,
tuna, ocean trout, mackerel or herring, plus walnuts (which are higher
in omega 3s than salmon) and flaxseed. Flaxseed oil, cod liver oil and
walnut oil are good sources too..

19. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants in fruits and
vegetables mop up some of the damage caused by free radicals, one of the
leading killers of brain cells.

20. Eat at least one meal a day with family and friends. You'll slow
down, socialize, and research shows you'll eat healthier food than if
you ate alone or on the go.