The past month was a bit stressful for my husband Martin and I. In mid-October Martin confessed to being worried about his memory. He made an appointment with the doctor who referred him to have a CT scan, and then followed a meeting with a geriatrician (doctor who specialises in dealing people over the age of 65). As you might imagine it was a nail biting wait between his scan and getting the results from the doctor, but I am happy to say he was given the all clear, and was exceedingly open to her suggestions on ways to slow down age-related cognitive decline. Turns out there are three very easy ways to slow down age-related cognitive decline and they include exercise, eating more fruit and veg and being social.
Sounds easy enough wouldn’t you say?
Exercise a minimum of 150 minutes a week (hard enough to get out of breath)
According to Martin’s doc, this is said to be even more effective in women than in men. 30 minutes exercise, 5 times a week exerting enough energy where it’s hard to hold a comfortable conversation is said to be one of the most effective ways to slow down age-related cognitive decline.
Eat more fruit and veg
I was high fiving when I read this in a recent study published in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. People who eat or drink more foods with antioxidant flavanols, found in several fruits and vegetables as well as tea and wine, may have a slower rate of memory decline. This is a super-easy way to take an active role in maintaining their brain health.
You can read the full detail of the study in an article I published in The Food Coach but the short version of it is; to slow down age-related cognitive decline we should aim to eat more kale, beans, tea, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges, tomatoes, pears, olive oil, wine and tomato sauce.
Be social
The days of Covid certainly taught us that isolation is not good for our mental health and nor is it good for age-related cognitive decline. Many of us have fallen into the habit of crashing on the lounge to watch, for example, the next episode of The Crown, but let’s face it, we all know what happened to Princess Diana and do we really need to see any more crime drama?
Let’s all get to work and keep our brains firing on all four :
Pick up the phone, organise some walks with friends (include steps and hills to get out of puff), grab a green smoothie before we take off, have a cup of tea when we return and look forward to the evenings when we can enjoy the occasional glass of wine with meal picked straight from The Greengrocer’s Diet
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