Mind your head! Put your Mind to rest! Mind your manners! Mind! Careful! Don’t mind! These are just a few of the meanings the word “Mind” can have, there are so many more.
We are going to concentrate on the Ageing Mind.

This is a fight to keep senior minds in working condition. A Harvard magazine report states that the mind (not to be confused with the brain) is a set of cognitive faculties, including consciousness, imagination, judgment, language, and memory. It is the faculty of a person to process feelings, emotions, and attitudes.

Keeping all this in mind, let us see how we can keep our minds going tick-tock until it finally ticks off!
With ageing, our body systems decline; undoubtedly, “slip of mind” may become regular, initially unnoticeable. Seniors might find it problematic in learning new things or even remembering stuff.

What is the new normal of an elderly mind?

1. Search for an apt word.
2. Time taken to complete a task is a little bit longer.
3. Misplacing keys or something important.
4. More time to focus on conversations in a noisy environment.
5. Losing one’s temper more easily.
6. Forget what one ate for dinner but remember it as soon as the memory is jogged a bit.
7. Drives slower.
8. Take longer to answer the phone.
9. Looking for an object and then forgetting what or why.
10. Absent-mindedness.

Is there something to worry about?

Yes! When you see these below-mentioned approaches, you know something is wrong.
1. Using the wrong word (e.g., stone instead of a table).
2. Struggling to perform job responsibilities.
3. Trouble following a series of steps just instructed.
4. Violent screaming with a partner or anyone.
5. Always losing things and then finding them in the strangest places.
6. Forgetting what one ate for dinner and no amount of jogging helps.
7. Finding it impossible to take even the smallest decisions.
8. Reaction time is extremely slow.
9. Don’t recognize the phone when it rings or even refuses to pick it up.
10. Too much sleeping.

How can we help ourselves?

The habit of keep learning something new or revising what is familiar can be very helpful. Take baby steps to solve a problem by spacing it out. Believe in yourself.

Must dos for aging mind

1. Any form of exercise, walking, yoga, and pranayam is essential for your mental health.
2. Social meetings, outings with friends, eating together, and laughter are some of the best healers.
3. Brain games, reading, solving puzzles or cards, or even coloring; the mind is like a muscle, the more exercise it gets the stronger it becomes.
4. Meditation calms your mental health. Take slow deep breaths and let the body rest and let the mind be uplifted. Most important is a good night of sleep.
5. Diet control, avoidance of excessive sugar, including more protein and adequate water in your diet can be helpful.

And finally, remember it all in the mind.
Do not dwell in the past!
Do not dream of the future!
Mind the moment!