Keeping our brains active

DW and I do at least one word challenge together most every day. And I just completed a walking regimen as part of a U.S. Veterans' Administration study -- and trying to maintain the habit.

But what keeps my brain active are the tilting-at-windmills I do to try to make a difference. For as long as I can remember, I've designed offerings that somehow never quite make it to fruition. (Some of you may have seen my posts here about my current "mission" related to video anecdotes.) When they never pan out, I mercilessly berate myself. But, while in the process, it is incredibly stimulating, educational and leads to adventures -- such as this forum -- that become valuable.

I am 92 but I still love to put true tales into verse, plus I like a daily game of Scrabble.
I cannot knit any more now due to finger spasms, so my hobby of making up my own patterns had to cease.
I am still getting requests from worldwide for tales of how life was like during the 30s/40s/50s so that too keeps my brain going.

I listen to In Our Time - if I find my mind wandering, I "wind back" and listen again until I've understood. Philosophy still eludes me though - Infant get my head around that at all.

I have pretty bad CFS but agree

as much exercise as possible. -I do yoga
people contact

but most of all

stay curious about life and engage with ideas and documentaries and people and politics and you will never be bored and thank goodness in out time of getting older we have computers and the internet.

Maywalk, how wonderful to have memories from so long ago. Assume you have written this down.
I go out with a walking group and one of the walkers is 102. He is amazing and so interestimg to talk to. I bet you are too. wishing you a happy and healthy new year.

Many thanks silverlining48.

Yes all recorded with the History Society plus written down and many published with all proceeds, after taking printing costs taken out, going to various charities.

Thats brilliant Maywalk. Well done.

I do wordle on line and share it with a friend. Then later i do the free games on the same link
www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

I like to think it keeps my brain busy… but I suspect that my reasoning is standing up to the test of time much more successfully than my short term memory.
😟

I do Wordle, Quordle and Octordle. I try to keep up with Only Connect and University Challenge but my brain is more House of Games level.
Putting detail onto my family tree takes a lot of mental agility to sort fact from fiction.
I also volunteer on the till at a charity shop one day a week.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Yes think is important to keep brain active. I learn French on Duolingo. Do a crossword and codeword. Plus always have a jigsaw on the go.
Read every day too.

I do Wordle daily which I share on a WhatsApp group with my daughters and I do the daily crossword and codeword on the Saga website. Suduko frustrates me as I’m sure I am numerically dyslexic - maths has always been my weak spot although I’m told by many that Suduko is nothing to do with maths

Video games and chess.

Wordscapes in bloom is my favourite

Words with Friends 2

I have signed up to The National Numeracy Challenge . You can start at any level or find games to do with Grandchildren. They sent a quiz at Christmas but entirely up to you how much or how little you do. As soneone who was poor at maths at school I have found it helpful.

Hi there,

Ancestry really keeps My mind active,I'm only in My mid 50s however I don't work and I can spend hours doing it. :-)

I belong to knitting/craft groups, and still go although I find crafting difficult since I had a fall last June. I enjoy the social interaction. I meet friends for lunch/coffee and a chat, and I play an online hidden object game called June's Journey. I am on a team with people from all over the world who are mostly in a similar age group, and we play timed competitions twice a week as well as chatting every evening at our meeting time. As I live alone I feel all this keeps my mind and memory sharper, as well as being enjoyable.

Dancing is said to be better for your brain than crosswords etc
www.newscientist.com/article/mg24032090-200-how-busting-some-moves-on-the-dance-floor-is-good-for-your-brain/

I combine a reasonable amount of walking, or when the weather is like today - pouring and blowing a gale, indoor exercise, with reading books I enjoy, but also force myself to listen to the news, or read them online.
I find that part of keeping one's brain active is still hearing and discussing opinions that are not necessarily your own.

I also volunteer at the local museum so as to get to know new people and have someone other than DH to talk to.

Let's face it: at this time of life we know what our husband or wife is going to say and think about most things, so it is rarely there we encounter a new opinion.

This time last month I would have said I was feeling really healthy, but then the snow and ice came which put a stop to my daily walks, then there was the preparation for Christmas, so there wasn’t a lot of time for long walks, then I caught some horrible bug that has confined me to my house since Christmas. I am horrified at how quickly I am deteriorating physically and mentally. I normally have a long walk every day and do two sessions of Duolingo. I used to do Wordle but decided to put that time into actually learning something, now I’m on day 213 and have quite a decent Spanish vocabulary. Hopefully next week I will be up to walking again and my brain will get back to its normal bright self again.

I’m learning languages on Duolingo. It’s free as long as you don’t mind the adverts.

I do wordle but there is a lot of chance involved in that, not very stretching, but I also do wordiply which gives you three letters eg cow, are and you have to find the 5 longest words you can. I do it and my son and I compare results, obviously there are a lot of possibilities and you are acknowledged for getting uncommon long words and also a score for the letters of the 5 words added together

I do Wordle every day. Yesterday I managed to get the word at the second attempt, but today I failed to get it! I like cryptic crosswords, jigsaw puzzles and reading too. I’ve also signed up for an Open University certificate in psychology; the module website opens tomorrow. Re: physical exercise, long walks each day with my dog (12 and still very sprightly) keep my body fit and my mind calm.

I agree, music to learn, lots of reading, suduko , crosswords etc but I also enjoy having a go on bbc2 with the quiz night of Mastermind, University challenge and Only Connect. The mastermind if I know nothing about the subject I learn a bit, if I know a little try to answer, same with the University challenge, have a go at most stuff . Only Connect , I find the most varied and cant decide if it is me having an off day or if there are hard and easy sessions. Sometimes I am way ahead of the teams and doing quite well on weird clues, at other times even when they give the answers I still do not always understand them. Love having a go at missing vowels etc and think it really does keep me on my toes. At present I am also going to play whist once a week. Pretty good players and I havent played for years , but they play seriously and it is good to concentrate. It is also a social gathering and is warm there so you get company, work for the brain and saving on the heating.