Tips to Improve Your Focus
The Harvard Medical School offers some practical tips to help older adults improve their concentration and focus. These include making sure physical problems such as loss of hearing are not interfering with your cognitive abilities. Hearing loss requires a person to work harder just to hear, which in turn, can affect speech comprehension.
It is also important to manage high blood pressure. The Johns Hopkins Medicine reports HBP can lead to brain changes sometimes called ‘silent strokes’ that are similar to a stroke. They explain, “High blood pressure may also damage tiny arteries that feed ‘white matter’—the wire-like cells that carry information from one area of the brain to another.”
Other self-care tips to improve focus are to follow a healthy diet and stay physically active and socially connected. Various social activities and retirement community programs allow you to feel engaged in the world and keep your brain active while lessening feelings of isolation. The NIA says studies suggest participation in social activities improves well-being and may even lower the risk for some health problems.
In fact experts say older adults who learned hobbies requiring demanding cognitive skills had more improved memory skills than their counterparts whose hobbies required less demanding skills. Activities such as learning to play an instrument, speak a new language, join a theatre group, and dancing all seem to improve quality of life, reduce stress and increase social interactions.
Managing stress is yet another thing we can do to help improve our focus and concentration. While short-term stress can be a great motivator, experts say long-term stress can change the brain, affect memory, and increase the risk for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. The NIA recommends techniques for managing stress such as taking a walk (get out in nature if you can), writing in a journal or doing relaxation breathing. They say don’t hold grudges and remember to practice gratitude.
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Source: nia.nih.gov/health/cognitive-health-and-older-adults#connected