We live longer than ever before. These tips will help you enjoy your additional ‘wisdom years’ by reframing your mindset so that you live life according to your functional age, not your chronological one.
The Wisdom Years
Exercise Regularly
Regular physical exercise is also important for the creation and release into the brain of BDNF — brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This protein plays a major role in the health and function of neurons, in preserving the brain’s elasticity and in the creation of new brain cells.
Physical exercise keeps the mind alert, stimulated and challenged. This is an antidote to our natural inclination as older folk for sitting back and sinking into a lazy routine, an attitude which would in effect retire our minds.
Form New Habits
When we retire, we can very easily slide into mindless, lazy habits — which require very little willpower to maintain. We may find ourselves watching TV endlessly, overeating and staying home rather than making the effort to get out and meet new people. If we continue such habits we will become bored, isolated, depressed, lonely and then simply old.
To make better habits, such as exercise, engineer the circumstances to make it easy, obvious and natural. For instance, if you want to start your day with a run, try putting your running shoes and clothing next to the bed. This is the first step, which will prompt the mind to make running a habit — even when you would rather do anything but running.
You’re Less Busy, So Think Consciously
During adulthood, most of us were faced with day-to-day pressures and worries. The need to quickly switch between tasks, or multitask, made it harder for us to focus on active, conscious thinking, which requires more time and brain energy. But now, postretirement, we can and should allow ourselves to let go of such pressures, including the habit of responding quickly to the multiple demands on our attention. This will give us the time and mental energy we need to focus on active, conscious thinking.
Tune into Your Sense and Name Your Thoughts
To better connect with the moment, first, tune in to your senses. To do so, first, try to become aware of the difference between what you feel when subject to a powerful emotion and what you experience when confronted by a confusing or previously unknown situation. Next, Name your thoughts. When you have a new insight, it is important to name it as a concept. Naming the concept ensures that our brain will not forget it, and turns it into something you can apply to other areas of your life.
Find Happiness In the Little Things
Being happy is critical to maintaining a healthy mind and keeping yourself motivated to stay sharp and engaged in the world around you. But being happy in this later phase of your life requires a change in attitude.
During the wisdom years, it isn’t the big things that necessarily make us happy. Happiness can be found in the everyday: the first sip of morning coffee, a conversation with our spouse, having friends for dinner or playing with the grandchildren. You may already have enjoyed such simple pleasures as these in earlier times. However, now they provide a new dimension of enjoyment and meaning which you might easily have missed out on during your overburdened adult years.