[morlockhq]

There is some brain plasticity research that seems to indicate that the more you challenge your brain with new activities and problem sets, the more resilient it is against decline in old age.

Do you do a lot with your mind during the day? Take up wood working, knitting, or sewing as a hobby. Work with your hands.

Do a lot with your hands during the day? Do something that engages your mind more. Take up art, writing, etc.

Take dance lessons. If you are not a dancer already, learning to dance and then doing it has a lot of health benefits, social benefits (see below) and makes your mind work in different ways.

I highly recommend trying square dancing (as corny as it may sound). Square dancing is very intricate and requires careful attention to called queues in order to maintain a steady stream of dance transitions. It is the fastest way to get into "flow" that I have ever experienced and have heard of number of other writers and technical types that rely on flow express the same sentiment.

Learn, teach, and play more board games. Modern board games have a vast array of different mechanics and strategies in them offering lots of different problem spaces for your brain to tackle. There is also a good social aspect to them that is inter-generational (we have board game nights with ten year old kids regularly playing with retirees) and some decline in cognitive ability is linked to the lack of social engagement people experience as they age.