In this decline section of my blog I have been arguing that as we age we need to proactively prepare for the next step of our inevitable decline. Learning to use a walker, getting a hearing aid, practicing being blind and deaf, and not driving for a week are all suggestions that will help you prepare for the time when your physical abilities will decline. What you can do about the decline of your mental facilities is not as clear.

We cannot stave off either physical or mental decline but we can to some extent prepare for them. Above we mentioned things we can do to prepare for physical decline What can you do before Alzheimer’s or Dementia gets you? How can you make this part of decline less horrible.

A simple solution comes from the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. You can practice using the part of your brain that operates in the habit area. You don’t have to remember how to tie a shoe or get dressed. How to do them is stored in the part of your brain that does things instinctively. So the idea is to get lots of simple and enjoyable things in the habit part of your brain before mental decline makes it impossible.

Your brain already has habits for eating and clothing yourself. Try to build the habit of playing simple games like Bingo and Snap. Do jigsaw puzzles and crosswords. sort things and paint things. Listen to the radio. Do them a lot so they become habit. Because habits can become like a walker for your brain.