Joy of a Healthy Brain: A Labor of Love

The idea of a day dedicated to recognize, honor, and applaud the American worker is more than 100 years old. Labor Day, the first Monday in September, was created to celebrate the social and economic achievements of the hard-working American. It is a day worth celebrating—worth giving kudos to ourselves—for the “blood, sweat, and (sometimes) tears” that we shed in whatever career field we chose to commit our lives. For many of us, the days of “labor” outside the home are past. We may, however, still have some of those “work ethics” that brought us success and satisfaction for 20, or 30, or even 40 years. We may still: get up early; structure our days; read career-related material to stay up-dated; make ourselves available to former “junior” co-workers who call for advice and assistance. Some of us may think back to the days that we spent yearning for retirement and realize that working “wasn’t that bad after all.” We may even think fondly about working as “a labor of love.” Sometimes work becomes a “labor of love” because it is so mentally stimulating, or because we can see how it helps others. It may have been a “labor of love” because we knew that it was an essential  job, and we took pride in the fact that it had to be done “right”-- and we did it “right.” 

As we move on—to a new phase on the lifetime spectrum-- something else that we can “do right” is to transfer our “labor of love” to another essential job—the job of maintaining a healthy brain.  Although there is no holiday dedicated to those who work hard at keeping their brains healthy, the pay-off is its own reward. The pay-off is the improvement of our ability to interpret, recall, and learn new information as we progress through our senior years.  That improvement adds quality to those years.  Just as our skills at our former jobs increased and improved with effort, so can our “brain –matter” increase and improve with effort. A strong work ethic dedicated to developing both sides of the brain can be performed by consistently eating a healthy diet, engaging in mental activities, actively participating in social activities, and exercising the body.   

Here are a few easy-to-do suggestions to promote brain health:·       

• Eat at least three servings of fruit and two servings of vegetables each day.  
• Eat tuna or salmon twice a week.     
• Practice writing with your non-dominant hand, and do other activities that are a function of the non-dominant side of your brain.      
• Do simple addition, subtraction and multiplication problems every day.  
• Read the daily newspaper and discuss at least one article with a friend or relative.     
• Walk or march in place at least 30 minutes each day.

Working to keep the brain healthy can be time-consuming and inconvenient, but try to think of it as “a labor of love.”