Opinion

Grandma had the right idea about keeping the mind healthy

About two years ago I was able to witness the degeneration of the mind and body through my grandmother who was suffering from dementia.

It was a very difficult time for me and my family who took care for her during her remaining years.

Dementia took over her mind and was in fact “deleting” her memories, changing her behavior and putting her into motionless states for hours.

You could say that the grandma I knew was already gone before she even passed.

I look back now wondering if it’s even possible to ready oneself for a disease that actually erases the mind and cripples the body.

I decided to visit grandma’s house one day to take home a painting she made as something to remember her by.

What I did find was piles of crossword puzzles and loads of Sudoku. All of the sweets were gone and replaced with more nutritional snacks.

We’ve always known that grandma was a fan of puzzles and granola bars, but was there something more to it?

It turns out that years ago my grandma already knew that she was losing her mind. Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability. It is normally caused by how healthy the brain and body are in later years.

From what I understand, my grandma had no idea that she was going to get this until it was too late.

It’s not too late for us to prepare for it if it happens. It’s things like doing a crossword puzzle or eating fruit that keeps us healthy and our bodies active.

The trick is to test your brain constantly, don’t let yourself be comfortable with simple and lazy tasks for the day.

I’ve found that doing puzzles a few times a week keeps me focused and affects my critical thinking.

It’s amazing how simplistic tasks can be and how much of a positive effect they have on us. It is something that a lot of people don’t realize until it’s too late.

Don’t belittle yourself, have confidence in your abilities to make a better you in both mind and body.