How to keep your brain healthy as you age: expert tips include a healthy diet, exercise, playing games and socialising

Brain ageing is inevitable, with symptoms ranging from memory loss to difficulty multitasking and learning new things

The good news is that you can prevent or delay cognitive decline, no matter your age, and even if you already have dementia

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Henry Chan Hing-yu at the Sage Active Ageing Centre in Kwun Tong, Kowloon. He eats a wholesome diet, plays games and socialises with friends to keep his brain healthy. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 6:15pm, 12 Dec 2021Updated: 8:17pm, 12 Dec 2021

Hong Kong retiree Henry Chan, 72, is committed to keeping his brain healthy. To maintain cognitive function, keep his memory sharp and stave off age-related conditions such as dementia, he eats a wholesome diet, exercises regularly, reads and socialises with friends.

“I live a healthy lifestyle, following a low-fat diet, eating antioxidant-rich and high-fibre foods like vegetables, fruit and whole grains, doing tai chi, and taking 30-minute brisk walks every day,” he shares.

“And while the pandemic has made it hard for me to meet with people the way I used to, I do try to stay socially engaged by doing volunteer work and catching up with friends at my local elderly community centre.”

In addition, Chan is fond of “brain games”. He particularly enjoys the games offered in Exercise Your Brain, a programme created in 2020 by The Hong Kong Society for the Aged (Sage) with support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. Sage is the largest non-governmental organisation dedicated to care of the elderly in Hong Kong.

Professor Timothy Kwok is the director of the Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing in Hong Kong.

Exercise Your Brain is a set of computer games designed to promote brain health and care among all age groups. It also aims to improve participants’ cognitive ability, especially that of the older generation.