AARP Rewards Community Learning & Earning Contest August 2022

I like to keep active like taking 6 to 7 miles walks 5 or 6 days a week. I also do crossword puzzles, have conversations with friends and family and get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep a day. I think keeping your mind sharp isn’t just genetics, I think it’s a combination of factors such as utilizing your brain to figure things out. The brain is like any other part of your body. A body in motion stays in motion. I truly believe that a mind that used remains healthy. I have frequently watched relatives get old fast by sitting and watching TV whereas others that use their mind continuously stay bright. My grandmother lived to 98 without taking any drugs. While she didn’t walk outside, she was constantly in motion within the house and kept her mind sharp by reading and puzzles. 

I love words and play several word games, quizzes, and puzzles. You Tube has many excellent videos and I always come away from them learning something new. Ted Talks are a favorite as is SharonSaysSo on Instagram. They keep me engaged with the world, not just my little corner of it. 🌎 

I’m outside every day soaking up lots of vitamin D while exploring with my little pupper. 🐾

My favorite activity to keep my brain active is to spend time with my grandchildren; ages 26, 27, and 30. We have quite lively and extremely interesting conversations and discussions. ❤️

Morning exercise is a good jumpstart to the day! It clears the head which lets new thoughts bubble through. Keep moving!

Every day I walk two miles and do Yoga.  I love to do  Suduko, Crossword puzzles, read and spend as much time outdoors as possible.  I go on frequent vacations and meet lots of interesting people of all ages.

Every morning take a walk to the grocery store , talk to the baker about the difference cakes they made. At home I will play my Ms Pac machine .

I volunteer with the Honor Flight program and assist Veterans with their free trips to DC to honor them for their service.

I still like to do the "math" in my head when doing things like balancing my checkbook, etc. rather than use a calculator (of course I sometimes use the calculator to check my math). I also enjoy games like sudoku, wordscape, solitaire. etc. to keep my brain cells active.

I try to walk every day for 30 mins on my treadmill, play games on my iPad and at least spend 1 hour or more outside.  Love to cut grass and shovel snow around the house.

I find games like Wordscape to be good for me and I do learn a new word or two using their provided dictionary. Also I love to read and play board games with the grandangels. 

Our local community college district offers up to six credit hours of free classes plus the online text book for seniors over 65. I live very close to one of the campuses  and have wanted to take courses ever since I retired. I started in the Spring semester of this year and since I love star gazing, I took an Astronomy course. The course was fascinating to me and I had an instructor that obviously loved and knew the subject very well. This Fall semester just started and I'm taking a basic Philosophy course. Both of my instructors to date have PhD degrees which surprises me for a junior college district. I'm taking the classes just for the joy of learning and to keep my mind sharp. Also, I started DIY woodworking last year and I get project concepts and broad design dimensions from online plans and adapt them to my specific projects. This involves very  careful measurements and calculating those measurements very exactly. I have to use my old basic math skills. I do the design drawings on Microsoft Publisher so I can print them out.