No matter how old or young you are, there is no time like the present to start thinking about your health and fitness. While many people only focus on the external factors, it is equally important if not more important to focus on keeping up with your brain fitness. A sharp mind and a healthy brain will get you far in life and may even help to prevent dementia and stave off symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia for longer. Get to know some of the ways that you can keep your mind sharp and your brain fit as you age so that you can incorporate them into your life as soon as possible.

Keep Up with Your Cardiovascular Health and Eat a Heart-Healthy Diet

Your heart health and your brain health are more closely linked than you may realize. The brain makes up a small portion of the body size-wise, at about two percent of a person's full body weight, but it receives anywhere from 15 to 20 percent of the blood supply.

Because of this, the health of the heart and the blood vessels has a direct and profound impact on the health of the brain. So, you will want to make your cardiovascular health a top priority. This means getting regular heart checkups with your doctor for blood pressure and cholesterol. It also means you will want to try to eat a diet that is heart healthy. Avoid excess sugar and fats and make the majority of your diet lean proteins, vegetables, and foods rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids (from foods like flax seeds, salmon, and other fish).

Get Your Brain Active and Engaged

While the brain is not exactly the same as the muscles you work out at the gym, there is one basic concept that is the same. If you do not keep your brain active and engaged, then it will lose some of its sharpness and effectiveness, just like a muscle.

You want to be sure that your brain is active and engaged throughout your life. There are many ways that you can bring brain fitness into your daily life. Brain teasers and puzzles like Sudoku or crossword puzzles keep the brain active and engaged and can be a fun way to spend your leisure time. You could also sign up for an adult education class to learn something interesting and new like a new language or new computer skills.

Reading a chapter or two of a book every day can also engage the mind and keep it active. To make this brain-fitness activity even more interesting, you could join a book club and have in-depth discussions and analysis of the books you read to further engage different areas of your brain.

Now that you know a few ways to keep your mind sharp and your brain fit, you can be sure that you are doing everything you can to maintain your brain fitness throughout your entire life.