The Harvard Medical School suggests simple steps like staying physically active, getting enough sleep, not smoking, having good social connections, limiting alcohol and eating a Mediterranean style diet can help keep the brain sharp.
Challenging your brain with mental exercise is believed to activate processes that help maintain individual brain cells and stimulate communication among them.
Keep learning
The more senses you use in learning something, the more of your brain that will be involved in retaining the memory.
Use all your senses
Middle-aged and older learners do worse on memory tasks when they're exposed to negative stereotypes about aging and memory. People who believe that they are not in control of their memory function are less likely to work at maintaining or improving their memory skills
Believe in yourself
If you don't need to use mental energy remembering where you laid your keys or the time of your granddaughter's birthday party, you'll be better able to concentrate on learning and remembering new and important things.
Prioritise your brain use
When you want to remember something you've just heard, read, or thought about, repeat it out loud or write it down. That way, you reinforce the memory or connection.