Are you one of those people looking for ways to fill your days (and nights) with fun activities to keep busy?   Staying busy can provide a lot of benefits, especially if the “busyness” is filled with activities that we enjoy doing like socializing with friends and family, stimulating our minds and strengthening our bodies.  Busyness may also result in improved memory as we age, according to a study in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience  that suggests busyness is linked to better cognition, especially episodic memory. While being a “busy-body” tends to bring up images of friends or relatives who constantly meddle in someone else’s business, with this insight, we may all want to embrace that quality.

Here are some ways to keep your mind engaged and help you become a busy-body!

Stitching Together Memories

Knitting can help you stitch together memories as it requires concentration, and can be done with a varying amount of skill and in different social settings. It can be performed at very basic levels- with simple patterns (try a knit two, purl two) or at more highly skilled levels with intricate patterns requiring a significant amount of concentration.

You can knit alone, and/or you can join a knitting group to share ideas and get help from others, with many neighborhood groups searchable through social media, or through organizations such as Meetup.  For starters, you can browse sites such as ravelry.com and select patterns from a variety of designers, including some from one creator who says her designs focus on visually interesting classics with clean lines that are easy to memorize and to pick up and put down- perfect for the busy-body. And once you have finished your pieces, you can save them for yourself, or give them to family members to enjoy, with life-long memories to accent their wardrobes or adorn their homes! So why not sharpen your mind with this craft!

Paint by Number—Not Exactly Your Child’s Art Set

While paint by number may evoke childhood memories, there has been a resurgence in interest in this craft, with many adults discovering or rediscovering their hidden talents. This art form, which was influenced by the numbered patterns Leonardo DaVinci’s gave his apprentices, has been popular with children since the mid-20th century. Fast forward to the present, with newer adult versions created that require precision, skill and strategy, as well as a great deal of concentration.  Once completed, you’ll have an overall sense of achievement and pride as these masterpieces can be showcased and serve as lasting memories of work well-done!  Numerous studies have heralded the importance of art therapy as a way to help improve memory as people age, and when you give your artwork to your children and grandchildren, their memories of YOU will last forever! So why not enjoy the fun and sense of accomplishment while also gaining cognitive benefits from your creations!

Helping Those Memories to Remain Strong

Now that you have become a busy-body, it’s time to preserve your memories! There’s a simple way to do that, as research shows that taking a super-high level of cocoa flavanols, the plant-based nutrient found in natural cocoa, on a daily basis can improve your memory in just eight weeks. By improving blood flow to a part of your brain that’s sensitive to aging, cocoa flavanols keep your brain nourished with the oxygen and nutrients it needs to perform at its best.  But how do you get that many cocoa flavanols into your daily diet? While you could eat 300 grams of dark chocolate — you’ll get a lot of sugar and 1624 calories in the process so chocolate should be thought of as a treat only. Instead, a healthy way to get those flavanols is through a supplement called CocoaVia™ Memory+ that contains 750 mg of cocoa flavanols per serving, and has been clinically proven to improve three different aspects of memory.

So, there’s no need to sit back and wonder what to do with your time.  You can become a “busy-body” and savor your newly created memories!

© 2021 Silver Disobedience Inc. (SP)