IMPROVE COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN MINUTES HOW MEDITATION HELPS YOU MAINTAIN BRAIN HEALTH
THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX
Meditation has often been touted by New Age gurus as a way to find inner peace and stillness. But what if meditating could reduce the effects of aging on your brain? According to research, taking a few minutes out of your day to meditate may improve cognitive function. As meditation’s popularity has spread, so have studies of the practice. The results of 100 studies examining the cognitive effects of meditation all show evidence of improvements in psychological and cognitive functions. Some of the results are intuitive, such as how meditation helps us deal with stress. But other results are incontrovertible, such as scans showing that meditation causes structural changes in the brain. For people facing age-related changes like memory loss, the results of these tests are especially relevant. The studies point to evidence that meditation can strengthen certain areas of the brain — the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala — that weaken as we age.
Your prefrontal cortex thins with age, which is associated with decreased cognitive function in your later years. However, meditation may reduce this age-related thinning. Dr. Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist specializing in the effects of yoga and meditation on cognitive and behavioral function, reports that long-time meditators don’t show a decline in the thickness of the prefrontal cortex.
THE HIPPOCAMPUS
Your hippocampus helps you process and form new memories, and it’s very sensitive to stress. In fact, research shows that your hippocampus will shrink in response to stressful situations and chronic stress. The remedy? Meditation. Dr. Lazar’s study showed a positive correlation between meditation and a higher concentration of gray matter in the left hippocampus.
START SAVING NOW HEALTH CARE COSTS ARE RISING
Even with Medicare, medical expenses can be costly. Many retirees worry that rising medical costs will eat away at their retirement savings. Even when offset by insurance, health care costs are above what the majority of people (working or retired) can pay, regardless of whether they have Medicare, employer-subsidized health insurance, or insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Fidelity estimated that couples who retired in 2017 at age 65 faced a cost of $275,000 for health care throughout their retirement, a 6 percent hike from 2016’s estimate of $260,000 and more than a 70 percent increase since Fidelity came out with its initial estimates of retiree health costs in 2002. These totals include Medicare premiums, copays and deductibles, and prescription drug costs, but not nursing homes or long-term care. Obviously, health care costs continue to rise every year. Over time, employers have offered ways to help workers offset costs through health savings accounts, which provide tax breaks on medical expenses. However, many retirees are not prepared for the high cost of medical care when they are no longer part of a company plan. Medicare only covers a percentage of your medical bills, which means retirees have to dip into savings to pay for medical costs.
While this certainly isn’t good news, there is a silver lining. If you take steps to increase your retirement plan contributions, you can compensate for those daunting health care costs. This could mean cutting your spending or canceling trips now, but by ramping up your savings, you’ll be able to enjoy more of these things later in retirement. Given the rate at which health care costs are rising, you really have no choice but to face the problem head-on. Social Security won’t be able to provide enough income to cover medical expenses. The sooner you add to your portfolio, the better positioned you’ll be to save without worrying about dipping into your assets.
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