We walk about lots of wellness here on CC and have threads accordingly on nutrition, physical fitness, financial wellness, etc.
I’ve never really thought of Intellectual Wellness - not in that term anyway! There was a feature article about it though at work and it’s been floating in my head - I think intellectual wellness is REALLY important especially as we get older AND especially when people retire.
Many are super active and thriving intellectually once retired. But there are others (and my H falls in this spot a bit) that without the work stimulation and only relying on tv news or yahoo news (lol) get stale.
" Intellectual wellness recognizes creative abilities and encourages us to find ways to expand our knowledge and skills. Intellectual wellness can be developed through personal and professional development, cultural involvement, community involvement and personal hobbies."
As simple as:
Wordle
Puzzles
Reading
More involved like:
Participating on a community board or initiative
Taking a class, learning a new skill
Group activities that involve “serve and return” conversation.
Share examples of how you are nurturing your intellectual wellness…or…do you lack this in your life? Or know someone who does and would benefit?
My mom’s OT recommended this to me years ago when my mom was first getting some help to try to cope with her failing memory (due to ALZ).
I do a minimum 30-45 minutes every day of puzzles - a combination of crosswords, word puzzles, math puzzles, and a jigsaw puzzle. I feel like it’s part of my “exercise routine”.
I also read every day, and am currently doing Duolingo Spanish to prepare for a trip. I’m switching to Italian to brush up after our vacation is over.
My grandmother (mom’s mother) was in her late 80s before she had any signs of memory loss/dementia and she did crossword puzzles every day her whole life. I’m hoping I take more after her than my mom who was in her 60s when she started showing signs of early ALZ.
I’m not retired, but my job doesn’t seem to require that much thought these days. But, for years I’ve done sudoku at work. It’s sort of like my mental test for the day. If I breeze through them, it’s a good day for thinking type work. If I find myself making stupid mistakes, then I just might not want to do anything critical, lol.
Since 2005 I’ve been reading. I probably average 30-35 books/year. Some years it’s 40-45. But I also read fluff, mostly mystery thrillers, some sci fi & historical fiction, with the occasional biography thrown in. I’m not sure how much thought is involved there.
I’ve mentioned before, I started Duolingo German in the summer of 2021. I told H I never would have thought I’d be a language learner lover. My Mom was/is and it used to drive me nuts, lol. I finished the Duolingo tree and have progressed to other apps. I started writing a journal in German a couple of weeks ago. I probably sound like an 8 year old, but considering I only knew “Nein” and “Auf Wiedersehen” (from the Big Bad Wolf queue at Busch Gardens) in 2021, I am pretty proud of myself. I also read a German newspaper for learners and watch videos aimed for learners.
I’m planning on starting Duolingo French in a couple of months. I don’t want to slow my German progress too much though. We will see.
I took an Economics class at our community college in 2019. I’d like to do another - maybe when I get tired of my German/French. Neither of those are offered at our CC which bums me out.
I wish H would do more since he is the one with the terrible dementia family history. He also does Duolingo - Spanish, but he doesn’t do quite as much as me. He reads on occasion. He would never do word/math games. I wish he would.
great question!
P.S. When older S was in calculus, I’d steal his textbooks and work problems for fun. Does that count, or a sign of psychosis?
I enjoy reading and do but just suffer from too many books, not enough time. I’m trying to add an audio book in addition to my podcast listening. I think keeping stimulated through audio is a different skill/memory set and I think would be good brain work.
“Creative” is not a word I would use to describe myself. But I signed up for a embroidery class next month which I hope gives me some creative satisfaction and stimulation.
I do too many puzzles - NYT crossword, Wordle, Quordle, Phrazle. I am addicted to playing Dominion on line. I read about an hour a day. I’ve been learning Spanish via Pimsleur (paid) and Duolingo (free).
I do a number of puzzles online each day, and a couple of times per week I sit down in front of a jigsaw puzzle and work at it. I love to read, but I go in bursts with this. When I’m in the reading zone, I might ready a dozen books over the course of 2 or 3 months. When I am stressed/sad/anxious I can’t seem to focus, so for example, I hardly read at all during the pandemic.
For a while I was taking an improv class, which really was a mental workout. The pandemic brought an end to that, but I have been thinking about rejoining…
I play bridge (mostly online) an average of once a day for 2-2.5 hours. It’s always engaging and challenging, even after 30+ years of playing. I listen to audiobooks and podcasts regularly, but mostly read newspapers and magazines.
My husband is my bridge partner, but unlike me, also does suduko, wordle, and the crossword every day. He is becoming better than me at recalling answers on Jeopardy.
About 6 years ago I started playing the violin again. I had played in high school and inherited my great grandfather’s violin. I found a local “Novice Strings” orchestra which was perfect for my level of playing ( I was never really very good). I’ve started taking lessons and it’s like relearning a language, learning to count rhythms, at the same time pay attention to dynamics, accidentals learn shifting, technique and more. It’s fun but requires a lot of focus and frankly I’m usually a bit mentally tired after a rehearsal, lesson, practice or concert.
I read constantly, crochet, do the NYT crossword and mini every day, sporadically work on Duolingo Czech, and do a fair amount of writing and spreadsheet work even in retirement. One thing that tells me some of my mental muscles are getting weak is that my memory palace is starting to wobble, and I’m having a harder time coming up with good captions for New Yorker cartoons. The atrophy of my humor muscle saddens me the most.
Detailing precast concrete pieces on buildings is plenty enough stimulation for me! Such a puzzle trying to read the architect’s mind and fitting everything together. I also enjoy online Scrabble.
At almost 86, my dad is still consulting and giving lectures on structural failures. Next week he’s putting on a two-day engineering forensics seminar through UT. He will be one of 10 speakers. He comps my husband and me - that takes care of our continuing engineering education credit requirements. I think the fact that he didn’t retire as a professor until he was 78 helped get him through his health scare in 2019-20.
I am doing a better job in this area than in others. Every month I resolve to start lifting weights regularly and then slack off, but I started Wordle one day and have not missed since.
Seriously, I am taking classes and teaching classes at a local uni. In my studies, I have to read a book a week in every class. To teach the classes I often have to master new skills. I am not as quick as I used to be and I do not have the reading speed or endurance of my youth, but I am excited by new ideas so I persevere.
I do the NY Times Crossword, Wordle, and the Spelling Bee (I go for Queen Bee!!) almost everyday. I do the Sunday crossword with my husband. He doesn’t do anything but the crossword. Since he semi-retired, he’s worked his way back with the NYT crossword, e.g., he’s done every Monday puzzle from 2016 to the present. My son-in-law recently clued me in to a geography puzzle called Worldle (https://worldle.teuteuf.fr). I thought I knew geography! Anyway, I started doing this.
We both read every day (usually before bedtime).
I loved doing Pimsleur Spanish! It was the only method that really worked for me. I checked out all the levels from the library. Did each lesson twice.
I do Wordle and Quordle every day, along with the Spelling Bee (my husband and I do it together). I do the NY Times Crossword puzzles some days, but not every day. I have also been doing Duolingo pretty regularly for the past four years, alternating between French, Spanish and German (which is what I’m concentrating on right now). And I try to do the games on Lumosity most days. I used to read quite a lot in the past, but just can’t concentrate very well these last few years, since my mom passed away and then the pandemic happened. However, I am in two book clubs, so I do try to keep up with the books for those.
I do lots of puzzles … crossword, Jumbles, Wordle, Quordle, Octordle, word search, Soduku, etc … and I read. I keep up with financial aid regulations & goings-on, which involves a lot of higher level thinking. I also consider the hour & a half I exercise daily to be a contribution to keeping my intellectual wellbeing at its best.
I do plan to learn to code and do some programming. It’s been on my to-do list for awhile, and I will get into it soon.
