Adopting heart-healthy habits may help keep your mind fit, too.

Eating right, exercising regularly, and watching your weight can help control high blood pressure and prevent heart attack and stroke. These health habits also may help you stay sharp mentally as you age. A study revealed that people with cardiovascular disease risk factors also tended to have brain markers associated with mental decline.

Other ways to stay sharp with each passing year are to engage frequently in intellectual activities and to alter your routines occasionally to challenge your mind. Research has revealed that people who tend to engage in intellectual or mentally challenging pastimes are more likely to maintain their mental acuity into later years.

RealAge Benefit: Keeping your blood pressure at 115/76 mm Hg can make your RealAge as much as 12 years younger.

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