5 Simple Ways to Stay Sharp Mentally This Summer (And Why Your 60s Might Be Your Brain’s Best Years Yet)

Can I be honest with you for a second?

When I hit my 50s, I started noticing little things. Walking into a room and forgetting why I was there. Losing a word mid-sentence that I knew perfectly well five seconds before. Taking just a little longer to remember a name I’ve known for years.

And like a lot of women my age, my first instinct was to panic. Is this the beginning of something serious? Is this just what getting older looks like?

Here’s what I wish someone had told me sooner — and what I want to tell you right now.

Your brain is not declining. It is changing. And there is a very big difference between those two things.

In fact, research shows that certain types of intelligence actually peak in your 60s and 70s. Pattern recognition. Emotional wisdom. Big picture thinking. The ability to connect dots that younger minds simply haven’t lived long enough to see yet. Scientists have a name for it — crystallized intelligence — and you are sitting right in the middle of it.

The question isn’t whether your brain is still capable. It absolutely is. The question is whether you’re giving it what it needs to stay sharp, engaged, and firing on all cylinders.

And summer — with its slower pace and longer days — is actually the perfect time to build the habits that do exactly that.

Here are five that really work.

1. Learn Something You’ve Never Done Before

And I mean genuinely never done. Not a variation of something familiar. Not the crossword puzzle you’ve been doing for twenty years. Something new.

Here’s why that matters. When your brain encounters something truly unfamiliar — a new language, a new instrument, a new creative skill — it has to work in a completely different way. It builds new neural pathways. It makes new connections. That process of figuring something out, even struggling with it, is exactly what keeps your brain plastic and adaptable as you age.

Pick something you’ve always been curious about and give it 15 minutes a day this summer. Duolingo for a new language. YouTube tutorials for watercolor painting or beginner piano. A chess app. A photography class at your local library. It genuinely does not matter what you choose — the newness is the active ingredient.

And here’s the part I love most about this. You don’t have to be good at it. The beginner phase — that slightly uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what you’re doing yet — is your brain growing. Embrace it.

African American woman reading at a kitchen table

2. Put Down the Phone and Pick Up a Book

I say this with love because I have to say it to myself too.

Scrolling is not stimulating your brain in any meaningful way. Neither are the short videos or the constant jumping from notification to notification. What all of that actually does is train your brain to have a shorter and shorter attention span — which is the last thing we need as we get older.

Reading a real book is different. It asks your brain to focus, to hold information, to follow a complex story or argument over time. It builds vocabulary, concentration, and the kind of sustained mental engagement that keeps your mind sharp.

This summer, commit to one book a month. That’s it — just one. Fiction, nonfiction, biography, mystery, whatever genuinely interests you. The genre matters far less than the habit of sitting with something and seeing it through.

Your phone will still be there when you finish the chapter. I promise.

African American Woman having a delightful conversation

3. Call Someone and Actually Talk to Them

Not text. Not react to their Instagram post. Actually call them and have a real conversation.

I know that might sound old fashioned. But here’s the thing — genuine face-to-face or voice conversation is one of the most cognitively demanding activities your brain does all day. It has to listen, process language in real time, formulate thoughtful responses, read emotional cues and tone, and draw on memory and personal history simultaneously.

That is an extraordinary workout. And it’s one that texting and social media simply do not replicate.

The research on this is also pretty sobering — social isolation is one of the strongest predictors of cognitive decline in adults over 50. Not a minor risk factor. One of the strongest.

So call your girlfriend. Meet a neighbor for coffee. Join something in your community. Show up somewhere you haven’t been in a while. Your brain needs people just as much as your heart does — and summer gives you every excuse to make it happen.

African American couple walking

4. Move Your Body — Your Brain Is Counting On It

This is brain advice as much as it is fitness advice, so stick with me.

When you exercise, your brain releases something called BDNF — brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Scientists have nicknamed it Miracle-Gro for the brain and the name is apt — it literally stimulates the growth of new brain cells and strengthens the connections between them. Exercise also increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of your brain responsible for memory, planning, and decision-making.

And the best part? You do not need an intense workout to get these benefits. A 30-minute walk three to five times a week is enough to produce measurable cognitive improvements in adults over 50. That’s it. Something enjoyable, sustainable, and completely free.

Find movement you actually like — water aerobics, a neighborhood walk in the morning before the heat kicks in, dancing in your living room, gardening — and do it consistently. Enjoyable fitness is brain fitness. The two are not separate.

5. Guard Your Sleep Like It’s Non-Negotiable — Because It Is

We talked about sleep in detail last week, and I’m bringing it back here because it connects so directly to everything we’re discussing today.

While you sleep, your brain runs a maintenance cycle. It consolidates the memories you formed during the day, processes emotions, and flushes out metabolic waste — including proteins that, when they accumulate over time, are associated with cognitive decline. Your brain is literally cleaning itself while you rest.

Skimping on sleep doesn’t just make you tired. Over time, it impairs memory, slows thinking, and reduces your brain’s ability to do the housekeeping it needs to do. Poor sleep over months and years has real, measurable cognitive consequences.

Protecting your sleep is not laziness. It is one of the smartest things you can do for your brain. Treat it accordingly.

Your Summer Brain Challenge

Here’s what I want you to do with all of this — and I mean actually do it, not just feel inspired for five minutes and then move on.

Pick ONE of these five habits. Just one. The one that feels most accessible to you right now. Commit to doing it every day for 30 days.

One new thing to learn. One book. One real conversation a week. Three walks. Consistent sleep.

Pick one. Do it for 30 days. See how you feel.

By the time September arrives, you’ll have a stronger habit, sharper neural pathways, and real proof that your brain is not done growing. Not even a little bit.

That is what healthy aging actually looks like. Not just surviving each season — but intentionally building the habits that keep you fully alive in all of them.

You’ve got this. And your brain is absolutely still with you.

— Antionette Blake, The DE Divah

Want more real conversations about aging boldly, living well, and planning intentionally? Subscribe to Boomers and Beyond — the longevity podcast for women who refuse to slow down.