How To Sharpen Your Senses And Feel Younger

As we age, many of us experience a gradual dulling of our senses, a Journal of the American Geriatrics Society study found.

Here, you’ll learn research-backed ways to heighten each of your five senses and strengthen connections in the brain that weaken with age. Feel young and sharp again!

To Fine-Tune Taste

At dinner, take a bite of chicken, then mashed potatoes. Rotating food with each bite forces your taste buds to shift from flavor to flavor, which may rebuild brain connections linked to taste.

 

And the better you can taste, the less you eat: North Carolina State University scientists suggest savoring the flavor of your food helps you lose weight.

 

To Sharpen Sight

Gazing at a red-tinted screen for three minutes a day boosts your vision significantly, a UK study found.

 

Red light activates the energy centers in your retinas, offsetting a decline in contrast and color sensitivity. Tip: Try viewing a video like this one on YouTube for free.

 

To Improve Your Sense Of Touch

As we age, our skin thins and microcirculation slows, reducing touch sensitivity. The fix: Breathe through your nose instead of your mouth.

 

Studies state that nasal breathing boosts oxygen flow to tissues by 20 percent when done daily, so you’re more aware of things like the feeling of holding your grandchild’s hand.

 

To Bolster Your Sense Of Smell

Research suggests that smelling four distinct scents, like crisp air or clean laundry, daily reinforces scent pathways in the body, heightening your sense of smell. Bonus: Studies show that found that a sharp sense of smell boosts cognition.

 

To Boost Hearing

Spending more time in dark settings could sharpen your hearing, suggests research. Going about ordinary tasks in slightly lower light forces your body to adapt by strengthening unique neural connections in the brain that process sound, making it easier to hear everything from your friend’s laugh to audiobooks.