\u201cA lack of mental exercise will gradually reduce the efficacy of the brain\u2019s neurotransmitters, making it harder to concentrate, make and keep lasting memories or even perform everyday tasks,\u201d Mafee said.<\/p>\n
Adults should focus on keeping their brains active. We can do this in a variety of new ways<\/a>, from learning a new language to navigating a new city. The key is to challenge our minds<\/a>. We can also try picking up another hobby, like learning to play the piano or a new sport. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to help with this as well.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to healing and repairing cognitive decline, regular brain exercise can improve mental sharpness, improve your mood and your overall quality of life,\u201d Mafee said.<\/p>\n Vesnaandjic via Getty Images<\/p>\n Mindfulness meditation is an excellent way to exercise our brains.<\/p>\n Your Lungs<\/p>\n Keeping our lungs in good health should be a priority since they transport oxygen from the air we breathe into the blood, according to Alberto L. Rozo, a pulmonary medicine specialist at Northwell Health in New York City.<\/p>\n Exercise is needed for the lungs to function at peak performance and since \u201clung function declines gradually every year starting at age 35,\u201d Rozo said, it\u2019s important to incorporate habits that help increase our lung capacity.<\/p>\n This includes daily aerobic workouts and doing breath work like diaphragmatic breathing<\/a>. Lie down on your back, placing one hand on your stomach over your belly button and one on your chest. Inhale through your nose for two seconds, feeling the air go into your abdomen and your stomach pushing out. Then breathe out for two seconds through pursed lips, allowing your stomach to deflate. Repeat several times.<\/p>\n Your Wrists<\/p>\n \u201cIt is important to exercise the muscles that control wrist function in order to optimize strength and joint stability,\u201d said Joseph A Gil, an orthopedic surgeon in Rhode Island. <\/p>\n Paying attention to the wrists is especially important for anyone who does sports or exercises on a regular basis. A dedicated warmup that stretches the wrists and forearms could help prevent overuse or injury by \u201cpreparing the muscles and tendons to overcome the cumulative stress\u201d that exercise might put on them, Gil said.<\/p>\n Stretching the forearm muscles with \u201cwrist extension and flexion\u201d is one of Gil\u2019s favored techniques for warming up the wrists before working out. <\/p>\n Do this by lying your forearm flat on a table<\/a>, allowing your hand and wrist to dangle off the edge. Bend your wrist down slowly, then bring it back up. Repeat several times, then move on to the other side. You can also do this with a small, light weight<\/a>.<\/p>\n He noted that you might want to consult with a trainer to work on wrist range of motion before weightlifting, which \u201cplaces high stresses on the tendons and ligaments around the wrist,\u201d or yoga, \u201cwhich requires extreme wrist position that predispose participants to ligament injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n wagnerokasaki via Getty Images<\/p>\n Don’t forget that our wrists need some TLC too \u2014 especially before a workout.<\/p>\n Your Toes<\/p>\n The five bones located just behind the toes, called the metatarsals, bear a great deal of our body weight and need special attention to remain in proper working order. According to Bruce Pinker, a foot and ankle surgeon in New York, there is somewhat of a \u201cspringlike quality to the metatarsal region, which helps to create the arch of the foot.\u201d That flexibility requires maintenance to ward off injury and exhaustion. <\/p>\n Pinker said that by neglecting regular foot stretching, \u201cyou risk the chance of your feet tightening up or contracting, which can lead to pain.\u201d And since many people experience some level of stiffness in their feet when they first wake up, Pinker also feels \u201cit is important to stretch or exercise the tops of the feet upon awakening.\u201d<\/p>\n To do this, take a page out of a dancer\u2019s playbook: Kelby Brown, a dance and fitness coach in New York City, suggested trying point and flex foot progressions to strengthen and create flexibility in your toes and ankles. Start by sitting with your back against a wall and extend your arms at your side, \u201cwith the tip of the middle finger lightly pressed into the ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Then, brace your core and tightly hold your legs together. Point your toes from this point and count to four. Then flex your feet and count to four. Do this a few times. While in the stretched position, your feet should \u201cresemble a cashew or banana,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n According to Melissa Wood-Tepperberg, a certified yoga and Pilates instructor, you can also multitask and maximize foot flexibility with a standing quad stretch. Though this move is primarily designed to stretch the front of the legs, \u201cyou can bring the attention to your foot by using your palm to pull toes in to stretch the top of your foot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cShift all of your weight onto your standing foot and grab the opposite foot with the coinciding hand,\u201d she explained. Holding a table or stable surface can help with your balance. Then, put your palm on your ankle. Flex your foot, then point your toes. After pointing and releasing the toes about 10-20 times, repeat on the other side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to reshape the full-body workout. When we think of these types of routines, we typically think…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[674,337,97,6543],"class_list":{"0":"post-335415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-exercise","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-workout"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mindfulness](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/612d3ba33b00009fd1ee892b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Don't](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/612d3bfc26000026dd53fb6a.jpeg\")
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