Not a surprise that using the creative side of your brain aids in brain health.

Use it or lose it.

My Dad read like crazy, was a jazz aficionado, and a did several crosswords a day. If cancer didn't take him, he'd have been sharp and witty 'till 95.  

Me, I mountain bike aggressively once or twice a week, but I need to get back to my daily walks. 

Brain-wise I took a job in medical diagnostic devices 13 years ago knowing zero about the subject (the tech or the biology) knowing I'd have several years of intense learning ahead of me, that would essentially never end. I knew it would be really hard, but I also knew it would be good for my brain-health. 

@thecarpathian  great to see fellow NE on the site!

Retired. Ride bike, volunteer with other mutual aid sorts, read, write, caretake, dream, etc.  This is from my essay in development titled: You Don't Have to Sing the Blues, New Insight into Living with Trauma.

My friend Peter Kramer, architect, touches on the value of art in his coloring books:  Color Your Way to Mental Health. He promises: 

Research has shown that coloring reinforces and energizes your hand-to-eye-to-brain connections, builds syncrasy, provides a milieu for repetitive non-threatening decision making, encourages focused attention to a specific task, and produces a tangible end product. Think of coloring as talking to paper with color as your language...It's therapy. Our coloring books will help you develop a positive self-image, self- confidence, and a healthy mental attitude…. Coloring is a metronome that will naturally melt away stress, level anxiety, reach into your subconscious unblocking old memories, and balance your head, your hand and your heart. 

@corelli   Thanks, great compliment

@ghdprentice  You know, good points made on the 5 years thing.  I see my friends starting their retirement and they seem lost.  One lady has turned into a hermit, rarely leaves the house, and plays on BoardGameArena hours a day. She loves board games, so its better than watching TV. Lack of goals, I agree with that too. I was super goal driven, fix that, fix this, fix myself, etc.  Now, I latch onto every project like its major..  I spent months researching a new amp for my stereo, literally months.  The amp is ordered and arriving next week, being shipped UPS.  

I've been retired for about 12 years, and while I'm more into the Great Indoors, I'm always working with my photographs in Photoshop while preparing to put out a book, reading great works of fiction, watching great movies and serial TV series, and learning about different things of interest online. I like the arts I take in to be somewhat challenging and thought-inducing.