What do you read first?

When I open our local newspaper's website in the morning, I scroll down a ways to get to the living section. I want to start the day off slowly, working up to the hard news. I have to bypass a LOT of sports stories and blogs in this town to get to the other features.

I eventually make my way back up to the breaking news and scan the headlines to see what I should read about locally.

How about you? What do you read first when you open up the newspaper or their websites ? Do you go to the videos first or the photo collages? Food or entertainment? Business or tech news?

Someone should do a study about this. I think it would be fascinating.

Learn Something New Every Day

We are bombarded with newness every day: new ways to pay for our groceries, new ways to communicate with each other, new ways to call up our favorite show on TV.

It can get a little tiresome, all this newness, but according to Lois Lutz, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Alzheimer's Association, it is much healthier to forge ahead and learn new things than to try and keep everything the same. Healthier for our brains that is. Challenging our brains is necessary to keep them in their best shape, Lois says, which results in great rewards.

But it is SO much easier to do the same things the same way all the time. We think that our routines save time and energy and they might, but to the detriment of our brains which are just brimming with neurons that want to play too.

Give them what they want and you will maintain more of your brain power as you age.

(Note to self: There is a brand new grocery store opening near me this week. None of its thousands of regular shoppers will have a clue where anything is and this will be so darn frustrating. I mean, challenging. I'll let you know.)