Georgia Macdonough, 80, believes it. As a Red Cross volunteer, the retired nurse practitioner spends weeks at natural disaster sites, most recently in the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina. When she’s home in Phoenix, she juggles cooking classes and church activities, and enjoys planning trips to Paris, also for cooking classes.

“I am convinced that being active has really kept my mind and body in tone,” says Macdonough, a widow, adding that she made healthy eating and exercise a greater priority after she was diagnosed with diabetes several years ago. Today, she walks and swims regularly and gives her homemade desserts to friends and family.

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Exercise your mind. Any activity that requires focus and concentration fits the bill. “There isn’t a study that can say doing Sudoku is better than doing crosswords or playing chess,” Edgerly says. “Find something that you like to do and that you can realistically do every day or every other day.”

Small suggests challenging yourself with something new. “If you’re a writer, try knitting.”

The experts warn against watching too much television. Even news programs or quiz shows like “Jeopardy” are “not as stimulating or engaging as a conversation or doing something,” Edgerly says.

The same can be said for reading, adds Edgerly, who suggests looking for material “outside your normal sphere.”

Reduce stress. Anxiety, depression and sleep deprivation can contribute to memory loss, but usually the loss is reversible if the cause is identified and treated, Gleason says.

Physical activity is one of the best ways to reduce stress, but short visualization exercises or deep breathing in the middle of a busy day can also help, Small says. “Multitaskers” would benefit simply by eliminating a task or two.

McClain, a mother of two, learned through Small’s study that stress was a major factor behind her forgetfulness.

“People in their 40s and 50s have a lot on their shoulders,” she says. “It’s really easy to get into the swing of getting zero time for yourself.”

She now begins each day with stretching and breathing exercises, making an effort not to “get up and immediately jump into my kids’ world.”

She takes daily walks, does yoga twice a week, keeps healthy snacks in her car and office, and makes Sudoku, the popular numbers puzzle, her daily brainteaser. She credits the routine with restoring her memory.

“It’s not that I altered my activities, but I added some self-care,” McClain says.

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