Brains need stimulation to keep us healthy and happy

Dear Heloise: The reader who saves word games and puzzles to solve during idle moments is absolutely correct! One of the most important steps one can take to preserve and even improve brain health and wellness is mental stimulation, whether it be solving puzzles, learning a new language or simply taking a different route while driving home.

Equally important are socialization and friends, eating a healthy diet high in vitamins, exercise and spirituality, whether it be in the form of worship or meditation. After all, every time your heart beats, 25 percent of the blood flow goes to your brain! By keeping it active and healthy, you’ll discover that you’re never too old to be young! Cherie LeBard, Health Promotion Committee, Pennsylvania Association of Healthcare Auxiliaries, via e-mail

Cherie, thanks for the good hints for staying healthy, happy and interested! Investment in mental and physical activity can really pay off with big dividends later on. Heloise

Dear Heloise: I reuse dry-cleaner bags by tying shut the little hole at the top where the hanger goes through and then using the bag for carrying out lightweight trash. Dorothy of Ohio

Yep, a good recycling hint. I also use them for stuffing pet pillows, as a filler in boxes for mailing, and to poof up valances. Heloise

Dear Heloise: I would like to compliment the reader who sent in the hint about compiling a disaster file.

This past summer, we experienced a flood, causing an emergency evacuation from our home. We had just five minutes to get ready to leave and were in a shelter for many days.

I would add these things to the file:

• A pad of blank checks.

• Leave a section of the file for unpaid bills, and grab them and insert as you leave your house.

• An old phone book for your town or city.

• A list of your medications.

I found that these four things were most important to keep us going while we were away from home. -- Linda P. of Schuyler, Neb.

Dear Heloise: I would like to share something I found to work very nicely. I used hair conditioner to shave my legs with when I ran out of shaving cream. It works very well and leaves the skin smooth, not dry, even after wiping with a wet washcloth. P.J.J. in Arizona

Sound Off

Dear Heloise: Balloons are beautiful to see as they float in the sky. Soon, the deflated polymers will return and be scattered as trash on land and in the seas. Aquatic life is entangled or slowly dies after swallowing them, thinking they are food. I am shocked at the continued popularity of balloon releases at celebrations and class projects in which notes inside the plastic urge the finder to write back. Margarette Mattern, Temple, Texas

• Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (210) HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate