I'm in my 50s. I do some similar exercises: putting shoes on in reverse order, play a Wii sports game left handed instead of right handed, etc. Also, about 1/2 of my friends very much disagree with me on politics/economy (I have some very liberal and very conservative friends who, for example, don't like it when I slam, respectively, Obama or Bush). I spend a good 10+ hours a week learning new tech.

My Dad is a good example of the advantages of doing new things. He was a physicist (and a member of the National Academy of Science) and at 60 he became an oceanographer. Now, in his late 80s, he has a passion for computer animation and video editing. To say that he is still very sharp mentally is a great understatement.

BTW, one great thing about developing software is that you get to be a quasi-expert at many different application domains as you work on different projects.