 “The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind.” - William James Scientists say we could look forward to living to one hundred years old or more. It’s a great possibility that this could be the century of the centenarians. Doctors with their miracle cures and modern technology, are helping us to live longer, healthier lives. But what about our minds? Is it worth living to one hundred if we aren’t in full possession of our faculties? How can we keep our brains as healthy as our bodies? It’s predicted that by 2020, more than 200,000 Americans will be one hundred years old or more. What doctors and scientist alike have discovered is that there is a great difference between aging and growing old. Believe it or not, most of it exists in the mind. Cardinal Spellman said, “The three ages of man are youth, middle age and ‘You’re looking wonderful.’ ” For those who are aging gracefully, they are able to:
Are you looking forward to your future? Humans are the only creatures that can see the big picture and plan their futures. That’s due to the frontal lobe of the brain. It’s that difference that enables humans to live longer, since we’re able to make choices that prolong our lives and our brains. Simple choices like wearing a helmet while riding that motorcycle, choosing not to smoke or use drugs, all of which will help to save our lives and our brains. While the brain does change fairly predictably, from your childhood and your youth to adulthood, age is not all that causes the change; it is also due to the experiences you encounter along the way. Some people will undergo a change in their brain that can be disabling, while others have little or no problems. As for why our brains change as we get older, the only explanation is evolution. That’s the only way to explain why our brains have flourished, but are vulnerable to change as well as our environment. The biggest difference in the way our human brains have evolved through the ages from that of animals is our ability to make intelligent choices. We don’t have to wait and see what will happen next to impact our lives and minds. We can make the decisions, what we want to do, and what we want from our futures. And it’s all thanks to our fully developed frontal lobes. It gives us the ability to take bits of information and mold it into a complete idea, then act on that idea, completely aware of the consequences of our actions. Our ability to see beyond current troubles to the future, enables us to get through those troubles and know the end results can be different and to our advantage. The younger brain does have an advantage when it comes to “fluid intelligence,” or the ability to gather and use new information. As you age, there is a decrease in this ‘fluid intelligence’ due to loss of cells in the sub cortical nuclei. That’s what gives us the get up and go kind of energy and enthusiasm for new things. Unfortunately, aging and loss of these vital cells causes a decrease in attention and concentration, the ability to focus; you may find you are easily distracted and it’s more difficult to stick with a project. You can compensate for this decrease in several ways. Go easy with the caffeine products such as coffee and sodas. If you’re attempting to learn new skills, break up the learning sessions into smaller chunks of time. The good news is that “crystallized intelligence,” or specific, acquired knowledge, doesn’t seem to be affected by the aging process. You’ll be glad to know that as far as problem-solving skills are concerned, this actually improves with age, because of your experience. So the function of a mature brain is neither better nor worse than a younger one, just different. Want to keep your mind limber and your mental faculties sharp? Scientists agree the very best way to keep your brain nourished even into your nineties and beyond is education. It doesn’t necessarily mean just obtaining degrees, or even formal schooling at all. It means constantly adding to your storehouse of knowledge. Reading, discussions and debates, anything that makes you think and keeps the mental juices flowing will keep you sharp into your later years. What do you need to keep learning, now and for your whole life? Curiosity; that need to know more. Let yourself be constantly intrigued and amazed by new knowledge. Most excitingly, it really doesn’t matter what you are learning, the whole point is in the doing, the studying, the adding of knowledge. The enthusiasm to add to your knowledge base helps nourish your brain. And you needn’t decide ahead of time what you will study and learn about; as you go through life, your interests will just naturally change, grow and evolve, making you an amazing repository of knowledge. Remember, people who are interested in everything are just more interesting people. Look around your community at all the possibilities for gaining new knowledge. In any metropolitan area, you’ll find colleges and universities. Recreation centers offer classes in everything from language and business classes to basket weaving and banjo lessons, and everything in between. Ever had the urge to tread upon the stage? Most every community has a theater group with workshops and it doesn’t matter if it’s Shakespeare or the local playwright. Continued mental activity is absolutely key to keeping your brain alert and alive. Life isn’t necessarily going to be what you thought it would or go the way you think it should, despite your best plans. The important thing is to stay open to the possibilities, the opportunities and the challenges that come along throughout your life. If you retire at the age of sixty-five and take up rocking on the porch, you could be dooming yourself to a gradual loss of mental faculties. In order to keep your brain flexible, you have to exercise it, keep it honed and sharp. That means stimulation on a daily basis. Start small if you wish. Work crossword puzzles for starters. Then move on to other types of brainteaser puzzles, maybe even the newest rage- Sudoku puzzles. Baby Boomers have another challenge, one that many are attempting to avoid. Mastery of this particular challenge could not only provide you with mental stimulation, but also fun, friendship and new skills. I’m talking about computers and the Internet, the World Wide Web! Cyberspace is out there for all to use and you’re never too old to learn how to communicate via email, how to research and learn new facts. The old saying is wrong-you can teach an old dog new tricks! For those starting out on a new career, or a home business, learning to use the computer and the internet could mean the difference between success and failure. A definite advantage to learning the computer and how to find your way around the internet, is the ability to work at a job from your home. Telecommuting is the newest trend in our society and is becoming more and more popular every day. Age is also becoming less of an issue where telecommuting is concerned. Boomers possess a great deal of knowledge already learned (crystallized intelligence). And by keeping their brains sharp and stimulated on a constant basis, it’s easier to grab hold of the new technology and skills (fluid intelligence). Learning is not just for the young anymore. Anyone can and should learn every day. Many organizations have already discovered the advantages of having a Boomer on Board. They already possess so much knowledge to help bring success to those companies; they are most definitely assets. Several studies done around the world all show that the higher the level of mental stimulation, the lower the risk of developing Alzheimer ’s disease. Higher mental stimulation in your job means you need a higher education level. The studies also showed that farmers, domestic workers and blue-collar workers had two to three times the risk of poor memory when they grew older than did those whose jobs were more managerial or professional. The biggest misconception in our world today is the idea that the brain grows older as we do. Stereotypes get in the way of mental function. We’re told that aging means loss of memory. Too many of the elderly begin to believe that falsehood. If they continue to allow this falsehood to influence their mental function, they will indeed find memories failing. This throws them into a mental rut. If their lives remain without stimulation, they will begin to lose more and more memories. But, it’s not too late. Mental stimulation can still be the key to greater cognitive function. As pointed out before, just as you would exercise to keep your body in shape, so should you also exercise your brain to keep it in shape. Getting older doesn’t mean you’re doomed to be absent minded. Studies have proved that age has nothing to do with lowered mental function. Not only can the brain be kept in shape, but absent-mindedness can actually be reversed. Maintaining a network of friends and relatives that you enjoy being with, and who stimulate your mind and heart, is a great way to combat the aging stereotypes. Good friends can help relieve the stress that we find in life. Better to find support with good friends and family than to begin altering your conscious mind with outside influences such as drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Good friends or abusive substances? Here’s a perfect example of proactive choice. What choice will you make? Memories Are Made of This The memory is where we store all the ideas, thoughts and experiences in our brain, so we don’t lose them. We are bombarded all day, every day by sights and sounds. But where are these memories stored exactly? Once recorded, a memory is then stored close to the same part of the brain where it entered in the first place. For example, memory of a song will be stored close to the auditory cortex. Memory of a burn, a broken bone or other pain will be stored near the sensory cortex. For multiple types of sensations, such as the birth of a child (for women), where emotions and physiological experiences are involved, the memories are distributed across multiple cortical areas. One of the most serious dangers to our brains and memories in particular is Alzheimer’s disease. This begins with short-term memory loss, with simple symptoms like constantly losing your car keys or mislaying your eyeglasses. Patients of Alzheimer’s may find themselves forgetting even a loved one’s name, or forgetting words for ordinary objects. Sad to say, it can become even more serious and life threatening if not treated. Have you ever experienced the temporary loss of a vital piece of information-information you know you possess? But, what happened, where did it go? Baby Boomers simply laugh and refer to it as a ‘senior moment.’ Many of us suffer from these ‘senior moments.’ These momentary lapses are not to be confused with Alzheimer’s. A word or a name just escapes you for a moment and usually returns a little while later. You should not worry unduly about these temporary lapses, everyone experiences them at one time or another. You’ve probably heard people use expressions like, “my memory is like a sieve.” Or, maybe they lament that “my memory must be failing.” This attitude that the memory is hopeless only perpetrates the misunderstanding about aging and memory loss. No matter what your age, you can attain any intellectual goal you care to set for yourself and improve your memory. You simply must exercise your brain. You wouldn’t attempt to run a marathon without advanced physical training; why would you expect your brain to perform feats of intellect without advanced mental training? Remember the old saying that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. So, you have all these wonderful memories stored within this marvelous machine, just waiting for you to tap into them, or access the files, to use a computer analogy. That’s what your brain actually is, an amazing memory bank of information. But how, you ask, can we do that? In the late 1950s, Dr. Wilder Penfield, at the Montreal Neurological Institute was trying to cure epileptics by applying electrical stimulation to certain areas of his patients’ brains. The slight current the doctor used brought out very precise, very vivid memories. His patients were able to relate certain memories, in great detail. The memory evoked depended on the part of the cortex, or the outer layer of brain cells being stimulated. Another method of stimulating these deeply buried memories is hypnosis. Hypnosis allows the subject to recall in minute detail every aspect of an experience. Sometimes, a person can recall conversations, recall a scent or sound connected to that experience. Think those old memories are forgotten, lost forever? They’re not lost, just mislaid, filed away in that marvelous machine in your head. And Now For Something Completely Different! Estrogen! Estrogen, a hormone produced by females and that influence sexual behavior-what could that have to do with the brain? How about making us smarter? It doesn’t matter whether you’re a male or a female. Every ‘body’ makes estrogen. It’s just that women make more than men. But, estrogen is not just a sex related hormone and doctors are working to determine whether estrogen and other hormones of this type could actually save human brains from strokes, memory loss and maybe even Alzheimer’s. Most importantly, what they’re trying to determine is can hormones keep you smart? An experiment as early as 1952, showed the connection between estrogen and memory, but, was ignored for more than thirty years. Today doctors have learned that not only does miracle hormone affect memory, but it can also nourish, modify, protect, and yes, even heal brain cells. We’ll surely be hearing more on that front in the future. Until we do, it’s a good bet that taking simple precautions, like eating smart, exercising (your body and your brain), making intelligent choices, and continuing to learn all through our lives, will prolong our bodies and in turn, keep our brains honed and sharp. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” - Henry Ford |
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