Lowell Thomas once said, “At some point in aging, everything reminds you of something else.” If, like I do, you have trouble remembering what the “else” is, read on.
A major study by the National Institute of Mental Health in Philadelphia compared men at age 81 with their performance on the same tests taken at ages 75 and 70. Cognitive abilities associated with advanced aging were relatively unchanged. Studies at Sweden, Duke University, and the National Institute on Aging also have found that mental decline is not inevitable. Research on products like HGH is also on.
In her book, Brain Fitness, Monique Le Poncin, founder of the French National Institute for Research on the Prevention of Cerebral Aging, identified various human mental abilities such as perception, long- and short-term memory, logic, and verbal skills.
The goal of brain fitness is to ward off mental decline before it happens. The exercises are simple and fun, and by repeating them over several weeks progress can be seen in a relatively short time.
Exercise your perceptive abilities on a day-by-day basis. The goal of the following exercises is sharpen all of your five senses. Combine variations of these exercises each day, and a keep a record of your progress. Note especially where you have problems so you can work on areas where you are weakest.
* Sight. Each day, observe an object, a photograph, for example, or a person on the street. Draw your perception immediately to exercise short-term memory. At the end of the week, redraw the seven objects or people to exercises long-term memory. Also meditation has been known to enhance memory.
* Smell and Taste. When dining try to identify the ingredients in the dishes you are served. Concentrate on the subtle flavorings of herbs and spices. Ask the waiter or your host to verify your perceptions.
* Memory. Try to memorize the dishes offered on your favorite restaurant’s menu. Make the exercise more challenging by trying to memorize the prices too. At the end of the day, recall as many of the dishes and prices as you can.
* Hearing. On the telephone, practice recognizing callers before they identify themselves. Memorize phone numbers. At the end of the day, write down the people you spoke with and their phone numbers. At the end of the week, try to remember as many as you can.
* Smell and Touch. Exercise your smell and touch by trying to identify objects with your eyes closed. Exercise your visuospatial ability to make quick and accurate estimates of distances, areas, and volumes–the general proportions of things and their distribution in space. When you walk into a room of a group of people, try to quickly determine how many are on your right and your left, as well as the left-right distribution of furniture and other objects. Try to estimate their length and thickness of other objects. Try to draw a plan or map of the places you visit. Repeat the next day and the day after.
* Exercise your structuralization ability, your ability to build a logical whole from disparate elements.
* Take a sentence from a magazine or newspaper. (This is a logical whole.) Try to make a new sentence using the same words in another snetence. Buy a jigsaw puzzle and try to fit the pieces together as quickly as possible. Note the time it takes you. Do it again a week later and compare the times.
* Exercise your logic, your art of reasoning by finding order in a sequence of disparate elements. Don’t use a list when shopping. Instead, invent a system to take the list’s place. Use memory aids, such as forming a complete word, or one that can be completed by adding a certain vowel or consonant from the first letters of the words for the things you need to buy.
* Card games such as pinochle and bridge or board games such as chess or checkers involve logical activities. So do word games such as crossword puzzles and anagrams. To avoid routine, which is the opposite of activation, frequently change the games to exercise different cerebral circuits and neuronal regions. Explore other activities that are completely new to you and find new partners for old–and new–games and activities.
* Exercise your verbal abilities. Listen to the morning news. During the day, write down the main points. Do the same again in the evening. When you meet someone, try to come up with an anagram of his or her name. When you see a word–any word–quickly think of others that begin with the same two letters. When you come to the end of a chapter in a book, try to summarize it as briefly as possible, orally or in writing. Do the same for the whole book after you finish it.
Le Poncin points out that to create a mentally fit lifestyle also means overcoming monotony and routine. Monotony generates mental (and emotional) lethargy and resignation. Organize your life so that you are involved and open to others through dialogue, interaction, and confrontation. Remember–failing memory and sluggish thinking are not inevitable cohorts of aging. You have the ability to maximize your cognitive skills and enhance your older years. From Brain Fitness; LePoncin, M.; New York, NY; Ballantine Books; 1990.
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