The Oscars and Health
[could prob. use a better title]
Kara Demmers
Issue date: 3/11/10 Section: Opinion
Expanding your knowledge is always good for the brain. For example, research led by Dr. Ellen Bialystok has provided evidence that being bilingual protects the brain from dementia. According to her, the old adage "Use it or lose it" has once again been shown relevant to the health of the mind. According to the Franklin institute, your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action.
Mental stimulation generally improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline. The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. In old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills are simply the result of inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation!
I don't know if you're noticing mental decline in your parents, but sometimes I swear I have to say something five times to my father! Now my father is like his mother, my grandmother. She is very smart, very witty. She is 90 years old and knows more about current world politics than I do! She can beat people at many card games (she knows a million) and does the newspaper crosswords every morning.
My father and grandmother exercise the neurons that they already have. In my opinion, they should create new ones, because stretching the brain is the best thing for it. And I would include myself and my generation in this suggestion; we need to stretch our brains! According to the Times' Health editor Barbara Strauch, educators say that, for adults, one way to nudge neurons in the right direction is to challenge the very assumptions they have worked so hard to accumulate while young. With a brain already full of well-connected pathways (like the brain of my sharp grandmother), adult learners should "jiggle their synapses a bit" by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own.
This idea of experiencing new things reminded me of something; Oscar night. During the Oscar night, did you notice the foreign film section? The foreign films looked so good! What a great way to enjoy learning something new. Watching them could also inspire one to travel or learn a new language. Thus, my simple suggestion (just for a start for improving brain activity, before you learn Chinese, get your pilot's license, and save the world) is to watch foreign films--and expand your mind!
Suggestions:
All Anime Films; Ajami (Israel); The Milk of Sorrow / La Teta Asustada (Peru); A Prophet / Un Prophète (France); The Secret in Their Eyes / El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina); The White Ribbon / Das Weisse Band (Germany)
If you feel it's too late for you or a loved elder of yours--think again! Since 1956, the Seattle Longitudinal Study has tracked more than 5,000 people, aged 20 to 90 years old. Once participants began to experience cognitive decline, they were given a series of five one-hour training sessions designed to improve inductive reasoning and spatial orientation. The result was that half of them improved significantly! The lead researcher of the study, Dr. K. Warner Schaie, concluded that "The results of the cognitive training studies suggest that the decline in mental performance in many community-dwelling older people is probably due to disuse and is consequently reversible."
Mental stimulation generally improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline. The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. In old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills are simply the result of inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation!
I don't know if you're noticing mental decline in your parents, but sometimes I swear I have to say something five times to my father! Now my father is like his mother, my grandmother. She is very smart, very witty. She is 90 years old and knows more about current world politics than I do! She can beat people at many card games (she knows a million) and does the newspaper crosswords every morning.
My father and grandmother exercise the neurons that they already have. In my opinion, they should create new ones, because stretching the brain is the best thing for it. And I would include myself and my generation in this suggestion; we need to stretch our brains! According to the Times' Health editor Barbara Strauch, educators say that, for adults, one way to nudge neurons in the right direction is to challenge the very assumptions they have worked so hard to accumulate while young. With a brain already full of well-connected pathways (like the brain of my sharp grandmother), adult learners should "jiggle their synapses a bit" by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own.
This idea of experiencing new things reminded me of something; Oscar night. During the Oscar night, did you notice the foreign film section? The foreign films looked so good! What a great way to enjoy learning something new. Watching them could also inspire one to travel or learn a new language. Thus, my simple suggestion (just for a start for improving brain activity, before you learn Chinese, get your pilot's license, and save the world) is to watch foreign films--and expand your mind!
Suggestions:
All Anime Films; Ajami (Israel); The Milk of Sorrow / La Teta Asustada (Peru); A Prophet / Un Prophète (France); The Secret in Their Eyes / El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina); The White Ribbon / Das Weisse Band (Germany)
If you feel it's too late for you or a loved elder of yours--think again! Since 1956, the Seattle Longitudinal Study has tracked more than 5,000 people, aged 20 to 90 years old. Once participants began to experience cognitive decline, they were given a series of five one-hour training sessions designed to improve inductive reasoning and spatial orientation. The result was that half of them improved significantly! The lead researcher of the study, Dr. K. Warner Schaie, concluded that "The results of the cognitive training studies suggest that the decline in mental performance in many community-dwelling older people is probably due to disuse and is consequently reversible."
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