Retirement As You Want It

Searching Favorite Topics on Internet Lights Up the Brain

I come from a reading mindset. I love to read - always have to have an engaging book at my bedside table. Since I'm here with you, you realize that I'm also turned on to all the advantages of the Internet. Ageless in America, Carleen MacKay and Brad Taft's online journal mentioned some new research into brain activity that's intriguing.

Functional MRI brain scans demonstrate that when we're searching the Internet, our neural networks light up even more so than when we're reading in the traditional way, according to new research reported in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry in 2/09.  The image on the right is the brain searching the Internet (credit: UCLA Newsroom).

What do you do on the Internet? It would be interesting to know what kind of searching so dramatically increases our brain activity -does searching the latest bargain or movie review give us the same neuronal boost that reading news reports or this mind-stretching blog does? Perhaps it's the fast shifts from 1 site to another that causes more of those red lights in the brain.

What do you search for and read on the Internet? What holds your attention? Click the little "Comment" link below with your thoughts.

 

Neurobics, Anyone?

I've talked about how to keep the brain fit, a necessary challenge for all of us who want to live a life of vitality and challenge into our old age. Here is another way to exercise our brains in our daily lives - without the fuss of using a computer program or enrolling in a course.

Manning Rubin collaborated with the late Lawrence Katz, Professor of Neurobiology at Duke University Medical School to publish a book (and website) called Keep Your Brain Alive. The book includes almost 100 neurobic exercises and an explanation of the science of neurobics. "Making multi-sensory associations, and doing something novel that is important or engaging to you --these are the key conditions for a genuine Neurobic exercise." So, it's not merely doing something new that causes our brains to make new neural connections; we need to do particular kinds of activities to challenge our brains.

For example, brushing our teeth with our non-dominant hand will do it. I've been using my computer mouse with my right (non-dominant) hand lately. When my husband and I took a Zen painting class at Kripalu last year, our instructor assigned most of the exercises with our non-dominant hand. 

See the Wall Street Journal interview with Mr. Rubin. He shows a baby's rattle. "Yes, it's a rattle," said the interviewer. But, a baby will pick it up, shake it, lick it, listen to the sounds it makes -- exploring it with all senses. That exponentially increases the growth of brain connections, something adults seldom do.

The website has a short quiz created to demonstrate how adults usually do things in the same old way every day. That doesn't make us "neurobic." I didn't do too well -- I have to start taking new routes to work once in a while, do unusual routines when I wake up in the morning.

If you want to find out how and why this works and what simple things you can do to exercise your brain -- like searching for your keys in the bottom of your bag by feeling, instead of looking, head over to Manning Rubin's website.

Brain Training Fitness Centers -- Has the Time Come?

We now know from research on the adult human brain that it is plastic, flexible, compensates for natural losses and is capable of developing enhanced activity in some regions.

Brain training refers to targeted games, the goal of which is to enhance certain aspects of brain functioning -- memory, speed of processing, etc. Companies have designed computer programs to do this (see my post on 2/10/07) Some extended care facilities and senior communities have installed these in their "brain gyms."

Brain training also refers to activities we normally do that exercise our cognitive functions. Whatever stretches us to learn something new serves this purpose -- a new language, musical instrument, sport, memorize a poem, or learn to play bridge. When we exercise our triceps to keep the back of our arms firm, we need to occasionally change the exercise or our muscles will get acclimated and fail to strengthen. Similarly, if we keep doing the same activity, such as a card game, without challenging ourselves to learn something new, it will not increase the neural connections that make for brain fitness.

Alvaro Fernandez of SharpBrains.com reviews research about keeping the brain fit into old age. He forecasts where this field will go in the coming years. Here are a few predictions:

• The aging field will incorporate programs to maintain the quality of life throughout the life span, not just to increase longevity
• Cognitive exercises will be added to physical ones in gyms for all ages

• There will be better assessment tools to pinpoint areas of the brain that need beefing up in people over age 50. This will allow us to target different "mental muscles."

• Non-computer based strategies will proliferate - teaching meditation for learning to focus more effectively, journaling, and use of affirmations. Life-long learning centers already are a popular activity of many retired persons.

• The field of "certified brain coach" will emerge to assist in building a cognitive reserve.

• Corporations will add this to its wellness programs to keep older employees as fit as possible.

Do you think your brain is more "fit" to the extent you exercise it with new learning? What do you do to keep your brain fit?

Create Brain Resources to Protect From Losing It

Do you (or your parents) worry about losing your marbles when you grow older? Do you have a family history of Alzheimer's? Or, are there old people in your family who are so sharp that you hope you have their genes?

It's not so much about genes, researchers tell us. In an article in the NY Times, "Mental Reserves Keep Brains Agile," Jane Brody reports on scientists who study why some people who, on autopsy reports showed findings of Alzheimer's disease, were cognitively fit when they died.What accounts for this discrepancy?

Scientists Drs. Nikolaos Scarmeas and Yaakov Stern of Columbia University Medical Center call it "cognitive reserve." It's the brain's ability to develop extra neurons and connections.

Both mental and physical exercise can contribute to cognitive reserve, they find. By challenging ourselves to learn new things, both body and mind, we are encouraging the development of more connections.

Well educated people probably amass more of this reserve by virtue of their being motivated to keep learning and exercising their faculties through their work and their desire for life-long learning, even at an old age.

Like developing oneself athletically, our brains thrive on challenge and newness. Doing the same old exercise routine at the gym, no matter how often we do it, is less likely to build more strength and agility, but varying that routine and participating in different kinds of physical exercises is much more effective. Similarly, mental challenges, such as learning new games, new languages, meeting new people, trying new experiences in work and play, can help us add to that "reserve."

Let me know what you do to add to your cognitive reserve to ensure that you'll live a long, interesting life and that your great-grandchildren will remember you as being as "sharp as a tack."