Healthy Aging: Body, Mind & Spirit

Brain Fitness 2: Sight and Sound

Just like the original PBS Brain Fitness program, this new one holds encyclopedic information on how our brain function ages and what we can do to decrease its gradual rate of decline.

At the beginning of this 90-minute program, Peter Coyote introduces the idea of harnessing the power of brain plasticity (the ability of our brain to change and adapt rapidly to its surrounding environment) even as our sensory abilities decline.

One of the difficulties is that our brains trick us. They naturally compensate for gradual declines in vision, hearing, smell, and taste by filling in the parts we can no longer sense. The changes can be so subtle over time, that we may have no perception of what is happening. And the senses are our main way of perceiving the world and interacting with it.

Sight is our most dominant sense. One concept they discussed was “useful field of view” which they defined as how much we can easily take in when we quickly scan our surroundings. When we do a scan like this, we take in large amounts of information, but our accuracy in how we process that information may decline with age.

Our peripheral vision also degrades over time so that we may see less, but our brain simply fills in the parts our vision could not take in quickly. In other words we’re working with less and less information in forming our opinions about what is happening around us. We must constantly be aware of this decline in our field of vision and concentrate on the details of our surroundings, thus increasing our level of attention as we age.

Five Tips on Maintaining Independence With Aging:

1. Keep what you have: With a good diet & exercise. It is also very important to protect your vision from UV light with excellent sunglasses!
2. Be socially active: Continue to connect positively with others. Learn and grow in your relationships throughout life.
   
3. Maintain focus & attention: Strive to increase your cognitive abilities and field of vision. Pay closer attention to the details around you, and engage in new activities constantly.
4. Utilize positive plasticity: Be ready to try something new, learn new skills and seek new challenges. Concentrate on expanding your neural networks!
   
5. Don’t accept decline as inevitable. Be aggressive about maintaining your quality of life. Don’t go down without a fight or settle for less!

Remember, in the whole history of humankind, this is the best time to be facing  the difficulties of aging.  We continue to learn more with each generation!

Brain plasticity and aging

Be sure and see the PBS special called “The Brain Fitness Program” There you will learn how your brain changes with age.

Scientists have learned so much in the past ten years in the field of neurogenesis (how and why your brain creates new neuron networks). It is essential that we keep expanding these networks so that our brain’s life span equals our body’s life span.

Guess what the worst thing is for expanding your brain’s neural networks? You guessed it! Staying in the same job too long! If you aren’t constantly challenging your brain to integrate new information and try new activities, your brain’s plasticity is suffering. Expanding your neural horizons is the key to successful brain health, especially with aging.

We need to be constantly pushing ourselves to expand into new areas of interest, not just keep doing what we’re already good at. In other words, career change is good for your brain! Your brain is actually asking you to take up new challenges! Learning new skills changes your brain chemistry, and all for the better.

Besides learning lots of new skills, the other activity your aging brain needs is regular physical activity. Learning new skills is essential to increasing brain plasticity, but going out and taking a 40 minute walk is also key. On this program they recommend one hour of exercise five times a week. You may have improperly assumed you were doing this for your heart and body, but your brain also needs physical activity to remain in shape.

Those that study our aging brains say don’t seek comfort and reduce yourself to only those activities you’re already good at. Seek out novelty, new perspectives, physical activities and anything that taxes your brain circuits.

The companion book to this series is:  The Brain That Changes Itself.

Managing your own menopause/andropause

I have found that by researching my own specific health issues, I can find the kinds of solutions that work for me and my husband Mike. For example, when I first started into perimenopause, I read about how wonderful soy products were because of their phyto-estrogen properties. I started eating everything soy, learned all new recipes, and began to love it.

Then I developed the worst case of hives I could have ever imagined. I had weeping sores over half of my body, and they were spreading FAST! It took three different types of doctors to figure out how allergic I was to soy, so of course, I stopped eating it. Twenty days later my hives SLOWLY started going away.

We have also had to go through similar “experiments” to help Mike successfully manage his chronic fatigue symptoms, which included some andropause issues like a total lack of pregnenolone (the mother of all hormones in your body) Finding the right balance of supplements for your specific case is essential and takes time and experimentation.  We can highly recommend Dr. Myhill in the UK for practical solutions that work!

My advice to manage your own menopause or andropause problems? First of all, find a health care professional you respect and trust implicitly. Make sure that they keep up with the latest research in this area, and then go with your gut. But remember, you are the ultimate expert on your own body!

If they give you the creeps on any level, get out of their office. Get thorough blood tests to see the total picture of what’s happening in your body at menopause or andropause, including all the more complicated hormone levels like pregnenolone, cortisol, and the three testosterone levels (for men.)

And then use your own brain and gut to decide what will work for you, what you can live with, and what makes you feel better both emotionally and physically.

I admit it isn’t easy, because many doctors in the U.S. right now don’t seem to do their research, or know very much about these issues. Doctors and researchers in other countries like England seem far ahead of us in this area. But the internet offers you the unique opportunity to educate yourself and be healthy out there!

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Aging and Mitochondrial Malfunction

For those who are looking for solutions to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), my husband Mike and I have found ours.

As previously mentioned, Mike has been taking the OTC supplements recommended by Dr. Myhill in her online book exactly as suggested for over a year now, and he’s doing SO MUCH BETTER, working full-time and enjoying his ability to exercise again.

Need more proof of how important mitochondria are to your quality of life as you age?  Check out this fascinating new article in Science News!

U.S. suicide rate rising among those in midlife

A 2008 Center for Disease Control study found:

“The suicide rate among 45-to-54 year olds increased by nearly 20% from 1999 to 2004, the latest year studied, far outpacing changes in nearly every other age group. For women 45 to 54, the rate leapt 31%.”

Between recent international research showing a spike in midlife depression, and this new CDC report, it looks to me like the difficulties of midlife survival are finally being noticed by others. Those of us in the middle of all this, were already frightfully familiar with the challenges involved.

The reasons for increased depression and suicide at midlife are just theories so far. The CDC report suggested some corrolation between so many women foregoing the comforts of hormone replacement therapy and also the skyrocketing use and abuse of prescription drugs. In addition, the suicide rate is worse among Vietnam veterans. Some research shows that veterans account for one in five suicides in our age group.

Dr. Ira Katz, who oversees mental health programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs says:

“The agency has noticed that the highest suicide rates have been among middle-aged men and women. Those most affected are not returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, he said, but those who served in Vietnam or right after, when the draft ended and the all-volunteer force began. The current generation of older people seems to be at lesser risk for depression throughout their lifetimes than the middle-aged.”

Another scientist who has studied us, Myrna M. Weissman, the chief of the department in Clinical-Genetic Epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute, concluded there is a susceptibility to depression among the affluent and healthy baby boom generation. One possible reason she offered was the growing pressures of modern life, like the changing shape of families and more frequent moves away from friends.

Yes, I would have to agree. Loneliness, alienation and a lost sense of connection with others must be important factors in this equation.

More on diet and depression

Here’s a new study from England which links eating a lot of processed foods with an increased risk for depression.  Interesting findings!  It seems the Mediterranean diet is the way to go!

Diet and Depression

Aging and Depression

Life may begin at 40, but international research suggests that 44 is the age at which we are most vulnerable to depression.  According to a BBC article:

“Data analysis on two million people from 80 countries found a remarkably consistent pattern around the world. The risk of depression was lowest in younger and older people, with the middle-aged years associated with the highest risk for both men and women. The only country which recorded a significant gender difference was the U.S., where unhappiness reached a peak around the age of 40 for women, and 50 for men.”

These finding of a peak risk for depression in midlife were consistent around the globe, and in all types of people. Researcher Professor Andrew Oswald, an economist at the University of Warwick, said: “It happens to men and women, to single and married people, to rich and poor, and to those with and without children.”

The real mystery is why midlife is such a universally vulnerable time.

Researcher Oswald states: ”One possibility is that individuals learn to adapt to their strengths and weaknesses, and in mid-life quell their infeasible aspirations. Another possibility is that a kind of comparison process is at work in which people have seen similar-aged peers die and value more their own remaining years. Perhaps people somehow learn to count their blessings.”

There you go! What did I tell you about midlife?  It can be a tough time, but then it gets lots better in your 50’s and 60’s. If you  clear up your unfinished business, you’re then ready to continue on with a brand new perspective on what you need to accomplish before you die.

The BBC report says that this dip in mental health comes on slowly, not suddenly in a single year. Only in our 50’s do most of us emerge from this low period.

So ain’t it grand to be normal!