Some of the ways the brain can be kept shipshape throughout life are featured in a new book, Live a Longer Life, by Sophie Scott, ABC national medical reporter. Researching her book, Scott talked to experts all over the world who have developed simple memory tools and techniques to keep the brain active.
One of the experts in Scott's book is Professor Ian Robertson, an authority on brain plasticity and neuro-rehabilitation at Trinity College in Dublin, who finds older people can stay sharp by training their brains with memory exercises.
"Robertson showed [that] older people process information differently from younger people," Scott says. "If you give younger people a list of items like bread, couch, milk, fish, apple, chair, shelf and table, they will go 'OK, some of them are food and some are furniture' and that will help them remember; whereas an older person will try to remember the whole lot.
"Robertson showed [that] older people process information differently from younger people," Scott says. "If you give younger people a list of items like bread, couch, milk, fish, apple, chair, shelf and table, they will go 'OK, some of them are food and some are furniture' and that will help them remember; whereas an older person will try to remember the whole lot.
"So if you can try to think like a younger person and think more in categories, it will help your memory.
"Having 10 sessions of memory training [like recalling lists] can boost cognitive ability equal to what would be lost over 10 to 14 years. But you don't have to do anything special, you don't have to go to any special classes, it is actually just using your brain - even read something and think, 'What did I just read?' "
"It is never too late" might be a tired old cliche but Scott found plenty of evidence to support it, especially when it comes to keeping the memory well-oiled.
"Having 10 sessions of memory training [like recalling lists] can boost cognitive ability equal to what would be lost over 10 to 14 years. But you don't have to do anything special, you don't have to go to any special classes, it is actually just using your brain - even read something and think, 'What did I just read?' "
"It is never too late" might be a tired old cliche but Scott found plenty of evidence to support it, especially when it comes to keeping the memory well-oiled.
He spoke to a neuropsychologist who found no evidence for progressive memory loss in people between the ages of 60 to 80 - people in their 80s did just as well as people in their 60s in memory tests.
"I don't think there is any evidence to show it is ever too late."
Research suggests the brain starts shrinking as people hit their 60s, yet this common side effect of ageing appears to have no impact on an individual's capacity to think or learn.
Professor Helen Christensen, director of the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University, says cognitive testing shows that people of any age who engage in certain levels of physical and mental activity are more likely to perform better.
"I don't think there is any evidence to show it is ever too late."
Research suggests the brain starts shrinking as people hit their 60s, yet this common side effect of ageing appears to have no impact on an individual's capacity to think or learn.
Professor Helen Christensen, director of the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University, says cognitive testing shows that people of any age who engage in certain levels of physical and mental activity are more likely to perform better.
"Many people at 80 can perform [mentally] as well as 18-year-olds," she says. "The way people approach problems in old age is really based a lot on what they initially had and how they used it over the life span."
No comments:
Post a Comment