Home
Gallery
Search
Register
Log in
Just as physical exercise maintains body tone, strength and endurance, mental exercise has positive conditioning effects for people of all ages. The decline in specific mental abilities believed to be associated with aging – such as memory loss, sluggish thinking and blocks in problem-solving – are not inevitable if the brain remains challenged. In a major longitudinal study by the National Institute of Mental Health in Philadelphia, men tested at age 81 were compared with performance on the same tests they had taken at ages 75 and 70. Researchers reported that the "pattern of decline of cognitive capabilities generally associated with advanced aging" was "neither extensive nor consistent."
Other major studies on aging over the past 25 years – Svanborg and colleagues in Sweden, Duke University and the National Institute on Aging – support the findings that mental (and physical) decline with aging is not inevitable. Yet we have all seen elderly people who unmistakably experience mental decline as they grow older. What can be done to preserve, even enhance, our mental fitness as we grow older?
Use It or Lose It
Not surprisingly, the same advice we follow to achieve physical fitness applies to mental fitness – use it or lose it. Just as weight repetitions in the gym or jogging strengthen certain muscle groups, mental exercises appear to strengthen and enhance cognitive functions over time. Brain Fitness, written by the founder of the French National Institute for Research on the Prevention of Cerebral Aging, Monique Le Poncin, outlines strategies to strengthen various mental abilities. Specifically, Le Poncin recommends an exercise regimen that focuses on building up abilities such as perception, long- and short-term memory, as well as visuospatial, structuralization, logic and verbal abilities. She advocates a technique of cerebral activation called "brain fitness.
How "Brain Fitness" Works
The goal of brain fitness is to revive certain mental abilities before they slow down. In Le Poncin's own words, "Our team does not claim to work miracles. We simply develop the previously unknown fertility of land that had been lying fallow." According to Brain Fitness, the exercises are simple and fun to do and yield real progress in a relatively short time (after only a couple weeks of performing the exercises).
Day-By-Day Activation
Try the following exercises when traveling to and from work, during lunch hour and breaks or while shopping and doing housework. They take only a few moments. Combine different variations of these exercises each day. It is important to keep a record of your progress. Use a small notebook or a dated daily diary and note especially where you seem to have problems. Then you can self-prescribe exercises in those areas where you are the weakest. Each of the following exercises is from Brain Fitness, and is categorized by the specific mental ability it is designed to strengthen.
Exercise Your Perceptive Abilities
The goal is to exercise perception in all five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
• Sight: Each day, observe an object (a photograph, for example) or a person you pass on the street. Draw it (or him or her) immediately. This exercises short-term memory. At the end of the week, redraw the seven objects or persons you have observed. This exercises long-term memory
• Smell/Taste: When dining in a restaurant or at a friend's home, 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. To make the exercise more challenging, memorize the prices as well. At the end of the day, recall as many of the dishes/prices as you can and write them down.
• Hearing: On the telephone, practice recognizing callers before they identify themselves. Then memorize callers' phone numbers. At the end of the day, write down the names of people you have spoken with that day, as well as their phone numbers. At the end of the week, try writing down as many of these as you can.
• Smell/Touch: Exercise your senses of smell and touch by trying to identify objects with your eyes closed.
Exercise Your Visuospatial Abilities
Visuospatial abilities are related to the ability to make quick and accurate estimates of distances, areas and volumes – the general proportions of things and their distribution in space. Try the following:
• When you walk into a room with a group of people in it, 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.
• Observe objects – pens, for instance – and try to estimate their lengths and thicknesses.
• When you have visited somewhere and then return home, try to draw a plan or map of the place you have seen. Repeat this exercise the next day and the day after.
Exercise Your Structuralization Ability
Structuralization involves building a logical whole from disparate elements after close observation of the elements. The following exercises will strengthen this ability.
• Take a sentence from a magazine or newspaper. Try to make another sentence using the same words.
• Buy a jigsaw puzzle and practice fitting the pieces together as quickly as possible. Note the time it takes you to do this. Do it again a week later and note the time it takes to do it.
Exercise Your Logic Abilities
Logic is the art of reasoning – finding an orderly sequence for disparate elements. The following exercises/activities will awaken the inherently logic inside of you.
• Do not use a list when shopping. Instead, invent a system to take the place of the list. 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. Or, you can classify foods into raw and cooked. Or, use any other system that works for you.
• All games involve logical activities. Card games such as pinochle and bridge or board games of strategy such as chess or checkers are good choices. So are crossword puzzles, anagrams and other word games.
• Avoid playing the same games all the time. Chess players might switch to Go™ or Othello™, while bridge players might play whist or hearts. Playing the same game all the time leads to routine, which is the opposite of activation. The same cerebral circuits and neuronal regions are constantly used and everything else remains unused.
• Find new games and interests. Explore activities that are completely new to you and find new partners for old – and new – games and activities.
Exercise Your Verbal Abilities
Verbal abilities – the precise use of spoken or written words – make demands on short-term and long-term memory.
• Listen to the morning news on the radio or TV. During the day, write down the main points of the news that you remember. Do the same in the evening.
• Whenever you meet someone, try to come up with at least one anagram of his or her name. An anagram rearranges the letters of one word or phrase to make another word or phrase. For instance, an anagram for Clint Eastwood could be Old West Action. Or, when you see a word quickly think of others that begin with the same two letters.
• Each time you come to the end of a chapter in a book you are reading, imagine that you must summarize it as briefly as possible, orally or in writing, to someone who has not read it. Do the same for the whole book when you finish it.
Creating the "Mentally Fit" Lifestyle
Le Poncin points out that doing mental exercises are not the end of mental-fitness training. She stresses the importance – especially for older people – of overcoming monotony and routine in our daily lives. Monotony generates mental (and emotional) lethargy and resignation. The antidote here is to organize your life in such a way that you become involved and open yourself to others through dialogue, interaction and confrontation. Recent research suggests that even just socializing and talking with other people can keep your mental skills sharp. 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.
Resources
– American Psychological Association: www.apa.org
– Rotary Club of Santa Monica and the Center for Healthy Aging: www.helpguide.org
Sources
– Baltes, PB and Kliege, R. “On the Dynamics Between Growth and Decline in the Aging of Intelligence and Memory.” Neurology. Poech K, et al., eds. Berlin and Heidelberg; Springer-Verlag 1986
– Groneck, S and Patterson, R. Human Aging II: An Eleven- Year Biomedical and Behavioral Study. U.S. Public Health Service Monograph (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1971).
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Call your health-care provider immediately if you think you may have a medical emergency. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition
Edits to original content made by Balanced Living Magazine.[/font][/font]
Other major studies on aging over the past 25 years – Svanborg and colleagues in Sweden, Duke University and the National Institute on Aging – support the findings that mental (and physical) decline with aging is not inevitable. Yet we have all seen elderly people who unmistakably experience mental decline as they grow older. What can be done to preserve, even enhance, our mental fitness as we grow older?
Use It or Lose It
Not surprisingly, the same advice we follow to achieve physical fitness applies to mental fitness – use it or lose it. Just as weight repetitions in the gym or jogging strengthen certain muscle groups, mental exercises appear to strengthen and enhance cognitive functions over time. Brain Fitness, written by the founder of the French National Institute for Research on the Prevention of Cerebral Aging, Monique Le Poncin, outlines strategies to strengthen various mental abilities. Specifically, Le Poncin recommends an exercise regimen that focuses on building up abilities such as perception, long- and short-term memory, as well as visuospatial, structuralization, logic and verbal abilities. She advocates a technique of cerebral activation called "brain fitness.
How "Brain Fitness" Works
The goal of brain fitness is to revive certain mental abilities before they slow down. In Le Poncin's own words, "Our team does not claim to work miracles. We simply develop the previously unknown fertility of land that had been lying fallow." According to Brain Fitness, the exercises are simple and fun to do and yield real progress in a relatively short time (after only a couple weeks of performing the exercises).
Day-By-Day Activation
Try the following exercises when traveling to and from work, during lunch hour and breaks or while shopping and doing housework. They take only a few moments. Combine different variations of these exercises each day. It is important to keep a record of your progress. Use a small notebook or a dated daily diary and note especially where you seem to have problems. Then you can self-prescribe exercises in those areas where you are the weakest. Each of the following exercises is from Brain Fitness, and is categorized by the specific mental ability it is designed to strengthen.
Exercise Your Perceptive Abilities
The goal is to exercise perception in all five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
• Sight: Each day, observe an object (a photograph, for example) or a person you pass on the street. Draw it (or him or her) immediately. This exercises short-term memory. At the end of the week, redraw the seven objects or persons you have observed. This exercises long-term memory
• Smell/Taste: When dining in a restaurant or at a friend's home, 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. To make the exercise more challenging, memorize the prices as well. At the end of the day, recall as many of the dishes/prices as you can and write them down.
• Hearing: On the telephone, practice recognizing callers before they identify themselves. Then memorize callers' phone numbers. At the end of the day, write down the names of people you have spoken with that day, as well as their phone numbers. At the end of the week, try writing down as many of these as you can.
• Smell/Touch: Exercise your senses of smell and touch by trying to identify objects with your eyes closed.
Exercise Your Visuospatial Abilities
Visuospatial abilities are related to the ability to make quick and accurate estimates of distances, areas and volumes – the general proportions of things and their distribution in space. Try the following:
• When you walk into a room with a group of people in it, 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.
• Observe objects – pens, for instance – and try to estimate their lengths and thicknesses.
• When you have visited somewhere and then return home, try to draw a plan or map of the place you have seen. Repeat this exercise the next day and the day after.
Exercise Your Structuralization Ability
Structuralization involves building a logical whole from disparate elements after close observation of the elements. The following exercises will strengthen this ability.
• Take a sentence from a magazine or newspaper. Try to make another sentence using the same words.
• Buy a jigsaw puzzle and practice fitting the pieces together as quickly as possible. Note the time it takes you to do this. Do it again a week later and note the time it takes to do it.
Exercise Your Logic Abilities
Logic is the art of reasoning – finding an orderly sequence for disparate elements. The following exercises/activities will awaken the inherently logic inside of you.
• Do not use a list when shopping. Instead, invent a system to take the place of the list. 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. Or, you can classify foods into raw and cooked. Or, use any other system that works for you.
• All games involve logical activities. Card games such as pinochle and bridge or board games of strategy such as chess or checkers are good choices. So are crossword puzzles, anagrams and other word games.
• Avoid playing the same games all the time. Chess players might switch to Go™ or Othello™, while bridge players might play whist or hearts. Playing the same game all the time leads to routine, which is the opposite of activation. The same cerebral circuits and neuronal regions are constantly used and everything else remains unused.
• Find new games and interests. Explore activities that are completely new to you and find new partners for old – and new – games and activities.
Exercise Your Verbal Abilities
Verbal abilities – the precise use of spoken or written words – make demands on short-term and long-term memory.
• Listen to the morning news on the radio or TV. During the day, write down the main points of the news that you remember. Do the same in the evening.
• Whenever you meet someone, try to come up with at least one anagram of his or her name. An anagram rearranges the letters of one word or phrase to make another word or phrase. For instance, an anagram for Clint Eastwood could be Old West Action. Or, when you see a word quickly think of others that begin with the same two letters.
• Each time you come to the end of a chapter in a book you are reading, imagine that you must summarize it as briefly as possible, orally or in writing, to someone who has not read it. Do the same for the whole book when you finish it.
Creating the "Mentally Fit" Lifestyle
Le Poncin points out that doing mental exercises are not the end of mental-fitness training. She stresses the importance – especially for older people – of overcoming monotony and routine in our daily lives. Monotony generates mental (and emotional) lethargy and resignation. The antidote here is to organize your life in such a way that you become involved and open yourself to others through dialogue, interaction and confrontation. Recent research suggests that even just socializing and talking with other people can keep your mental skills sharp. 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.
Resources
– American Psychological Association: www.apa.org
– Rotary Club of Santa Monica and the Center for Healthy Aging: www.helpguide.org
Sources
– Baltes, PB and Kliege, R. “On the Dynamics Between Growth and Decline in the Aging of Intelligence and Memory.” Neurology. Poech K, et al., eds. Berlin and Heidelberg; Springer-Verlag 1986
– Groneck, S and Patterson, R. Human Aging II: An Eleven- Year Biomedical and Behavioral Study. U.S. Public Health Service Monograph (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1971).
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Call your health-care provider immediately if you think you may have a medical emergency. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition
Edits to original content made by Balanced Living Magazine.[/font][/font]
