Brain cells do die off as we age, but the process does not accelerate. The areas of the brain that do lose cells are not necessarily the ones that are related to memory. The structure called the hippocampus shrinks in some people. These physical changes in the brain vary from person to person. Many people reach a ripe old age and are as sharp as ever.

It is known now that aging isn’t just about our outward appearance. Mental health and well-being are also major factors. Physical, mental, spiritual and social processes affect each person differently during this complex process called aging. Dementia, senility Alzheimer’s Disease and depression are very real and unpleasant realities that many seniors face as they age. We know there is no magic potion to stop this process of aging. It is up to each individual to take control of their mental health, make smart lifestyle changes about diet and exercise and maintain a healthy, positive attitude in order to maintain their youth and mental potential as long as possible.

Old age puts more wrinkles in our minds than on our faces.  ~Michel
de Montaigne

Studies indicate that 50% of brain power is genetic and the other 50% is attributed to the environment. The activity a brain receives and the experiences it encounters all help the brain to develop and achieve. Like a muscle the more we exercise it the better it becomes.  The best thing you can do to increase your brain’s thinking power is to exercise it through lots of activity. Constant exposure to new ideas, learning and activities will help work your brain, improve it and protect it from mental decline.  With mental exercise you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Defying your chronological age (maintain your youth)can be achieved by keeping your mind active and your brain sharp.

You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.
George Burns
1896-1996, American Comedy Actor

There are dozens of books out there that are full of activities that will help you keep your mind sharp. Sodoku puzzles, brain teasers, word finders and crossword puzzles, even the internet has games you can play and challenge yourself to reach new levels of mastery. Simply memorizing a song or poem or perhaps a verse from the Bible will help you with thinking and remembering. The following are a few activities I found to be fun and are excellent examples of ways to sharpen your brain.

These were excerpted from Women’s Health
magazine, January /February 2008.

Brain-Boosting Puzzles

(1) Find a six-letter male name from which you can drop either the
first or the last letter to spell out a five-letter food. (Hint: The name
starts with a vowel.)
(2) Find the last name of a famous actress hidden in each of these
sentences. Each name will be seven consecutive letters long and part
of two or more words.

After jumping a crevasse, the cougar landed safely on the other side.

Marian drew sketches in the park all afternoon.

(3) Think of the name of a well-known sport. Change its first letter to
another letter, and you get a word for a participant in a different sport.
What are the two words?

(4) Put three letters in each set of blanks to complete a word on the
left and start a word on the right.
Example: TO _ _ _ TURE
Answer: PIC (topic/picture)

UNI _ _ _ STION
MINI _ _ _ MY
M _ _ _ MERATE
PL _ _ _LEA

(5) What three consecutive numbers, when spelled out, use a single
vowel over and over?

ANSWERS
ANSWER to (1): Oliver — olive and liver
ANSWER to (2): Judy Garland (cougar landed), Julie Andrews
ANSWER to (3): hockey/jockey
ANSWER (4): QUE (unique/question); MUM (minimum/mummy);
ENU (menu/enumerate); AZA (plaza/azalea)
ANSWER (5): ten, eleven, twelve

Check out more puzzles at this website:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/puzzle?

Here are two additional sites to check out for more games to try.

Best Memory boosting Games

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/emotional/memory-brain-

power-games

Brain games can Boost IQ – Here’s 5 new brain games to play
now.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/91581

Last but not least, I found this memory boosting trick in Prevention
magazine, August 2007;

“If you want to be sure to recall something you read, warm up your memory first by moving your eyes from side to side for 30 seconds.Horizontal eye movements are thought to bolster interaction between the two hemispheres of the brain, and communication between them is key to retrieving certain types of memories. “–AM

The aging brain is very resilient, adaptable and capable.  Keep it functional and keep it young. With the proper care and lifestyle choices you can anti-age. Go play some games and have fun!!

Happy Anti-aging everyone!

Chuck’n'Gayle

When it comes to staying young, a mind-lift beats a face-lift anyday.  ~Marty Bucella

Mental and emotional health is extremely important to healthy aging and maintaining your youth. Depression, stress and anxiety can affect your ability to recover from illness.  Spiritual, mental and physical aspects of life all influence longevity.  Living a healthy lifestyle and learning new things can keep your brain functioning optimally. A healthy mind is part of a healthy body. If you are in a good state of mind you are better able to make the best decisions for yourself about your lifestyle and your health. Longevity depends on a healthy brain and attitude. One of the most important things you can do as you age is to maintain a healthy sharp brain.

There are many things you can do to keep your mind healthy and sharp and in peak condition.  Did you know many of these things are also key to maintaining a healthy body as well?

• Reduce the stress in your life. Stress can damage the brain.
Relax, meditate and treat yourself once in a while. Managing
the stress in your life improves your memory, makes you less
sensitive to pain and more able to cope.

•  Practice the art of positive thinking. Develop a positive attitude
about yourself and the world around you. To ensure longevity
in the brain keep a positive sense of purpose and a healthy
optimism.

“Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are
famous preservers of youthful looks.”
Charles Dickens

• Take time to do the things you enjoy. Pursue leisure activities.
Read books and magazines, take a walk, play golf, knit with a
friend, enjoy a movie together. Leisure activities can reduce the
risk or delay the onset of dementia.

• Stay in touch with family and friends. Staying connected and being active helps us to live longer and retain mental sharpness. Build strong social networks to help the brain tolerate told age. Lonely individuals are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Volunteer and donate your time to something worthy. It allows you to use your brain and try new things.  It is intellectually stimulating and you meet new people.
Several studies have found that people who volunteer live longer than those who do not.

• Get enough sleep.  Getting enough sleep increases your
concentration and is critical for memory and information
processing.  Sleep is when your brain sharpens new skills and
solves problems.

• If you feel depressed or anxious get help from a professional.
Depression is one of the most common conditions seniors
face.

• Free your mind and body of harmful drugs and alcohol. Stop
smoking and cut down on alcohol consumption.

• Use your mental muscles, working out your brain strengthens
neuronal pathways and builds new ones. Train your brain to
improve memory skills, reasoning and visualization efficiency.
Active learning through out your life will keep your brain
healthy later in years.

• Get regular exercise it is the best way to improve brain health,
improve memory, concentration and abstract thinking. Exercise
increases blood flow to the brain, which nourishes the brain
cells and allows them to function more efficiently. Certain areas
of the brain shrink as we age. Walking can reverse this affect. A
University of Illinois study of adults ages 60-80 revealed that
walker’s brains looked 2-3 years younger than others their
age. Walk everyday!

• Eat nutritiously to decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s and age-
related cognitive decline. Remember what you eat can affect how you think.

A man is not old as long as he is seeking something.  ~Jean
Rostand

Some of the myths about aging and the brain are just not true. We can all acquire new knowledge, sharpen our skills and learn new tricks no matter what our age. Learning new things can help maintain mental functions and sharpen your mind. Researchers have learned that our older brains are quite capable of learning new things. We continue to learn as we age and we gain wisdom. Older people learn things just as well as younger people.  It may take a bit more time or effort but, yes, you can teach “an old dog new tricks”.

Do a crossword puzzle, Play a game, take on a new hobby, study a language, take a college course about a passion of yours, learn a new sport, learn how to play an instrument, take dancing lessons or cozy up with a good book. Reading keeps your mind sharp for life and provides an intellectual boost, especially when reading great literature. Research believes that people who read develop a brainpower reservoir that may lessen the risk of dementia.

All of these new experiences help stimulate the area of the brain that produces dopamine.  Dopamine is a chemical involved in memory and learning.  Learning and doing new things builds brain mass and increases your mental agility. Don’t be afraid of challenging and expanding your horizons with fresh and new
activities. You do not have to excel in your new pursuits to reap the many benefits.

I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now.  ~Author
Unknown

Contrary to popular belief the brain does not lose brain cells everyday, rather it grows new brain cells and reshapes itself through the experiences you encounter and the learning you do. As you challenge your brain, new brain cells sprout and the brain carves a new neural pathway keeping the brain vital and sharp.  When stimulated by new activities the brain is capable of regeneration.

One of the major keys to defying your age is staying mentally active and sharpening your brain. Get out there and train your brain for longevity. You will be glad you did and smarter for it!

First you are young; then you are middle-aged; then you are old; then you are wonderful.     Norman Vincent Peale

Be Wonderful Everyone!  Happy Anti-aging!

Chuck and Gayle

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSu9HGnlMV0[/youtube]

Just what is plasticity of the brain and what types of impact might it have in our own brain health? At first the term itself sounded very odd to me. Plastic cups and containers came to mind immediately. Brain plasticity is nothing like the hard plastic we use everyday to store food or carry water. Brain plasticity refers to the brains ability to actually change. It is not static as we may have believed, but responds to new learning and experiences. Actually it is cortical remapping where brain activity associated with a particular function can move to a different location in the brain as you just viewed in the video. Brain plasticity is a physical process simple in a way and yet extraordinarily complex. New neural connections can be made and refined or made weak and even severed. The gray matter in our brains can shrink or become thicker. All of these changes reflect new or improved skills that we learn, memory lapses that we have or a weakened skill.

The brain is amazing. It does not stop developing when we are young, but has the capacity for continuous physical, chemical and brain functionality change even when we are old. We can actually retrain our brains. A type of an anti-aging process for our brain. The key, of course, is to know which mechanisms to target, how to exercise them and which activities work the best. Not only can we learn new skills as we grow older, but the possibilities of brain plasticity for brain health and science are tremendous. New therapy for treatment of all types of cognitive problems such as stroke, traumatic brain injuries, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, dementia and cancer patients with brain damage from chemo therapy are possible. Brain plasticity knowledge is causing a revolution in brain science and medicine.

Brain plasticity knowledge is important for everyday life too. We all want to live longer, add a few years to our life, be healthier and we want our brains to be vibrant and healthy as well. It is important for brain health to exercise our bodies and our brains, learn new tasks, challenge ourselves, explore new horizons and expand our capabilities. Just because you are growing old does not mean that you are not capable of new and wonderful things. Be a better older person and take care of your brain. It is a vital part of maintaining your youth and anti-aging.

To read about the seven rules of the brain try this site: www.harmonyhealth.com

To check out a computer based brain fitness program try this site: www.positscience.com

Happy anti-aging everyone.

Chuck and Gayle

1. Protect Your Head
2. Avoid Tobacco
3. Don’t abuse alcohol
4. Exercise
5. Interact with friends and family, socialize
6. Eat healthy, eat the right foods, count calories
7. Travel, explore new places and things
8. Be happy and stress free, keep a positive attitude
9. Improve your blood pressure,cholesterol and blood sugar
10. Learn new things, read, play games, challenge yourself mentally everyday

Start building your brainpower with these fun and challenging activities I found on Youtube:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Saj-gxzSLog[/youtube]