October 22, 2009
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, oil those brains, before they rust." -- (from A. Nonny Mouse Writes Again! by J. Prelutsky, 1993)
Writing for pleasure could be helpful to an aging brain, researchers say, and they also point to another way to save aging brain cells--browsing the Internet.
Apparently Web surfing is equally as important to an aging brain as writing.
In my view, there is a problem however, with both these suggested anti-aging remedies, simply because activities such as driving through big cities and finding one's exit on the interstate require extra sharp mental prowess.
I am not sure that writing stories or browsing EBay can help.
Case in point.
Last weekend the Hubby and I got lost driving through St. Louis en route to Chicago. Yes, through St. Louis where we visit regularly. We should know how to do this, right?
Here's my story and I am sticking to it. We got lost because one of us (the Hubby) was reading billboards instead of traffic signs, and the other (the passenger) was writing emails and texts on an iPhone (my bad).
Before we realized it, we found ourselves on I-55 headed to Memphis and Elvis, the opposite direction from Chicago.
The GPS lady, I refer to her as Dominique because she sounds French, was screaming at us, "Recalculating. Recalculating. As soon as possible make a U-turn (you idiots)."
"What does that woman want now," The Hubby asked.
"I don't know," I said looking up from my iPhone. "What city are we in?"
Hubby was exercising his brain and using his critical thinking skills to read billboards. He was studying signs that read "Antique tractor auction, next exit" and "Did you know the Arch is 630 feet over the Mississippi River" and "Wanna GoDaddy".
He was deep in thought and missed the exit.
In the meantime, I was texting furiously and posting items on Twitter and Facebook, just practicing my writing skills you understand.
Didn't look up. Missed the exit.
Could have happened to anyone, but don't tell the grown kids who might confiscate our car keys.
But, I regress; back to how writing stories for pure pleasure and other activities might preserve needed mental skills.
Dr. Richard Lipton, professor of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and director of the Einstein Aging Study, makes the case for "the-use-your-brain-or-lose-it" philosophy of aging.
He says that tackling crossword puzzles, playing board games, writing and other mental gymnastics may allow us to tap into our brain's critical thinking component where decision-making takes place. Thus, our constantly evaporating brain cells enjoy a hearty workout.
"We found a number of years ago that... doing puzzles, writing for pleasure, playing chess and engaging in a broader array of cognitive activities seem to protect against age-related decline in cognitive function and also dementia," he wrote.
Dr. Gary Small's team at the University of California at Los Angeles, according to Amanda Garnder of HealthDay, found another way to preserve brain function--browsing the Internet. Dr. Small says, "Older adults who started browsing the Web experienced improved brain function after only a few days." The study suggests that, as we age, we should try this mental exercise an hour a day.
Whoopee! Can do.
Just don't ask us to drive to Pittsburg as I am pretty sure that requires finding an exit.
