<-- Back to Current Category
Free articles directory provides clear reviews and articles about general interest life issues. Through comparisons, recommendations, case studies and useful news, articles allows nonprofits to take the best decisions that will help them be more effective. Our publications and subjects are organized by major categories: Arts & Entertainment, Automotive, Finance, Business, Computers & Technology, Reference & Education, Health, Fitness, Home & Garden, News & Society and Sports. Free Articles directory proposes to make your life easier, providing useful articles, tutorials and information resources from and about various life issues. Here you may find: free business articles; financial and e-commerce articles; free internett tutorials; science and health information; free sport and fitness advice; reference and education articles. Also, other general-interest areas are covered: home and family articles and tutorials; self improvement tips; travel and leisure; society and religion articles; Free Articles directory is a premium educational resource and free article submission service, providing comprehensive articles and tutorials and it is designed for information purposes only. We hope you'll find our free articles page a useful information resource and our tutorials a key for your questions and doubts.
New Toys + New Playmates = Better Brain
By: Susan Dunn, MA, Emotional Intelligence Coach, Sat Apr 15th, 2006
Some of the stereotypes we have about the brain and aging are
being dispelled by recent research. Here are some myths and new
reality.
1. Myth: Once you're born, all you can look forward to is a long
and steady loss of brain cells.
REALITY: “Stem” cells in the brain can create new neurons, and
idle neurons will extend their branches to carry signals to and
from other neurons indefinitely, under the right conditions.
2. MYTH: We can’t get smarter as we age.
REALITY: Mice in an enriched environment (new toys and
playmates), increased 4000 new neurons in the hippocampus
(crucial to memory and learning) compared to 2400 in the control
group. Older mice’s brains also got bigger and better quickly!
(Diamond and Rosenzweig, Elizabeth Gould, Princeton)
3. MYTH: Creativity diminishes with age.
REALITY: According to Ralph Warner, author of “Get a Life: You
Don’t Need a Million to Retire Well,” “older artists often do
well, commonly experiencing a sustained burst of exciting
creativity after 65.”
4. MYTH: There isn’t much you can do to avoid Alzheimer’s.
REALITY: According to David Snowden, Ph.D., “Aging with Grace,”
hardworking brains (the ones that keep learning new challenging
things) do well because their stimulated cells branch
frequently. This results in millions of new synapses so the
brain actually becomes larger and a larger brain can cope better
with the effects of brain diseases, like Alzheimer’s and
strokes. Theoretically because it has more active tissue, and
therefore a greater number of ways to work around diseased or
damaged areas.
5. MYTH: What you’ve got, is all you’ll ever get.
REALITY: According to Paula Tallal, Rutgers neuroscientist, “You
create your brain from the input you get,” i.e., intellectual
stimulation strengthens the brain because in the normal course
of living, our brains constantly reorganize themselves, which is
called neuroplasticity.” Neuroplasticity accelerates with the
amount and complexity of the new information our brains receive.
6. MYTH: As you age, it’s too hard to learn new things, so stick
with what you already know.
REALITY: According to Arnold Scheibel, head of UCLA’s Brain
Research Institute, the brain’s axons and dendrites (which send
and receive messages) grow fastest with new material. “The
important thing is to be actively involved in areas unfamiliar
to you,” say Golden and Tsiaras, in “Building a Better Brain.”
“Anything that is intellectually challenging can probably serve
as a kind of stimulus for dendritic growth, which means it adds
to the computational reserves in your brain.” Sounds to me like
building new hard drive, yes?
7. MYTH: Watching the Discovery Channel suffices for stimulation.
REALITY: Dr. Robert Friedland reports that adults over age 70
with brain-stimulating hobbies were two and a half times less
likely to suffer from the effects of Alzheimer’s later in life
than were those whose main leisure activity was watching TV.
8. MYTH: In order to stimulate and grow the brain, you must
engage in formal schooling.
REALITY: According to Warner, traditional academic subjects
aren’t the only answer. The key is to find something both new
and challenging to you. Therefore, if you’re an engineering
professor, for instance, you’re better off learning how to grow
roses, write poetry, or fly a plane.
9. MYTH: I can ignore it for a while and it will still be there
when I get back.
REALITY: According to neurologist Oliver Sacks, our body’s
economy dictates that if neurons dedicated to perform a given
skill are not being used, they’ll either atrophy or be co-opted
to some other function.
10. MYTH: Intellectual stimulation is enough.
REALITY: Aerobic exercise may be especially beneficial to brain
function in aging people, because it tends to keep blood vessels
in better shape (Marion Diamond). Mice that exercised regularly
on a running wheel grew twice as many new brain cells (in the
hippocampus) (Salk study).
So there you have it! Jog on out for those new toys and new
playmates and get a better brain and a better life! And it’s
never too late unless you don’t start now.
About the author:
Susan helps people enhance their brains and develop their
emotional intelligence. Visit her on the web at
http://www.susandunn.cc. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for Free
ezine; put "ezine" for subject line. Coaching, ebooks,
teleclasses. Susan trains and certifies EQ coaches. Email for
info on affordable, fast, no-residency program.
