Maintaining Mental Ability as We Grow Older

1. Maintaining Mental Ability as We Grow Older

2. Are You an Optimist? If you are then good news- People who have a positive mental outlook tend to show less decline in mental functioning as they age.

3. Positive emotions facilitate preservation of cognitive (thinking) abilities.

4. It is important to distinguish normal, age-associated mental impairment from conditions such as dementia which identifies a disease process.

5. It is important to distinguish normal, age-associated mental impairment from conditions such as dementia which identifies a disease process. Dementia includes those diseases involving nerve cell deterioration and is defined as a loss in at least two areas of complex behavior. These include language, memory, visual & spatial abilities, and judgment. Impairment must be severe enough to interfere with a person's normal, daily ability to function.

6. Research also shows that though most older people tend to experience some memory deficiency, others maintain a high level of cognitive functioning into their later years.

7. These "successful agers," as they are sometimes labeled, show less age-related memory loss. They generally have higher levels of education, stay involved in their work and spend more time doing activities that require complex thought.

8. Factors known to facilitate preservation of cognitive abilities in aging: • maintaining good physical health, • maintaining a cognitively challenging lifestyle, • regular physical exercise, • generally positive emotions and relationships, • limiting exposure to chronic stress.

9. What do these studies have in common that are clues about how to preserve and improve mental ability while aging? Reading is exercise for the brain. While reading only novels will help you keep your brain in decent shape, reading on serious subjects, or reading more challenging works, will do even more. Reading that forces you to think about complex ideas keeps your brain busy maintaining old pathways and forming new ones.

10. What do these studies have in common that are clues about how to preserve and improve mental ability while aging? Regular physical exercise and exposure to enriching environments have both been shown to boost new neuron production in the hippocampus. While these strategies will not halt the decline, they may slow it considerably.

11. What do these studies have in common that are clues about how to preserve and improve mental ability while aging? The sultry moves of tango dancing can help the aging brain. Researchers have discovered that the fancy footwork required to perform the tango bolsters brainpower and improves balance.

12. It is Never Too Late • It’s never too late to start. • Studies show that the adult cortex retains its plasticity.

13. New Mental Tasks and the Brain New mental tasks increase neural connections and help the brain become more adaptive to future events.

14. New Mental Tasks and the Brain New mental tasks increase neural connections and help the brain become more adaptive to future events. You have the best chance of growing connections between your axons and dendrites by tackling activities that are unfamiliar to you.

15. New Mental Tasks and the Brain New mental tasks increase neural connections and help the brain become more adaptive to future events. You have the best chance of growing connections between your axons and dendrites by tackling activities that are unfamiliar to you. One of the brain’s most basic principles: USE IT OR LOSE IT – never too late to start By constantly challenging you brain to learn new things, you may develop more neural connections that help you delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, recover from stroke, and live a longer life.

16. Brain-Based Learning-New Concept of Brain • The brain has the ability • T* to rewire itself, Kotulak, Ronald, Inside the Brain, 1997

17. Brain-Based Learning-New Concept of Brain • The brain has the ability • T* to rewire itself, • G* grow new parts from damaged cells,

18. Brain-Based Learning-New Concept of Brain • The brain has the ability • T* to rewire itself, • G* grow new parts from damaged cells, • A* and even make new cells. • This is called plasticity.

19. Brain-Based Learning-Neurons www.educ.drake.edu/romig/cogito/brain_and_mind.html Neurons-- carry electrical charges and make chemical connections to other neurons Cell Body -- contains the nucleus Axons -- long fibers (extending from the cell body) that transmit messages Dendrites-- short fibers (surrounding the cell body) that receive messages Synapses -- tiny gaps between axons and dendrites (with chemical bridges) that transmit messages

20. Human Brain 100 billion neurons - each connected to other neurons by projections known as: Axons: way neurons pass on information (teach) and Dendrites: way neurons get information (learn)

21. Each neuron has 1 axon and as many as 100,000 dendrites. Synapses -- tiny gaps between axons and dendrites (with chemical bridges) that transmit messages. Learning and development occurs in the brain through the process of strengthening and weakening theses connections. 100 trillion constantly changing connections.

22. Development Interconnected Tangle of Connections • The neuron and its thousands of neighbors send out axons and dendrites in all directions, which intertwine to form a tangle with 100 trillion constantly changing connections.

23. Development Interconnected Tangle of Connections • The neuron and its thousands of neighbors send out axons and dendrites in all directions, which intertwine to form a tangle with 100 trillion constantly changing connections. • The brain is changing its connective patterns every second of our lives in response to everything we perceive, think and do.

24. Development Interconnected Tangle of Connections • The neuron and its thousands of neighbors send out axons and dendrites in all directions, which intertwine to form a tangle with 100 trillion constantly changing connections. • The brain is changing its connective patterns every second of our lives in response to everything we perceive, think and do. • The connections guide our bodies and behaviors, even as every thought and action we take physically modifies their patterns.

25. Rewiring is possible throughout life.

26. Rewiring is possible throughout life. • New connections take time to form and strengthen. • In cases where brain damage occurs slowly, such as Alzheimer’s disease, • the brain has more time to compensate,

27. Rewiring is possible throughout life. • New connections take time to form and strengthen. • In cases where brain damage occurs slowly, such as Alzheimer’s disease, • the brain has more time to compensate, and • many deleterious effects can be postponed, but not stopped.

28. MENTAL EXERCISE • Mental Exercise: • Strengthens and • Even renews neural connections, • Keeping the brain flexible and resilient.

29. MENTAL EXERCISE • Mental Exercise: • Strengthens and • Even renews neural connections, • Keeping the brain flexible and resilient. • PET scans show that the frontal lobes of a twenty-five-year-old and a seventy-five-year-old glow equally bright after the same memory test.

30. MENTAL EXERCISE • Mental Exercise: • Strengthens and • Even renews neural connections, • Keeping the brain flexible and resilient. • PET scans show that the frontal lobes of a twenty-five-year-old and a seventy-five-year-old glow equally bright after the same memory test. • Decline in old age is caused primarily by the lack of mental exercise.

31. Cognitively Stimulating Activities • The study, by scientists at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, IL, • found that more frequent participation in cognitively stimulating activities is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). appearing in the February 13, 2002, "Journal of the American Medical Association", www.seniors.gov/articles/0202/alzheimers-risk.htm

32. Cognitively Stimulating Activities The research looked at everyday activities like reading books, newspapers or magazines, engaging in crosswords or card games, and going to museums among participants in the Religious Orders Study, an ongoing examination of aging among older Catholic nuns, priests, and brothers from several groups across the U.S.

33. Cognitively Stimulating Activities On a scale measuring cognitive activity – with higher scores indicating more frequent activity – a one-point increase in cognitive activity corresponded with a 33 percent reduction in the risk of AD. On average, compared with someone with the lowest activity level, the risk of disease was reduced by47 percent among those whose frequency of activity was highest.

34. Learning Remodeling Our Brain • We always have the ability to remodel our brains.

35. Learning Remodeling Our Brain • We always have the ability to remodel our brains. • To change the wiring in one skill, you must engage in some activity that is unfamiliar, novel to you but related to that skill.

36. Learning Remodeling Our Brain • We always have the ability to remodel our brains. • To change the wiring in one skill, you must engage in some activity that is unfamiliar, novel to you but related to that skill. • Because simply repeating the same activity only maintains already established connections.

37. Learning Remodeling Our Brain • We always have the ability to remodel our brains. • To change the wiring in one skill, you must engage in some activity that is unfamiliar, novel to you but related to that skill. • Because simply repeating the same activity only maintains already established connections. • Try puzzles to strengthen connections involved with spatial skills. • Writing to boost the language area. • Debating to help your reasoning networks.

38. Mental Exercise and the Brain •Mental exercise causes physical changes in the brain, strengthening connections between brain cells called synapses and actually building new connections.

39. Mental Exercise and the Brain •Mental exercise causes physical changes in the brain, strengthening connections between brain cells called synapses and actually building new connections. •Education and interesting work protect people against Alzheimer’s. The more connections, the more resistant.

40. Mental Exercise and the Brain •Mental exercise causes physical changes in the brain, strengthening connections between brain cells called synapses and actually building new connections. •Education and interesting work protect people against Alzheimer’s. The more connections, the more resistant. •Below 8th grade, twice the risk of Alzheimer’s.

41. Mental Exercise and the Brain •Mental exercise causes physical changes in the brain, strengthening connections between brain cells called synapses and actually building new connections. •Education and interesting work protect people against Alzheimer’s. The more connections, the more resistant. •Below 8th grade, twice the risk of Alzheimer’s. •Lower education and unstimulating work, 3 times the risk.

42. Mental Exercise and the Brain •Mental exercise causes physical changes in the brain, strengthening connections between brain cells called synapses and actually building new connections. •Education and interesting work protect people against Alzheimer’s. The more connections, the more resistant. •Below 8th grade, twice the risk of Alzheimer’s. •Lower education and unstimulating work, 3 times the risk. •The aging brain retains much the same capacity as a child’s brain to rewire itself. Not as good at repair.

43. Four Factors – Mental Agility Four factors which seem to determine mental agility in old age: 1.Education, which appears to increase the number and strength of connections between brain cells.

44. Four Factors – Mental Agility Four factors which seem to determine mental agility in old age: 1.Education, which appears to increase the number and strength of connections between brain cells. 2.Strenuous exercise, which improves blood flow to the brain.

45. Four Factors – Mental Agility Four Factors – Mental Agility Exercise – doesn’t have to be strenueous Regular exercise, including walking at an easy pace, seems to protect the aging brain from erosion in thinking ability and even from Alzheimer's, according to two studies released today. Jennifer Weuve of the Harvard School of Public Health and her colleagues found that older women who were physically active, including those who walked at a leisurely pace two to three hours a week, performed much better on tests of memory and thinking ability than inactive women. And those who exercised more did even better: The team found that women who were the most active for example, those who walked at least six hours a week had a 20% reduced risk of doing poorly on the same tests of cognitive ability.

46. Four Factors – Mental Agility Four factors which seem to determine mental agility in old age: 1.Education, which appears to increase the number and strength of connections between brain cells. 2.Strenuous exercise, which improves blood flow to the brain. 3.Lung function, which makes sure the blood is adequately oxygenated.

47. Four Factors – Mental Agility Four factors which seem to determine mental agility in old age: 1.Education, which appears to increase the number and strength of connections between brain cells. 2.Strenuous exercise, which improves blood flow to the brain. 3.Lung function, which makes sure the blood is adequately oxygenated. 4.The feeling that what you do makes a difference in your life. (Let’s add sleep!)

48. Physical Exercise and the Brain • Increase the amount of blood that gets to the brain.

49. Physical Exercise and the Brain • Increase the amount of blood that gets to the brain. • Augments the number and density of blood vessels in the areas that need them most: motor cortex and cerebellum.

50. Physical Exercise and the Brain • Increase the amount of blood that gets to the brain. • Augments the number and density of blood vessels in the areas that need them most: motor cortex and cerebellum. • Short sessions of vigorous aerobic exercise, usually in a program that lasts for several weeks, seem to be the most helpful for mild to clinical depression.