| The Latest Brain Research | |||||
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Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect…Leonardo daVinci Is lifelong learning really critical to remaining healthy and active? You bet. Consider this: One of the biggest revelations to come out of the 1990s (a decade of pioneering brain research) was that the human brain undergoes significant physiological change when exposed to new learning and new experiences. Research undertaken at Harvard, Duke and Johns Hopkins Universities is now showing that keeping our brains stimulated through later-life learning and other activities will dramatically help retain mental alertness as we age. More, the brain’s physical anatomy actually responds to these enriching activities and is therefore changed for the better. No, you won’t suddenly grow a big head, so don’t throw out all of your old hats. What scientists have discovered is that the brain can grow new connections. Think of it this way: All that old wiring inside your head might lose some of its insulation over the years if you do nothing. But by engaging in lifelong learning, you not only preserve that older wiring with better insulation, but you also grow new cells and pathways, thereby enhancing your response times, thought processes, and reflexes. And the electrical upgrade isn’t even expensive! Of all the findings during the congressionally-mandated Decade of the Brain, this startling new discovery appears to be the most important. Scientists used to think that the number of neurons - those building blocks of nerve cells - were fixed and never changed. New evidence suggests otherwise. The number actually fluctuates throughout our lives, depending on our activity levels. Armed with this knowledge, we no longer have to worry as much about a gradual decrease in our mental acuity. As long as we keep challenging our brain - those “little grey cells” as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot was so fond of saying - it appears they will continue to grow and thrive. And the more complex the task or activity, the more synapses are firing in your brain. This leads to increased circulation in your head, and is incredibly beneficial. Scientists are also studying the possibility that this could help stave off Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases in some people predisposed to those illnesses. Doctors Fred H. Gage of the Salk Institute in San Diego and Peter S. Eriksson of the Goteborg University Institute of Clinical Neuroscience have collected data that shows that the brain of adult humans - even older adults - regularly regenerate neurons in the hippocampus (the section of the brain responsible for learning). The research of Doctor Marion Diamond, University of California, Berkeley, with rats shows the positive relationship between an enriched environment (cages with toys and other rats) and brain development in rats. “The enriched rats had a thicker cerebral cortex (responsible for higher nervous functions), than the rats (in impoverished environments).” Doctor Paul Nussbaum, a clinical neuropsychologist, professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and the Director of the Aging Research and Education Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania says that based on the new knowledge about the brain he recommends that habits of mental stimulation be maintained throughout life. His vision for learning in later life - which he views as an excellent way to keep older adults fully integrated in society – is that lifelong learning can be used to keep Third Age adults, with their capacity to continue learning, useful to society. Those of us over 50 represent a vast resource for teaching, civic involvement and meaningful service. Ron Kotulak, author of Inside the Brain: Revolutionary Discoveries of How the Mind Works, which is based on his Pulitzer-prize winning series for the Chicago Tribune says “Education has both a biological and behavioral positive effect. Biologically, it works by laying down significantly more connections between brain cells. Behaviorally, it works by providing knowledge that empowers one to articulate needs and overcome potential barriers.” In a study of more than 1,000 people, ages seventy to eighty, Dr. Marilyn Albert, associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at Harvard and director of gerontology research at Massachusetts General Hospital found the higher the education level, the more likely people were to engage in mentally stimulating activities. Her study also uncovered four main factors that seemed to help older adults maintain their cognitive abilities. They are: At Columbia University, Dr. Yaakov Stern, a clinical neuropsychologist found that people who had less than an eighth-grade education had twice the risk of getting Alzheimer’s as those who went beyond the eighth grade. And when people with low education levels also worked at mentally un-stimulating occupations, they had three times the risk of becoming demented. Charles Gilbert and other researchers at Rockefeller University discovered that the brain can repair itself and construct memory, and in so doing can change thought-patterns and learn new skills. Both repair and memory depend on stimulation or mental activity, something that as a society we have tended to ignore. Dr. Gilbert says, “We need to recognize the importance of challenging our minds as a vital component of health, and of mental health.” What happens to people’s intellectual abilities as they age was the subject of the Seattle Longitudinal Study started in 1956 by K. Warner Schaie. Dr. Schaie, the director of the Gerontology Center at Pennsylvania State University, studied more than 5,000 people aged twenty to ninety and older. He found that intellectual ability varies widely, but as he said, “There are very few toddling, senile millionaires. It takes education and resources to make and keep that kind of money. Couch potatoes, on the other hand, are the quickest to slip into intellectual limbo. The danger starts when people retire, decide to take things easy and say they don’t have to keep up with the world anymore.” Dr. Schaie found that in mental testing, bridge players did very well while bingo players did not. Crossword puzzle workers did better on verbal skills, and jigsaw puzzle players tend to maintain their spatial skills. There are many ways to exercise the brain, but you have to do something. “Inactive people tend to show the most decline. The people who are almost too busy to be studied are the ones who do very well.” Lastly, according to Michael Merzenich, a pioneering neuroscientist at the University of California at San Francisco, science is finally awakening to the fact that the brain reorganizes itself during learning. “It’s something that people don’t realize. They don’t think about the power that they have within themselves to change their brains.” Conclusion Studies aside, these individuals certainly prove that creativity does not end at a certain age. We now know, thanks to the new research, that creativity can grow and thrive, well into our later years. Lifelong Learning programs are perfect for developing this creativity. Within these programs, old and new talents and skills can be rediscovered or developed, and allowed to shine. The increased self-esteem that results from these activities is priceless. Belonging to a later-life learning program is a powerful tool in our quest to become that person we were always meant to be. In the words of Dr. Paul Nussbaum, director of the Aging Research and Education Center in Pittsburgh, PA, “…every time your heart beats, 25% of that blood goes right to the brain. But while exercise is critical, it may be education that is more important. In the 21st century, education and information may become for the brain what exercise is for the heart.” Learning in later life is certainly too valuable to ignore!
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