Dear friend
Age is just a number. They say.
But no.
For many reasons, I have never felt that age is just a number.
In reality ageing felt like an inevitable evil that is chasing you to take you down one hurdle at a time. You lose your mental ability, physical strength, appearance, youthful spirit and finally your space on the decision making table about this world and life. And inevitably, the final demise.
Age didn’t feel like just a number, it felt like a ticking clock overhead in an exam hall.
But our December Read, The Changing Mind: A Neuroscientist's Guide to Ageing Well, is telling me a different story.
Spoiler alert: No, the book does not cancel all my negative thoughts about age. Ageing still brings all these unfavourable changes in life.
But here is the breakthrough from reading this book so far.
Ageing is not just about these depressing changes. And there are ways to be better at ageing business.
Drawing from diverse disciplines, this book demonstrates that ageing is not simply a period of decay but a unique developmental stage that, like infancy or adolescence, brings with it its own demands and its own advantages.
The book demonstrates that how well we age depends on two things-
our developmental factors, what we are born with, like genetics, environment, opportunity and
our response to our environment and our individual habits aka our personality.
And one can always change their personality, response to their environment and habits at any stage of life to age well.
But what are the personality traits/lifestyle that help us age well?
Daniel Levitin names it the COACH concept.
Curiosity. Curious enough to make new beginnings, master new skills.
Openness. Open to change.
Associations. Or sociability, being kind and compassionate.
Conscientiousness. Which means being responsible, diligent, organized and determined.
Healthy Practices.
A few interesting ideas from the book:
There is no limit to the number of languages a young child can learn.
Wearing sunglasses while outdoors from a very young age is the best cataract protection.
We should get our eyes checked every two years after the age of sixty. Early detection of any eye diseases can save your eyesight.
Sleep deprivation might be the reason why grandma forgets her glasses. Sleep deprivation at any age is bad for us. It affects memory and focus, linked to diabetes in pregnancy and bipolar disorders at all ages.
When older people were asked at what age they were the happiest looking back in life, the majority answered 82!
Slowing down, monotasking, mindfulness, writing things down or reminders or to-do lists can help improve our attention spans and reduce short term memory problems.
Our brains shrink in size and certain lobes become less efficient with age. So our brains get slower and take time to deal with newer things.
Fish is brain food. Fish oil, getting enough fatty fish and Vitamin B12 can improve brain health.
Neuroplasticity or rewiring our brain to better functioning can happen at any age but might be slower in old age. But it is not slower in old people who pursue creative arts, hobbies, challenging jobs, anyone who has been constantly putting their brain to use.
Learning new motor skills takes more time in old age.
The best protective thing against ageing is to learn a manual skill at a young age and keep up with it. The next best thing is to learn a new skill when you are old.
Keeping our sensory inputs alive- seeing new things, smelling, hearing and feeling new experiences can improve brain health and help neuroplasticity. Such a sensory rich experience can be as simple as walking in a near by park.
This week’s quote:
‘‘It turns out that the nervous system is bidirectional. It doesn’t matter whether the brain makes the mouth smile or the mouth makes the brain smile.
So smile, think positive thoughts, and try new things. If you’re not feeling good, act as if you are. A cheerful, positive, optimistic outlook—even if it starts out fake—can end up becoming real.”
-The changing mind: A neuroscientist's guide to ageing well-
Until next time.
Your internet reading buddy,
Intersting