8 Ways to Take Old Out of Aging

photo credit: Kıvanç Niş

This is a redo of a 2009 article. Mike

Old is a State of Mind

Maybe a cliche’, maybe not.  Neuroscientist Glenn Heideman says we have a lot more control than previously believed.

What was the paradigm that brought us to where we are now? The boomer generation was brought up with the aging process of our grandparents.  Genetics and maybe a little environment determined the rate of aging.  If my memory serves me correctly, my grandparents quickly declined into what I thought of as old and continued to decline at a steady, albeit slower rate. The determining factors were few.

The larger part of their model of aging was their own expectation of aging

The Story We Tell About Aging

Expectations had a lot to do with it. Not just their expectations, but those of everyone, including myself, around them. There was my parents, then there was old.  And my parents didn’t appear to be to spry either.  There was an acceptance of getting old.  I don’t think that was a terrible thing; it was just the way it was. I also don’t think it was necessary.

Dr. Heideman and others have changed the name of the game.  The old model that said 80% of how we age is genetic has more than turned around.  He tells us that the reality is that 15% of aging is genetic and that up to 85% of it is left in our own hands

Let’s face it. We will all age and there is no cure for it.  On the other hand, it’s not as necessary as it once was to get old.

The other 50 percent, he says, are engaging in “brain-healthy behaviors.” In other words, they are getting outside, exercising, watching what they eat and stimulating their brains. A 70-year-old who sits around an apartment all day, doesn’t exercise and eats whatever he or she wants is estimated to have a biological age of 85, he said. However, the 70-year-old who is in control of his or her daily routine under optimal circumstances could have a biological age as young as 55. That’s a 30-year difference in the effectiveness of our memory, concentration and judgment.  via The Daily Courier – Neuroscientist says we can mostly control aging process

Baby boomers have opportunities that no other generation before has had. There is an opportunity to redefine ageing for generations to come. So – in our own hands, brain-healthy behaviors — what does that mean?

In Our Own Hands

Well, it’s not like you are reading it here first.  There are all kinds of things we can do that keep us flexible in brain, body, and mind.  Here are a few -

1. Nutrition – Eat well, reduce the number of carbohydrates consumed and increase the lean protein.

2. Hobbies and Crafts – A new hobby is a way to learn something new, a skill that comes up often in brain exercises and fitness.

3. Do things differently – Habitual behavior creates ruts in our brain process that can challenge.

4. Initiate conversation – There’s one I could do more of.  Connections to other people is important for flexing those mental muscles.

5. Create something – If you know someone who is an artist, notice the life that they live.  Something I recently realized is that I don’t know anyone who is creative and practiced that creativity who has retired from it.

6. Smile – A recent article in the NY Times said that women who have had botox treatments were often happier than others.  The reason, it turns out is that when you smile your brain gets the message to produce and transmit dopamine, a neurotransmitter connected to feelings of well-being.

7. Stay psychologically flexible – Some would say this is about staying positive and avoiding negative feelings.  Instead, psychological flexibility is the ability to accept the way we think and feel – positive or negative – as simply a temporary part of life to be experienced.

8. Stimulation – Stimulate both body and mind with exercises.  Exercise, especially, it seems, aerobic exercise (walking, biking, swimming, dancing) and mindful exercise (Yoga, stretching) help most.

So, there are eight ideas.  There are hundreds more.

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