Slinky, the coiled springy steel toy that “walked down stairs by itself” was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. I played with it a lot while I was waiting for video games to be invented.
What does the Slinky have to do with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)?
Fatal Flaw
The toy had what I see as a fatal flaw. It was made of some sort of springy steel back then. You would play with it for a while and then somehow, it would get a twist in it. Once that twist was in, there was no going back. So the thing to do was to keep it from getting the twist in the first place. A daunting task.
An article in the Wall Street Journal caught my attention this week. Ways You Can Stave Off Alzheimer’s brought me to the Slinky comparison. The gist of the article was that the best way to deal with the AD issue was to do everything you can to prevent it in the first place. According to one of WSJ’s interviewees, Doctor Kenneth Kosik …
“By the time someone walks in my door with symptoms of the disease, it’s too late” to stop it, says Dr. Kosik, who plans to open four CFIT centers in New York and California. The idea behind the new research is that lifestyle interventions may delay or prevent the disease before symptoms appear—or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s once they do manifest.
How We Can Protect Our Mental Capacity
Even in light of my recent illness, I don’t think there is anything that unnerves me more than the idea of losing my mental capacity. I don’t think I am alone on this.
So, what does it mean to head Dr. Kosik’s advice to “prevent the disease before symptoms appear — or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s once they do manifest.” The answer to that is one of the reasons that I began thinking, reading, and writing about the brain as it relates to the personal development of our generation.
I already mentioned a group of healthful activities – think, read, and write – and there are more.
The jury is still out, I believe, on electronic brain games. My gut and experience say there is benefit there. When I use my brain more, it serves me more.
Physical exercise provides oxygen to the brain, and provides a ground for growth.
Mindfulness – evidence shows that through meditation and mindfulness, the thinking part of the brain, the frontal cortex, actually grows. As we get older, mental decline doesn’t have to be an automatic.
Community - Brains don’t grow in a vacuum. We need other people. The stupendous growth in social media, the idea of tribes, and the encouragement to join and belong that go with both are evidence of our need for other people.
Then we can look at living conditions, nutrition, sleep habits, living in a stressful world and much, much more. However, that’s enough for a Saturday morning.
The video below from the Wall Street Journal is both informative and a little saddening.
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