�Who Says You Can�t Teach an Old Dog a New Trick or Two�

I don’t believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates.

T.S. Eliot

The Seattle Longitudinal Study states for some people their intellectual abilities begin to decline around their thirties, whereas for some there is no decline until their seventies and approximately one-third of people over seventy score higher than the average young adult and even in their eighties more than half are maintaining their competence in at least four of five primary areas.

They have also found out that people who have high scores in old age tend to be flexible and seem to have been satisfied with their accomplishments at midlife, not to have cardiovascular or other chronic diseases; to be relatively affluent and well-educated; to have stable marriages to intellectually keen spouses; to have done complex nonroutine work and led active, stimulating lives; and have maintained high perceptual processing speed.  

So if you are one of those people going around stating “well I’m getting older, things are just bound to slow down.” Truth be told it doesn’t have to be that way – because plasticity of the mind is a reality and with improved training and practice your mind can in a very short time be firing again on all cylinders.

In fact because training can improve performance or even reverse losses associated with aging implies that some degree of normally observed decline may be due to disuse and that older adult decline is partly because we no longer engage in intellectually stimulating activities.

So what do you do? Take up a musical instrument – you don’t need to join the Beatles you just need to learn. Take up a new hobby – build something you have never built before. Point being old age need not be a point of intellectual decline if you are willing to take steps to improve your mental powers.

And TV – doesn’t fit the bill

I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

Eleanor Roosevelt

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”
Albert Einstein

Our mental dimension deals with our intellectual potentialities, or our capability to think things through. It is simply our ability to figure things out.  Historically, the belief has been that our mental and intellectual capability deteriorates with age.  However, research now shows that with proper stimulation, the brain not only maintains acceptable performance throughout its lifetime. In fact, it is capable of expansion and development.

In the past we were lead to believe that when brain cells died, the damage was permanent, and that the brain just deteriorated over time. However, more recent scientific research shows our brains may not only produce new brain cells or neurons throughout life, but the newly generated neurons quickly become involved in the formation of new memories.

Contrary to popular myth, you do not lose mass quantities of brains cells as you get older.
“There isn’t much difference between a 25-year old brain and a 75-year old brain,”
says Dr. Monte S. Buchsbaum, who has scanned a lot of brains as director
of the Neuroscience PET Laboratory at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Contrary to past beliefs, scientific research now shows that IQ can be enhanced at any age with proper stimulation and that ones intelligence doesn’t necessarily decline with age.  The reason older people respond slower to questioning has more do with the fact that they are sifting through a life time of information than it does with diminishing mental capacities.

The brain is an amazing organ and its functions don’t need to deteriorate or decline as we age.  Our brain/mind has unlimited potential regardless of age.  The key is to keep exercising it, challenging it, and to change our behaviour and beliefs with regard to our limitations and ability.  Regardless of ones age, it is important to take risks and explore new avenues. 

So how do we keep our minds sharp and positive? Simple, we exercise the brain.  Now keep it real here, discard the belief “if you can’t be number one, there ain’t no point trying.” This isn’t about competing with physicists or Harvard scholars; it’s about living and loving life one day at a time.  All you need to do is challenge your mind daily.