‘Brains can get better with age’

Michael Patterson of NRTA-AARP said,
“We all need to continue to find ways to
engage our brains.”

By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News Editor
June 3, 2006

“Don’t give up. Stay tuned.”
That statement by memory therapist Roger Anunsen of Salem summed a presentation to the Oregon Retired Educators Association convention last week in Hood River.

Stay tuned: For people as they grow older and want to retain their memory abilities — stay tuned or get in tune with hobbies, mental exercises, exercise, and new interests.

For people with age-related memory decline, Anunsen and colleague Michael Patterson urged people to understand that brain science has made large strides recently. In the past 10 years, researchers have gained extensive new knowledge of how the mind works, learns and improves, said Patterson, of NRTA AARP’s Educator Community. Patterson presented the multi-media “Keeping the Brain Young,” presentation at the OREA convention, at the Gorge Room at Best Western Hood River Inn.

The mind can be challenged to expand in ways that are simple — using alternating hands when brushing your teeth — to complex: Organizations such as Anunsen’s Memarobics company offer extended mental exercise regimens involving 90 minutes of sustained, but varied, mental exercise each day.

Physical activity and interaction with other people are the best ways to keep the brain nimble and to sustain or improve memory with aging.

Even moderate exercise induces needed blood flow to the brain, and group contact and volunteering keep feeding the brain new information.

“Aging brains embrace social context,” Anunsen said.
In short, “Brains can get better with age and continue to grow,” Patterson said.