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A topic very much of the moment (and one that I’m sure will feature often in 2010) ” How to train the Aging Brain”
It’s maddening and, sorry to say, not all that unusual for a brain at middle age: I don’t just forget whole books, but movies I just saw, breakfasts I just ate, and the names, oh, the names are awful. Who are you?
Brains in middle age, which, with increased life spans, now stretches from the 40s to late 60s, also get more easily distracted. Start boiling water for pasta, go answer the doorbell and — whoosh — all thoughts of boiling water disappear. Indeed, aging brains, even in the middle years, fall into what’s called the default mode, during which the mind wanders off and begin daydreaming.
Baby boomers are getting older. Now the slow realization is that we’re not going to live forever (speaking as an ageing boomer). But the brain as we age gets better at recognising the big picture and as Barbara Strauch suggests in this article
If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can. link to read this article
Source: The New York Times
