SUCCESSFUL AGING: HOW TO REJUVENATE YOUR BRAIN?

“Do not regret growing old, it is a privilege denied to many.”

I know all about aging, because I’m an octogenarian. It’s unavoidable that we are all going to get old and die of old age, should a disease or accident kill us beforehand. Because it is one of the basic laws of nature and creation that every living creature is born, matures, produces, gets old and dies so that new generations could live.

But getting old does not have to be with deterioration of general health, fragility, loneliness, depression and fear of dying. For this, what we have to do is to learn how to age successfully and how to rejuvenate our brain’s nerve cells and  functions.

When we start aging, every organ functions starts to decline. Our hair turns white, we lose some of it, our skin starts to wrinkle, our muscle strength and muscle mass diminishes, our joints start to ache, we lose our hearing and our eye sight. Our intellectual functions reduce and we become forgetful.

We don’t like these changes. We start to take some corrective actions. We take medications, we  color our hair, we wear glasses and hearing aids. Some even have plastic surgeries to  remedy these shortcoming of aging. But we don’t  know what to do about our declining intellectual brain functions as we age.

I believe the only alternative we have to unavoidable aging is to learn how age successfully and remain healthy. We all age differently. When we look at the human history, we see that there are very many old, prominent and successful statesmen, politicians, scientists,  artists, commanders ,composers, professors. What is their secrets? Why do they remain mentally sharp, active and creative in their old age? Can we learn something from them? Is it only heredity or are there some other factors are at work as well?

Modern brain science and research by Neuroscientists have shown that our brain keeps it’s neuroplasticity (ability to renew itself) forever. Therefore, maintenance of our intellectual functions and self-improvement is possible at any age. But ‘how do we do that’ becomes the main question.

I believe that Neuroscientist Dr. Daniel J. Levitin has written an excellent book entitled Successful Aging on this regard, in a  plain language for the  general public. It is a must read book for every aging person. According to Dr. Levitin, old age is not a failure; it is a unique developmental stage in our life, just like childhood and adulthood.  Extra ordinary contributions, even at this stage is possible, to age well and to rejuvenate our brain’s functions. In addition to genetics, intellectually challenging living environment, healthy diet, active and healthy living, together with practice of COACH principles can restore many shortcoming of old age and open a path for aging well.

COACH is an acronym and it stands for: Curiosity- Openness- Associations-Consciousness. In our future articles we will discuss COACH principles in more detail.

I would like to end this article with one of my favorite little poem from Robert Browning, about aging:

“Grow old with me!

The best is yet to be,

The last of life, for which the first was made.”