Positive Aging and Brain Fitness

Zoomers or Peter Pan Syndrome?

It would seem the media in this country will go to any lengths to deny the aging of our culture. On October 18, the Huffington Post related “Tips for Staying Younger, Longer” to detail some “facts” about Zoomers – or Boomer narcissists in my view.

The article opened with the Warning: What you are about to read could very well extend your life by several years. According to the article Zoomers are “a growing segment of the baby boomer population who despite their advancing years are refusing to get old.”  

In reality, the article is about a growing fitness and wellness movement among older adults age 60 and over, which included both the Greatest and Eisenhower generations. Generally speaking, older adults have always been open to new experiences; this characteristic was not created by any fringe group of boomers.

 The author goes on to state that, “Zoomers … know true wisdom lies in the fact that learning is an elixir of youth. And who better to learn about being young, than from people who are young.” I offer a counter reality, “Old people know way more about being young than the young know about being old.” The explosive growth of Elderhostel and lifelong learning programs primarily populated by those age 70 and older blows a big hole in this theory.

Next is the claim that, “Zoomers have found a purpose that is greater than themselves.”  So Mother Teresa, Einstein, et al were slackers? Well, developmental psychologists have long documented that we tend to become more altruistic in later life. Likewise, Maslow felt self-actualization was most often found in later life. The late Dr. Gene Cohen was definitely not a Zoomer, but he most definitely pioneered the later life creativity movement with youthful exuberance.

Not surprisingly, the author missed a major factor in longevity – a positive aging self image. While all the other Zoomer “facts” play a role (exercise, diet, socialization, seeking purpose, and brain fitness) to deny one’s aging in pursuit of fading youth is the stuff of Peter Pan. Rather than holding on to the myth that you “can refuse to grow old,” let’s just redefine what aging is really all about.

The Many Dimensions of Brain Fitness

Just as physical fitness is about more than the strength of your biceps, brain fitness is much more than just the strength of your memory. To help in the definition of personal performance targets, we need to develop a better vocabulary for describing the full breadth of key brain functions. In fact, understanding this breadth is a critical piece of the brain fitness puzzle.

“Cognition” describes our “thinking” abilities- it’s about processing, coordinating, strategizing and responding to information. This includes a range of critical brain functions such as the ability to remember, pay attention, and make decisions. While there are many ways to categorize the key areas of cognition, one useful approach is to focus on the following four areas:

1. Recall measures the strength of your memory. It includes the ability to remember specific information (e.g., facts, ideas, experiences, etc.) as well as how to perform tasks (e.g., opening a door, tying your shoes, etc.).
2. Attention measures your ability to focus or concentrate while ignoring distractions and irrelevant information. Attention is a fundamental brain process that enables you to perform a wide range of activities (e.g., driving a car). Many activities require a person to divide attention among many things, while others require a shift of attention quickly from one task to another.
3. Processing Speed measures the time it takes for your brain to process information and/or respond to it. An increase in processing speed can make you feel more alert and better able to react. A decline in processing speed can make you misunderstand what people are saying, or make it difficult to follow instructions.
4. Executive Function measures high-level thinking skills such as planning, making decisions, solving problems, and reasoning. Executive function skills are required for everyday activities such as setting goals, organizing events, and playing games.

Meanwhile, “emotional well-being” describes how you “feel”. Emotional well-being allows you to calmly handle day-to-day challenges, maintain a positive outlook, adapt to change, and understand and care for others. One way to make sense of emotional well-being is to break it into five key areas:

1. Anxiety is a feeling of fear or apprehension involving physical and/or mental experiences. Anxiety appears in the form of physical symptoms (e.g., sweating) or as a feeling of increased nervous energy. Moderate, short-term anxiety is a normal part of life, but it can cause physical and psychological problems if it’s chronic.
2. Stress is a response to demands or changes in one’s environment. It involves emotional, mental, and physical components that each serve to help meet challenges. Moderate stress can be positive; for example, it enhances alertness and motivation, which increases abilities. On the other hand, longer-term or high levels of stress can weaken emotional, mental, and physical capabilities.
3. Mood can be described as a predisposition, attitude, or state of mind. It can include positive emotions like happiness or enthusiasm for everyday life. It also includes more negative states such as sadness.
4. Emotional Control includes the ability to evaluate your feelings, manage negative emotions, and handle conflict.
5. Emotional Recognition enables you to pinpoint feelings (in yourself and others) and to understand the ways in which your behavior may affect the emotions of others. This skill helps you to connect with others and better engage in social interactions.

The brain fitness movement is still in its early stages. If we want to pursue and achieve truly meaningful improvements in our capabilities over time, we need to adopt a perspective that enables us to understand, discuss, and track the full range of important brain functions.

What is Brain Fitness?

For centuries, it was assumed that mental decline and memory loss were just a natural part of aging and there was nothing that could be done. Whether or not someone became “senile” was just the luck of the draw. Once a myth is accepted as fact, it can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy – and did for decades. An insidious aspect of ageism is that it can operate without conscious awareness, control or intention to harm once the myths are accepted as fact.

A few researchers and authors railed against the “decline theory” of aging. Harvard’s Ellen Langer wrote her brilliant anti-ageism book, Mindfulness, in 1989. In the book, she shares the results of several research projects documenting that, “much of what older people experience could be the result of negative stereotypes, internalized in childhood.” Among those stereotypes studied was memory loss. As Dr. Langer observed, “When there is one ready explanation for something – being old – we rarely search for other possible causes.”

This paradigm began to change in the 1990’s as we scientists aggressively began conducting brain research to explore “other possible causes” for memory loss other than age.  In the last two decades, we have learned that not only does the brain continue making new connections between brain cells, it can grow new cells. Further studies have also documented the benefits of lifelong learning and the importance of keeping the brain active. Just as muscles grow stronger with exercise, so does the brain when engaged in brain fitness.

There is little doubt that the brain will change with age and there will be some declines, but studies show that only certain aspects of brain function actually decline. There is no sign of decline in long-term memory and knowledge retention in normal brain aging. Vocabulary has also shown to increase through at least age 60 and emotional intelligence, social skills, and self-control improve with age as well. The debate on the effectiveness of brain exercises, from crossword puzzles to expensive computer games, is ongoing, but studies have definitively shown that aerobic exercise does increase mental acuity. A study done by scientists at the University of Illinois found that 3 40-minute walks per week for six months improved memory, reasoning, and may spur the birth of new brain neurons. [1]

Dr. Mike Merzenich, founder of Posit Science, believes the recent brain fitness movement is a revolution, “It is the beginning of a great societal change in how we think about aging and how we think about making the most of our lives.” While there are new claims made almost daily about the benefits of a new computer game, vitamin, supplement or exercise, little time has been devoted to explaining what brain fitness is and how to pursue it holistically.

Brain fitness is NOT about the diagnosis or treatment of brain-related disorders. It's not just about delaying or preventing cognitive disorders. It is not just the latest memory enhancing computer game or nutritional supplement.

Brain fitness is about capability and performance. Having a fit brain means that we possess the thinking abilities and emotional well-being necessary to work productively, sustain meaningful relationships, and achieve our goals in life.

This definition of brain fitness has several important implications. First, it means that each of us can set our own performance targets. Just as a professional athlete might pursue a different level of physical fitness than an office worker, our brain fitness goals will naturally vary, depending on what each of us is hoping to achieve at each juncture in our lives.

This definition also means that brain fitness is about much more than just one or two narrow measures of brain function. Just as physical fitness is about more than the strength of our biceps, brain fitness is about much more than just memory. In order to pursue brain fitness, we need to consider all of the dimensions that define how we think (e.g. memory, attention, processing speed, problem solving) as well as how we feel (mood, anxiety, stress, etc.). The brain fitness movement is in its early stages, and we need to broaden our perspective if there is to be a meaningful impact on the health and well being of an aging society.

Finally, this means that brain fitness can (and must) be pursued through multiple modalities. Just as physical fitness is not achieved solely through the use of a bench press machine, a single activity (e.g. crosswords, computer-based brain exercises) cannot possibly provide a complete solution for maintaining or improving brain fitness. As with physical fitness, brain fitness is achieved through a wide range of different activities, proper nutrition, sound medical care, and many other lifestyle choices. Navigating through all of the scientific evidence and comparing the options is best done with the help of an expert advisor, but a comprehensive approach is clearly the best bet for achieving brain fitness.

Brain fitness is the capacity of a person to meet the various cognitive demands of life, and involves an ability to assimilate information, comprehend relationships, and develop reasonable conclusions and plans. It can be developed by formal education, being actively mentally engaged in life, continuing to learn, and exercises designed to challenge cognitive skills. Brain fitness is also accomplished with healthy lifestyle habits including mental stimulation, physical exercise, good nutrition, stress management, and sleep can improve brain fitness.

On the other hand, chronic stress, anxiety, depression, aging, decreasing estrogen, excess oxytocin, and prolonged cortisol can decrease brain fitness as well as general health. The first step in developing a brain fitness plan is to become mindful of the fact that living an active, purposeful life can dramatically improve motor abilities, strength, agility and mental responses; and then commit to a plan.

Professional fitness centers encourage people to see their physician before beginning a fitness program. When given the green light, the center then recommends a general fitness assessment to establish baseline parameters before developing a program to achieve optimum well being as well as the person’s primary personal goal which could be anything from reducing blood pressure to losing weight to looking better in a bathing suit. The same approach should be considered for creating a brain fitness program to fight future cognitive decline as much as possible.

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[1] Newsweek, June 18, 2010.