Age Smart - How to Age Well, Stay Fit, and be Happy

Summarized by Harriet Vines
October 11, 2007

Harriet Vines, PhD, is an experienced author, lecturer and retired college professor who has appeared on radio and TV, talking about her research into helping people age well. She has written a practical guide, Age Smart, and we are delighted to post some extracts from the book here and in the coming weeks. Robert Griffith, Editor

Introduction

The attention and publicity paid to the difficult problems some people encounter as they age foster the impression that aging is all-negative, all the time. But we know that isn't so.

Yes, there are significant problems, but there are serious problems at every age. We've known them; we've lived them. We've also lived and known ourselves to be loving, capable, responsible, problem solving individuals. More importantly - we still see ourselves that way. We're effectively functioning adults, thank you very much, and we intend to keep leading productive, meaningful, Happy (sic) lives.

Studies show each of us has the ability, through our brainpower, to age well. Age Smart is the extension of my firm belief, based on research reinforced by empirical evidence, that it is never too late to grow the mind. Sharpened mental fitness coupled with a healthy life style give us the power to shape the way we age.

I developed the Age Smart mental fitness program to share these important findings. This book is my effort a) to reach and support more of the majority, my peers who want to exert control over the way they age, b) to reinforce their determination to age well and c) to offer a viable way to accomplish their objectives. Remember, it's not what age you are that matters, it's how you age. Be pro-active. Take charge. Age the way you want to be: Smart, Well, Fit, and Happy.

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" Satchel Paige

"Age is of no importance unless you are a cheese." Anonymous

Chapter I: Age Well

How do you cope with today's extended life expectancy, age effectively and stay in control of your life? Back in 1711 Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, observed, "Every one desires to live long, but no one would be old." Three hundred years later, that's still true. But how is it possible? How do you live longer and not 'grow old'? The answer is to age pro-actively: Age Smart.

How Do You Age Smart?

• You Age Smart when you use your brain to age well.
• You Age Smart when you take advantage of the latest research on aging.
• You Age Smart when you do the many things you have control over and the power to do to age successfully.
• You Age Smart when you practice positive psychology.
• You Age Smart when you become and remain physically and mentally fit, the sine qua non, the bottom line, of positive aging.

The MacArthur Foundation Study of Successful Aging, the respected in-depth investigation of the aging process, identifies three fundamental components of aging well: a low risk of debilitating disease, physical and mental fitness, and social interaction

The results of the MacArthur study reveal that many of the complaints people attribute to "old age" actually result from the life style they've chosen, e.g., not enough exercise, poor nutrition, not much socializing. Evidence indicates the way people age depends primarily on personal decisions, choices and actions, all products of conscious, self-directed mental activity. If you choose to age well and be happy, put your mind to work at learning how to do it. You can guide the process.

The Game Plan

Like most people, you want to be able to understand and remember the things you do, places you go and people you meet. You want to be able to concentrate on the book you're reading, the TV program you're watching or the movie you're seeing. You want to be able to talk to friends about them without forgetting names and blocking words.

Your brain can be trained, so train it. Increase your awareness of it, learn how to use your brain to manage the aging process and strengthen your ability to age well. Use your "master muscle" to make your life more satisfying, productive, meaningful, and enjoyable. No matter what anyone says or advertisements imply, you cannot stop aging, but it is within your power to shape the way you process it. You have the power to increase your mental fitness. The brain's job is to mind the body; your job is to mind your brain.

Try this now. Look around. See if you can spot five blue objects small enough to fit into your pocket and five red ones that are too big. There! You just did an exercise that strengthened your powers of observation. Improving and maintaining your mental fitness can be as simple as that.

Here's the Game Plan: Take care of your brain as well as you take care of your body. Just as you exercise to strengthen your body's muscles to keep physically fit, you should exercise your brain's muscles to stay mentally fit. You don't even have to go to a health club. Do the Mental Fitness Workout (MFW) in each chapter in this book. MFWs are winning plays that promote successful aging. Just as you maintain physical strength and fitness through proper diet and exercise, you also should maintain mental strength and fitness through proper diet and mental exercise.

Mental Fitness Workouts

To help you train for the Fitness Finals, each chapter of Age Smart features a Mental Fitness Workout. Like physical workouts, MFWs enhance conditioning. The exercises and activities are designed to strengthen specific mental muscles and foster mental fitness, hold your attention and enthusiasm and make you smile and think.

Each MFW begins with a Relaxation Warm-up and continues with fun-to-do Mental Calisthenics. Interesting and enjoyable exercises follow:

• Sensory Drills - sharpen acuity.
• Isometrics - enhance perception.
• Visualization - aids organization and recall.
• Sprints - speed processing.
• Mental Gymnastics - increase flexibility.
• Resistance Training - adds strength and endurance.
• Mental Aerobics - build language and association skills.
• Weight Lifting - solidifies coordination.
• Stretching - expands parameters.
• Conscious Recall - affords needed practice.
• Each MFW ends with a Creative Cool-down.

Use a notebook for a journal to record observations and responses and to track your progress. Several exercises have three levels of difficulty; begin at the simplest level the first time you attempt them. Increase the level of difficulty on any repetition to maintain the challenge. Advance at a pace that feels comfortable to you.

Some exercises involve only mental work; you can repeat them - or variations - any time, any where for beneficial fun. Exercises that ask you to visualize, use your non-dominant hand, or do things differently from the way you usually do, enhance flexibility. They create new, different neural pathways and synapses and break stodgy mental habits. In timed exercises, respond as rapidly as you can to give your brain a good processing workout. When working with numbers, it is especially important to work as quickly as possible.

Mental Fitness Workout #1

Relaxation Warm-Up

MFWs begin the same way physical workouts do - with a warm-up - and for the same reason. All muscles work more smoothly when they've been loosened up. The easiest way to relax your mind is to relax your body, and the easiest way to do that is simply tell your body to relax.

To Relax: Sit comfortably. Unclasp your hands. Leave them open on your lap or at your sides. Keep your legs and ankles uncrossed. Close your eyes. Send a mental message telling your body to relax. Allow it to happen. You will be able to feel the softening.

Do a mental check and release any tension stored in those stress warehouses everybody has: Drop your shoulders, rotate your neck, un-furrow your brow, let your mouth go slack, don't grit your teeth, unclench your jaws, relax your hands, fingers, feet, and toes. Inventory your body, and relax any residual tension.

Next, slowly and deeply inhale and exhale. Silently count ten inhales from 1 to 10, then ten exhales from 10 to 1. Keep your eyes closed, and visualize the sky. Consider any thoughts that may occur as clouds, and let them float by. Like clouds, some fleeting thoughts may be fast, some slow, some light and puffy, some dark and stormy. Don't try to stop or focus on any of them. Let them just come and go. When you feel totally relaxed and ready to work out, open your eyes, begin your calisthenics and continue with the exercises that follow.

Mental Calisthenics

Mental calisthenics are designed, like jumping jacks at the gym, to get the blood flowing and develop vigor. They should be done immediately following the warm-up. Like all the exercises, they vary in each MFW. Fortunately, you can also do mental calisthenics whenever you have a few extra minutes - standing on a line, riding in a bus, or waiting till the rain stops. Do them any time, anywhere.

1. Count aloud as quickly as you can - first, up by 1, then down by 1. Thus:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... 100
then 100, 99, 98, 97, 96 ... 1

2. Say the alphabet aloud. Now say it aloud backwards. Mentally count the number of printed capital letters in the alphabet with curved lines. Enter your answer in your journal.

Sensory Drills

Your five senses provide most of the data your brain works on during its waking hours. Keep them in top shape; they're closely tied to memory. If the input isn't accurate and dependable, both mental acuity and memory suffer. Sharpening sensory acuity correlates with increasing your powers of observation and memory.

1. Try to see examples or find pictures of 4, 7, or 10 (depending on difficulty level) of each day's objects indicated below. Feel free to use printed material, TV and the internet. Copy the headings below and list the objects you see under them in your journal.

Monday Flowers
Tuesday Gems
Wednesday Metals
Thursday Veggies
Friday Fabrics

2. Select the name of a well-known person or a personal acquaintance. Count the number of times you hear the name mentioned in 10, 15, or 20 minutes. Enter the name, number of times heard and the amount of time you listened in your journal.

We conclude this extract from Chapter One here. In the book, the MFWs continue with Isometrics, Visualization, Sprints, and the other types of exercise listed above. We'll include the different types of mental exercises in future extracts from Aging Smart. If you can't wait, and want to order the book now, please go to: http://www.agesmart.us/

Source

• Age Smart - How to Age Well, Stay Fit, and be Happy HM. Vines,  PhD., Llumina Press, 2007, pp. 4392--4399

Related Links
Age Smart
Mind and Body: Turning Connection into Advantage
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