Keeping Your Mind Sharp

WOODBINE – Have you ever walked down the aisles of cars at a mall looking for where you parked? Ever entered a room with purpose only to realize you are no longer sure why you’re there? Have you struggled to recall the name of a new business contact you were formally introduced to just minutes before? For some of us in the right age group, these embarrassing lapses are humorously called senior moments. Frequently, however, they are anything but funny.
Stockton College and Cape Regional Medical Center want to help seniors deal with this and other aspects of aging. A series of free workshops for seniors at the Sam Azeez Museum in Woodbine kicked off June 19 with an effort to help maximize memory. Patricia Weeks of Richard Stockton College organized the workshop and noted that an additional motivation was to get the local community to see the renovated facilities and classrooms at the museum Stockton uses for both credit and non-credit educational programming.
The workshop was presented by Bonnie Kratzer, an RN from the Parish Nurse/Lifestyle Management Program at Cape Regional, and Richard Colosi from the county’s Public Health Department. The aim of the workshop was to help seniors recognize the effect of normal aging on the brain and to share techniques to improve brain function and help prevent those dreaded senior moments.
Right from the start, the presenters countered accepted wisdom with the unexpected statement that normal aging does not negatively impact memory. The culprit it seems is the ability to pay attention and concentrate, both of which are affected by aging. An example makes the point. When you rush off to the store for that quick purchase only to find yourself at a loss for where you parked your car when you come out, the problem stems from allowing yourself to be diverted by thoughts of the purchase you needed to make and paying no attention to where you parked.
Colosi put it concisely when he said, “You didn’t suffer a memory loss, you never made a memory.” This is more than just a lapse of discipline. Aging negatively impacts our ability to pay attention and concentrate. The manifestation of that root difficulty is the appearance of memory loss.
Participants in the workshop were told that several factors can improve brain function in this area. A healthy life style is important, including moderate exercise, eating a balanced diet, controlling stress and, what is often difficult for many seniors, getting enough sleep – seven to nine hours was recommended.
Using proven techniques can also help. Since concentration becomes more problematic, seniors have to learn to be conscious of the need to concentrate and pay attention. The process of learning and creating new memories must be made more deliberate.
Repeat names when introduced to someone. Make a mental picture when attempting to store a new memory or associate that new memory with things already in the memory bank. Use chunking, storing memories in usable blocks that can be reassembled when needed. These and other techniques were demonstrated in actual exercises – ungraded, of course.
The care and maintenance of the brain becomes even more important with aging. Exercise the noodle as well as the body with games, numbers and words. For interested readers, here’s one: name 10 countries whose names are only four letters long. This writer only got seven and had to be told the other three. In any case, the brain got a little workout.
The next in the series of workshops for seniors will be July 24 and 10:30 a.m. at the same Azeez Museum. This one will focus on taking steps to prevent falls, the dreaded event that causes so much misery for many seniors.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.