How does the brain work? Basic answers to this question and many others are available in a short article, Your Incredible Shrinking Cortex, published in Michigan Today, a publication of the University of Michigan (U-M). The article’s author, Claudia A. Capos, interviews Thad Polk, a U-M Professor of Psychology, about the brain and how … Continue reading
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Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, and the Miracle of Music
We were driving home from a delightful lunch at a Thai restaurant — my husband, me, and my mother and dad. In one of those quirks of the digital age, my iPhone connected with the car’s bluetooth function, and suddenly the car was filled with music. We all hummed along and smiled as Tony Bennett … Continue reading
Music, the Brain, Aging, and Memory Diseases
We live with music throughout our lives — it surrounds people no matter what their age. Children, of course, love to sing at almost as soon as they are born, but music, even for those who are not musicians, is a part of the air people breathe. Interestingly, music appears to become even more important as people age and contributes … Continue reading
Can You Positively Affect Your Cognitive Aging?
Earlier this summer I attended an engaging lecture given by Charles M. Reynolds, III, MD, a professor of Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In his talk, Brain Health As You Age: You Can Make a Difference, Dr. Reynolds discussed information aging and the changes that occur in the … Continue reading
Music that Heals the Soul
Music by itself cannot heal a disease. No one these days, however, disputes that music can heal the soul, making illness more bearable. Some time ago I wrote about Alive Inside, a movie that documents the success of therapeutic music programs with elderly participants who have dementia of Alzheimers. The program, started by Dan Cohen, pairs … Continue reading
So How Does Music Connect With the Brain?
I’ve watched in wonder as music changes people — kids, adults, people who are ill, elders, and caregivers. Of course, the movie Alive Inside visually documents how music can affect people, even those with substantial memory loss. But what exactly is happening in the brain? In the process of wondering, I came across an excellent video … Continue reading
Alive Inside: This Movie Is Extraordinary!
You know a movie speaks to the audience when people just sit there as the credits start to roll rather than getting up and moving out. That’s what happened this evening when my husband and I went to see Alive Inside, the Sundance award-winning documentary about the role that music plays in the lives of elderly people who … Continue reading
Grandma by Jessica Shepherd: A Book Review
Recently I discovered a children’s book, Grandma, that tells a story, from a child’s point of view, about a much-loved grandmother who develops dementia. As an educator, I’ve often thought about the need for books that help children understand the disease while illustrating how to continue to love and support a family member who experiences dramatic memory changes. Only … Continue reading
Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource-National Institute on Aging
Check Out this Easy-to-Use Guide from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) If one of your family members or a friend receives a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, this book, Caring for a Person with Alzheimer’s Disease, offers an enormous amount of information and support. It’s organized well, overs a range of resources, and even … Continue reading
Here’s to the Health of Remembering — Even After Forgetting
If you find yourself forgetting things (and taking more time to remember them than you want), read Dr. Bill Thomas’ post, Tip of the Tongue, over at his Changing Aging blog. He writes about the brain and presents a broad range of research findings that address memory, forgetting, remembering, age, and ageism. As we grow … Continue reading
Alzheimer’s Drug Researcher Becomes a Patient – Loses Job
This short article over at Caring.com reminds us that Alzheimer’s is not just a disease for older and elderly adults. Moreover the story reminds us that our stereotypes and dysfunctional thinking, when it comes to people who are coping with serious diseases, can do much harm.
Exercise, Computer Use, and Cognitive Impairment
A research study published in the May 2012 issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings finds an association between computer activities, physical exercise and reduced mild cognitive impairment. The article Computer Activities, Physical Exercise, Aging, and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Population-Based Study (PDF) reports on an ongoing population study that randomly sampled 926 individuals in Olmsted, Minnesota … Continue reading
Understand More About Age-Related Memory Loss
Just about everyone — aging parents and adult children — worry about memory loss, though many of us turn our angst into jokes about senior moments. This book looks interesting. While I don’t always learn cutting edge new information by reading these Harvard health publications, I often find the chock full of information that keeps … Continue reading
A Daugher’s Long Goodbye: A Book Review by Mom and Me
When my mom picked up A Daughter’s Long Goodbye: Caring for Mother at the church library, she brought it home and quickly read it cover to cover. Then she suggested that I read it — well actually she instructed me to do so. Caring for Mother, written in 2007, is not easy reading. Virginia Stem … Continue reading
Paul Allen Donates Another $300 Mil to Brain Research
New York Times, March 22, 2012 Paul Allen Gives Millions for Brain Research By Benedict Carey It’s a good day for brain research. Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen is giving millions more to the Allen Institute for Brain Science, which according to a New York Times article, opened as a center for brain research in 2003.Reporter … Continue reading
Staying Sharp in Middle Age and Keeping It that Way
For weeks I’ve been intending to post a link to A Sharper Mind, Middle Age and Beyond, a New York Times article that appeared on January 19, 2012. The article, by Patricia Cohen, addresses mental fitness of people as they age and examines the reasons that brain power changes as people grow older. Especially interesting … Continue reading
Another Post on Dementia and The Iron Lady
Karin Kasdin writes on dementia and the Margaret Thatcher movie, The Iron Lady, reflecting and reinforcing some of my thoughts in Dementia, Margaret Thatcher, and What It’s Really Like (January 15, 2012). Moreover, she writes more about privacy issues, includes an insightful quote from Meryl Streep, and deftly identifies the fear that many adult children experience — and I include myself here — when … Continue reading
Dementia, Thatcher’s Privacy, and What It’s Really Like
Last night about 20 minutes into watching The Iron Lady interact with her dead husband, I leaned over to my husband and exclaimed, “Now I really understand what it was like was for your mother — she saw those things.” This movie is about dementia, not history. Lady Thatcher’s conversations with her husband Denis, were … Continue reading
Does Musical Training Influence Cognitive Aging?
Does musical training have any effect on the aging brain? Scientists at the University of Kansas Medical Center asked this question. They wondered whether the experience of learning and practicing an instrument and the resulting sensorimotor and cognitive abilities might help a person much later when aging changes begin to occur. In The Relation Between … Continue reading
Multitasking and the Aging Brain
Over the past 20 years multitasking has become a common 20th and 21st Century conversation for people of all ages. Technology, especially the many things we seem to do all at once with the help of our gadgets, makes us think that we are all pretty good multi-taskers. Unfortunately, research is showing we aren’t doing … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 