We’ve all heard the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” But if the dog in question is a human, you’d be lucky to find a neurologist or geriatrician who would agree with you. The truth is that you can, in fact, teach an older brain all sorts of new things, and you should!
“Our brain is a really interesting organ because it has this innate ability to change, adapt, and get stronger the more we exercise it,” says Dr. Rachel Hart, geriatric medicine specialist with Norton Neuroscience Institute Memory Center. “There is great data to show that individuals who are more physically and mentally active have much lower rates of developing dementia or develop it at a later age.”
She adds, “The brain’s ability to learn and adapt is the basic definition of neuroplasticity. Someone who is over 65 can still learn, but it takes longer [than it would for a younger person]. There is never a capacity where the brain cannot take in new information.”
So what types of things might a person consider doing to help restore some fun and creativity into their lives while also exercising those brain muscles?
The key is doing something new, according to Dr. Hart. Anything new that the brain has to wrangle with is going to create connections. It can be something as simple as trying a new recipe for an ethnic food you love but have never made. But your brain will get an even greater jolt of excitement if you try a new class or workshop while also meeting new people: Not only are you doing something novel to build cognitive strength; you are strengthening social ties as well.
Delving into artistic creations
Janet L. Boyd, age 69, knew when she retired from a career as a grant professional that she didn’t want to just sit around. Rather, she wanted to do things that were meaningful and that she hadn’t had as many opportunities to do while working full time. She had taught nonprofit organizations to think about their mission statements, so she created one for herself.
In addition to attending art classes, Janet went deep into knitting. “In the last four years I’ve really dug into that because it is something you can do for your entire life and never ever learn everything there is to learn about it. It’s a complex process,” she says.
Although she earned her living as a writer, Janet is now learning even more about the craft and getting out of her comfort zone. “When you’re a grant writer, you learn how to say everything a funder wants to hear in 500 characters,” she says. Working on memoir writing is forcing her to expand her skills in a different way. She joined Women Who Write and has done several retreats with other female writers.
So what does this new learning do for Janet? “It’s probably a little bit like Saul Bellow said once about ‘keeping the wolf of insignificance from my door,” she says. “That was one of the things I worried about with retirement. I did a lot of good in the community as a grant writer, and that felt really good. I thought ‘What’s going to happen now?’ Having a purpose to my life everyday keeps that wolf away from me.”
Sharyn McBride, age 74, has always been an artistic person, having gotten degrees in clothing/textile merchandising and architectural design. When she retired, her son gave her a gift certificate for painting lessons. “I went to that class and really loved it,” she says. “I get lost in my painting, so that’s what I’ve been doing the last nine years or so.” Sharyn says she can create anything on a canvas that she sees in real life.
She has also taken cake decorating to a new level. When her adult children were young, Sharyn made cakes for their birthdays, but they were simple affairs. When her oldest granddaughter was around 8, Sharyn decided to try something more intricate when she got a request to create a sea anemone with a fish family [the movie Finding Nemo was popular at that time]. “I just started googling and reading books about cake decorating,” Sharyn says. “I got into using gum paste, which is similar to fondant but gets harder.”
Over the years, Sharyn has sculpted decorations of all kinds including penguins from the film Happy Feet, a hot air balloon, and a wolf to honor North Carolina State’s Wolfpack mascot. One of the more challenging creations was an Eiffel Tower cake that took 40 hours. “It’s a mountain I just have to climb,” Sharyn says. “I like having an idea and figuring out how to do it.”
Learning a new language in her 80s
Dianah Brown, age 89, was a teacher for many years, so she is a firm believer in the importance of learning. But due to limited mobility, it is a challenge for her to get out and about for classes or workshops. Her son Steve was learning Spanish as part of his travels and showed his mom Duolingo, a popular language learning app that she can access on her iPad. Dianah began completing the free Duolingo lessons in Spanish, but she soon became frustrated by the limitations of the free program: “If you make three errors, you get kicked off for 30 minutes,” she says. “I stayed kicked off all the time because I would make silly mistakes. Mostly I would mess up on the spelling.” For Mother’s Day, Steve told her he would pay for Duolingo so she wouldn’t be hamstrung.
While her family wasn’t sure she would use Duolingo enough to warrant the cost, Dianah soon began completing 20 or more lessons every day. After breakfast, she would work for an hour or more, and then do it again in the evening when she could earn extra points. “I have never missed a day since I started,” she says. “I have been doing it for 1,267 consecutive days.”
Dianah has learned well over 2,000 words and says it is a much better use of her time and brain than playing Candy Crush, which is what she did on her iPad before she discovered Duolingo. At this point, she has completed every lesson available on the app in Spanish and is just waiting for Duolingo to keep up with her!
By Carrie Vittitoe
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