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Honest to goodness, after reading the first few paragraphs, I thought this person was talking about me. (Sam, you might enjoy this article). My husband and I went to a very large mall today and with the crowd and noise, I kept becoming so distracted and losing my keys and sunglasses! My husband will put a tea kettle on for tea and go outside and forget he did it (thankfully mostly when I'm at home), or I'll walk to the kitchen and forget why I'm there! So frustrating. And, God forbid I meet someone new and have to remember there name during the course of a conversation with them, hopeless. I do the alphabet trick all of the time to remember a word I can't 'find'. I asked for (of all things, can't believe I'm admitting this) a Nintendo DS for Xmas so I could buy challenging games that were not stressful as even though my job is complicated, it's also stressful. Anyway, here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03adult-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rssI found this VERY interesting: Quote:Educators say that, for adults, one way to nudge neurons in the right direction is to challenge the very assumptions they have worked so hard to accumulate while young. With a brain already full of well-connected pathways, adult learners should “jiggle their synapses a bit” by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own, says Dr. Taylor, who is 66.
Teaching new facts should not be the focus of adult education, she says. Instead, continued brain development and a richer form of learning may require that you “bump up against people and ideas” that are different. In a history class, that might mean reading multiple viewpoints, and then prying open brain networks by reflecting on how what was learned has changed your view of the world.
“There’s a place for information,” Dr. Taylor says. “We need to know stuff. But we need to move beyond that and challenge our perception of the world. If you always hang around with those you agree with and read things that agree with what you already know, you’re not going to wrestle with your established brain connections.
Such stretching is exactly what scientists say best keeps a brain in tune: get out of the comfort zone to push and nourish your brain. Do anything from learning a foreign language to taking a different route to work.”
Finally, an excuse to spend all of that money for Rosetta Stone to learn a new language!
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. ~Socrates~ (I pretend to be a cat with a lime carved as a helmet on my head) 
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DC:
Memory problems are also due to estrogen depletion - I know you don't take HRT - but what about the faux estrogen they give women who can't take estrogen?
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Well, I certainly use my brain a lot--almost too much to learn new stuff. Maybe that helps me not looking as old as I am.
I've been having problems with computer since May. I'm on a loaner now and still waiting for a new one. If I don't get back to you or am not on board, it would be most likely due to another computer problem.
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I think my new gyno said that the 'receptors' for the fake ones were the same as the real ones. I need to check on that, though. My memory is fine at work, I remember the smallest details because I somehow focus more. But at home, I just sort of space out. It's all mostly when I'm distracted. I seem to get much more easily distracted than I ever have before, especially if it gets noisy or a lot of people are around. Hard to explain. Regardless, I cannot remember a name to save my life, unless I FORCE myself to say it four or five times in my head or relate it to an object that rhymes. LOL..., like that banana song from the 60's.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_Gameor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MJLi5_dyn0
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. ~Socrates~ (I pretend to be a cat with a lime carved as a helmet on my head)
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DC:
THANK YOU FOR THAT UTUBE SONG - such FUN - good New Year present to all of us ...
can you do it with a three or four syllabel name? I'm too scared to try - also BTW did you get my PM?
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No, Laz, I didn't get a PM from you. Nothing in my inbox for several days. Odd. Maybe it got lost in cyberspace! I read the rules on wiki, since like everything else I've forgotten them, and I feel pretty sure you can do it with any name--except I might skip doing it with a name like Tucker, lol. Quote:Using the name Micah as an example, the song follows this pattern:
Micah, Micah, bo-bicah,
Banana-fana fo-ficah
Fee-fi-mo-icah
Micah!
A verse can be created for any name, with X as the name and X−1 as the name without the first consonant sound (if it begins with a consonant), as follows:
(X), (X), bo-b(X−1)
Banana-fana fo-f(X−1)
Fee-fi-mo-m(X−1)
X!
If the name starts with a vowel or vowel sound, the "b" "f" or "m" is inserted in front of the name.
And if the name starts with a b, f, or m, that sound simply is not repeated. (For example: Billy becomes "Billy Billy bo-illy"; Fred becomes "banana fana fo-red"; Marsha becomes "fee fi mo-arsha".)
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. ~Socrates~ (I pretend to be a cat with a lime carved as a helmet on my head)
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DCNGA wrote:No, Laz, I didn't get a PM from you. Nothing in my inbox for several days. Odd. Maybe it got lost in cyberspace!
DC, I somehow got the PM, I'll forward it to you. I do all the same things, forgetting why I came into a room, leaving my phone and keys in a store, forgetting about things on the stove until the fire alarm goes off. My brother is extremly smart but his regular memory is so bad sometimes I worry about him. Did you end up getting the ds? I had one but sold it when I got my iPhone. I had the brain age game and don't recommend it, it may make you think faster but wasn't at all challenging. I forgot the name but the game that Liv Tyler did the commercial for is better and has actual puzzles that make you think. I like the one where you slide cars on a grid to unblock the path.
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“There’s a place for information,” Dr. Taylor says. “We need to know stuff. But we need to move beyond that and challenge our perception of the world. If you always hang around with those you agree with and read things that agree with what you already know, you’re not going to wrestle with your established brain connections. Such stretching is exactly what scientists say best keeps a brain in tune: get out of the comfort zone to push and nourish your brain. Do anything from learning a foreign language to taking a different route to work.” Finally, an excuse to spend all of that money for Rosetta Stone to learn a new language! I agree with this advice. I think having a 10 yr. old daughter, at my age has helped me with "stretching" my brain. I have learned so much new and (useless ?) info over the years. I am into the latest music, movies and tv shows for the *tween* genre. LOL I play all the latest (girl) Nintendo, Wii,PS3 etc. games and am really quite amazing at Guitar Hero!! HA!
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yes D, did enjoy it and do agree. We've known for a long time that in normal aging somethings actually improve in cognition. The things that worry people as they age are usually, short term memory loss and word finding. Studies do show that puzzles, suduko, etc. are helpful. Hey, I'm not doing them but I do have a Rosetta Stone Italian in my trunk.
What appear to be memory issues in younger people are frequently due to other issues like depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, stress, or occassionally medical problems like thyroid disease, B12 deficiency,etc.
Sue, I do feel that surrounding yourself with people of all ages enriches if not preverves function. I babysat for a friend with 3 boys under 9 and an infant (what was I thinking). The boys taught me to play this horrifically violent video game but my hand eye and attention were really engaged. (Did kind of want to beat someone up afterwards so still don't endorse the behavior). Guitar hero sounds better.
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I think if I had the wherewithal I would go back to school and take social psychology. It's all so interesting to me. Glad you liked the article, Sam. I found it fascinating, especially since much of it applies to me these days or my husband. The distraction thing is my biggest issue. Losing words is minimal but does happen. But, when I'm distracted I become a complete ditzoid. I raised three kids all alone, so you think distraction would not bother me. But, as I've aged it is my number one 'issue'--being easily distracted. I did get the DSi and it came with Brain Age. Stupid game. I hate math games, but love puzzles. (Husband got the shoot em up, kill em games for the Wii, sam, he's hooked--yuck). Seek and find is especially enjoyable to me. There's one game I have that is totally child-like but very hard called Scribblenauts. You have all of these scenarios where you have obstacles preventing the main character from picking up the prize to win the round. You have to write in what you think the character needs to use to get around the obstacle, once you write it the article is put on the screen and you give it to the character to use. If you give him the wrong thing or it's something like a bomb to blow up a wall, he usually blows up himself, so you've killed the character. ACK! But, it is challenging and inventive, so forces me to think outside the box. I always want to give him a ladder, a helicopter, and bug spray (he gets attacked by bugs all of the time) and it's not good to do the same articles over and over again, they want you to be creative. It's coming to me slowly, so I'm learning. Geez, I just wrote an entire paragraph on a video game! That is sad on some level, LOL. I need to see if I can find similar articles as this one. They really interest me. Maybe a book on the new theories of adult learning, since I do have to train adults from time to time at work.
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. ~Socrates~ (I pretend to be a cat with a lime carved as a helmet on my head)
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sam wrote:yes D, did enjoy it and do agree. We've known for a long time that in normal aging somethings actually improve in cognition. The things that worry people as they age are usually, short term memory loss and word finding. Studies do show that puzzles, suduko, etc. are helpful. Hey, I'm not doing them but I do have a Rosetta Stone Italian in my trunk.
What appear to be memory issues in younger people are frequently due to other issues like depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, stress, or occassionally medical problems like thyroid disease, B12 deficiency,etc.
Sue, I do feel that surrounding yourself with people of all ages enriches if not preverves function. I babysat for a friend with 3 boys under 9 and an infant (what was I thinking). The boys taught me to play this horrifically violent video game but my hand eye and attention were really engaged. (Did kind of want to beat someone up afterwards so still don't endorse the behavior). Guitar hero sounds better.
Yeah, my 2009 resolution was to do a suduko or online scrabble type game, three times a week. I got off to a great start, but kind of fizzled out after a couple of months.
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I'm thinking word games help, but if you are really good with words (which I do best with word games), this article suggests you try something that challenges in a different way than seeking out something that you know. I tend to go after word games, so now I'm going to look into strategy games because I SUCK at strategy games because they are counter to what I normally like.
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. ~Socrates~ (I pretend to be a cat with a lime carved as a helmet on my head)
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