Breakthroughs in
Research Helps Us Live Longer and Healthier
by Lisa marshall
ANTI-AGING
youth,” we have yet to come up with a way to turn back time. But according to physicians and researchers at the cutting edge of anti-aging research, we’re learning a lot about how to keep the signs of aging at bay. “We’re seeing a ton of compelling research
F
ive hundred years after explorer Ponce de Leon roamed the West Indies and Florida in search of a vigor-restoring “fountain of
“What we have learned in the past few years is that you can literally exercise your brain and
add in new circuitry. You can rewire it.”
lately on how to slow down the clock and live better and longer,” says Dr. Andrew Weil, an integrative physician and author of Healthy Aging:
A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being. “Happily, most of us will
not have to age the way our parents and grandparents did.” In the past decade, breakthrough research has radically
~ Andrew Carle
ment. One in eight seniors will suffer dementia. For decades, scientists assumed the brain was
“hardwired” by around fifth grade, with a finite number of neural connections that inevitably at- rophy over time, stealing our cognitive sharpness. It turns out they were wrong. “What we have learned in the past few years
is that you can literally exercise your brain and add in new circuitry. You can rewire it,” says Pro- fessor Andrew Carle, director of the Program in Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Virginia.
The concept, called neuroplasticity, has spawned a $265
changed our understanding of why our brain, organs and skin age and what we can do, eat or apply to slow the process. Here’s a look at some of the latest science and the technolo- gies to grow out of it.
Workouts for
the Aging Brain
Perhaps the greatest fear of an aging Baby Boomer is not flabby abs or wrinkling skin, but rather, the specter of a withering brain. By age 40, reports the Alzheimer’s Association, two-thirds of us experience occasional lapses of memory. By age 65, 20 percent suffer mild cognitive impair-
28 NA Triangle
www.natriangle.com
million brain-game industry, according to consulting firm SharpBrains. More than 700 senior housing facilities now feature computer brain games, and “brain gyms” are pop- ping up in cities nationwide. Such games are typically either downloadable programs for a home computer or a stand- alone game console. They challenge hand-eye coordination, auditory processing, memory and the ability to multitask. Typically, the program adapts as the user plays, throwing in new challenges. Why not just read a book or do a crossword puzzle?
“These are already well-trodden neuronal pathways,” says California neuroscientist Henry Mahncke, Ph.D., vice presi- dent of research for brain game pioneer Posit Science. “We know from brain imaging studies that if you have something that you are already good at and you do it, not much new lights up in the brain.”
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