I feel caught inside our cultural myth that aging is really a failure, that if only I did so it right I could avoid later years, even avoid death. Just what a peculiar notion! We've some ideas that as we age we are no more sexy, vital, juicy. Sometimes when I head into a room Personally i think as if I'm invisible, and even worse, an outcast.-Lee Lipp
I'm well alert to the truth that I'm old. Incidentally, I used to say "old," but now when I'm asked in interviews, "How old are you currently?" I reply, "Well, I was raised in China in a time when age was venerated, therefore i am eighty six years venerable.-Huston Smith
There is that venerating older people grounds my teaching for older adults. It's an attitude of respect, attention, patience and love which makes my teaching rewarding and hopefully of some service. Through the late 60's when it had been not hip to trust anyone over 30, I subtly discounted their exquisite value. Luckily, I soon learned to understand the wisdom and richness of the older generation while at the same time having the capacity to think for myself.
As a young boy, I found older adults to be fascinating, somewhat mysterious and, you should definitely playing sports or in school, I was very happy in their company. When I was in grammar school, I visited older neighbors who didn't seem to have younger people around them. One day I was walking past a fairly run-down, large home where "Mrs. Davenport" was pruning some bushes in her yard. She lived alone, and seemed to be a recluse. She also had the reputation of being truly a mean shrew, and instilled fear in the kids who sometimes played pranks on her behalf. But with this particular occasion, she asked me easily would help her lift some trimmings into a wheelbarrow, that i did, while casting a suspicious eye on her behalf, remembering some of the children said she was a real witch.
Apart from her unsmiling wizened face, I came across nothing sinister about her. Her comments on plants, flowers, trees, squirrels, rabbits, muskrats, cats and dogs started to fascinate me. She never spoke about other people except saying a group of "lousy boys" had thrown rocks at her dogs. After I finished, she invited me to enjoy freshly baked cookies. That began our friendship. I started visiting her, walking down the long driveway, knocking on her door and gaining entrance into magical conversations about topics not used to me. I looked at her photo albums and inspected her "favorite contraptions." Once I opened a painted music box, inlaid with white-spotted black and orange butterflies--I marveled as the box released a melody that brought such delight to Mrs. Davenport, her face noticeably softened.
Now fitness programs for seniors find myself revering my older students, as naturally, as happily as greeting my children when they get back from a trip. It is a joy for me personally to be with older adults, learning and teaching. I'm learning our brains are elastic, that we can "stretch" our minds just as we stretch our bodies, once we age. Neuroscientists call this ability of the mind to keep itself fit, "brain plasticity." The course I teach, through adult school, in convalescent hospitals is called "Mental Fitness."
In classes with this venerable seniors, we offer exercise (including simple Tai Chi), music and singing, arts-crafts, academics (history-geography; language arts; math life skills), puzzles, lively questions & answers about trivia, video documentaries & educational movies. We create an atmosphere where seniors can stay mentally active, at whatever level could be possible for as long as possible.
Different animals are brought into my class at the convalescent hospital-hospice. Of course some of the clients don't desire to be close to any animal, yet many do and find it great fun and excitement, like having an instant "buddy." No judgments about being old. The furry ones make many clients feel relaxed, in what can be an alienating, colorless environment. A 93 year old resident is happily interacting with the fat kitty cat; so energizing for her. The animals brighten the classroom.
We discuss health insurance and nutrition. We review studies-such as those by Dr. Andrew Weil-which recommend that seniors include plenty of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, such as blueberries. And to include anti-inflammation vitamin C (found in citrus fruits, beans, oatmeal, enriched pastas, peas, wheat germ, rice bran) and vitamin e antioxidant (in spinach, sunflower seeds, whole grains, wheat germ); and also omega-3 fatty acids (in salmon, flax-seed oil, walnuts, supplements offering these essential fatty acids). Dr. Weil cites studies from scientists at the University of Irvine (with mice) that show DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid) delays the development of protein "tangles" in brain cells and in addition reduces levels of beta amyloid. (Cf. The Journal of Neuroscience, April 18, 2007)
Research shows that doing such activities as educational "trivia", learning a language or playing a musical instrument may help build reserve brain cells to fight against failing mental ability. So we do lots of trivia and word games, both oral and written. We encourage stimulating the imagination, forming mental pictures to keep company with information, using the force of our attention and memory, still learning and "connecting," and "re-connecting."
Some convalescent homes and senior adult programs have computers, with such programs as "Posit Brain Fitness." Computers provide effective exercises to sharpen the minds of older adults. I did so a few of the sessions from a Brain Fitness Course from Posit Science where I and my fellow and sister seniors did different exercises to pay attention more attentively, to target and concentrate, to improve our capability to process information also to remember progressively larger amounts of information. For instance, we distinguish varying sounds; we remember details from stories. We are experiencing how our brains can change when we are paying attention, how we can enhance the speed with which we process information and nudge our capability to communicate more effectively. I've done five different exercises: 1. "High or Low?" helps faster sound processing, therefore the brain can respond even to fast speech in conversation; 2. "REVEAL Apart" provides brain practice to tell apart similar sounds so it can better interpret the spoken word while storing clear memories; 3. "Match It!" helps the brain remember better, because the brain processes sounds with more clarity; 4. "Sound Replay" stimulates the brain to keep in mind information in the order it's presented; 5. "Listen and Do" exercises the short-term memory, which is critical generally in most cognitive tasks related to thinking.
"Dakim's [m] Power" is another computer-based program which aids in slowing down memory degeneration by "matching" and "word" games, answering questions. Multiple level activities can be found: for "high functioning," for "mild cognition impairment," and for all those with "dementia." Seniors may review history or geography or watch clips from old movies where they are asked to keep in mind setting, characters, and actions. Some of the hospitals and senior centers use the involving world of the Internet to check up information of interest, e-mail and chat.
Sadly, many of our students already suffer from the brain-clogging plaque (amyloid) and protein tangles of advanced Alzheimer's and other dementia that greatly limit memory and cognition, and may manifest in behavioral abnormalities. But even Alzheimer's doesn't exclude meaningful educational and social interaction, even if it is on a simple level. We continue steadily to reassure, interact, creatively stimulate, listen, be with, teach and learn from. We've some fun and laughter together, even yet in this drastic-terribly sorrowful-situation of a slow, progressive diminishing of mental capacity.
Our students tend to be confused, disoriented, incoherent, alienated, angry, withdrawn, in slowly deteriorating conditions. Their words don't appear expressing their thoughts. Some of our students appear "just out of it." We are aware of changing needs and must adapt, be responsive and understanding. It's messy sometimes; we accept all of it. These students are losing nerve cells that are associated with learning, judgment, memory. The chemical acetylcholine-which can be used by nerve cells to transmit messages-is decreasing dramatically.
One of my students greeted me every morning saying with a perplexed look: "I cannot remember what I forgot to keep in mind to tell you." Her daughter would visit her in class, but had to tell her each and every time that she was her daughter. She enjoyed going to class, especially singing and humming old songs; playing catch with a soft ball; listening to stories. However, there were times when she'd sit with a blank expression on her face. J. Madeleine Nash writes: "Imagine your brain as a house filled with lights. Now imagine someone turning off the lights one at a time. That' what Alzheimer's disease does. It turns off the lights in order that the flow of ideas, emotions and memories from one room to the next slows and finally ceases." (Time magazine, July 17, 2000) Though we cannot stop this process in our students, we do our best to accompany them, continuing to shine lights of caring on them.