Over 50? Simple secrets to grow younger

Want to keep your mind, body limber? Volunteer, dance and keep learning

Video: Improve your memory as you age

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announcer: health.

>>> this morning on "today's fountain of youth ," improving your memory as you age. getting older doesn't necessarily mean becoming more forget full. john erickson is an expert on aging. his son mark is also the co-author of "old is the new young." erickson's secrets to healthy living . john, the book is largely based on the business of getting older as you say, running these retirement communities. what have you learned in your experience as you've seen covering so many different people as they get older?

>> with more than 30,000 full-time consultants over the last 25 years, i've really seen a shift. we went from take it easy, don't overdo it to use it or lose it. that's everything from the physical side to the mental side. you have to stay really active and engaged.

>> mark, you're one of the authors of book. really the science of getting older, a lot of people are led to believe that as you get older you start to lose brain cells and they start to die off. at least that's what i've long thought and believed that. but that's not necessarily true . right?

>> that's a radical thing we're understanding, is not only do the lifestyle changes, choices we make in our 30s, 40s an 50s affect how we age but even in our 60s, 70s and 80s we can reverse symptoms associated with aging and cognitive decline.

>> what's happening in our brain as it relates to memory loss ? what's changing?

>> the scientific term for this change is called " brain plasticity ." we're learning now that the brain is capable of rewiring itself not just when we're kids but throughout our lifetimes. there are things we can do that even in our 70s and 80s cause the brain to rewire itself and regain cognitive capabilities.

>> you focus a lot on the exercise, interactive activities that you call the exercise for the brain, things such as dancing, reading groups, new languages. how are these helping stimulate the brain?

>> it's often the interaction of multi-dimensional approaches, physical, cognitive, emotional and social. think about learning to dance. it is physical, and uses the body, it is cognitive in that you're learning, it is social in that you are interacting, and it is emotional. those simple areas have some of the biggest impacts in our experience.

>> you're a fan of high-tech, computer games . how does that help stimulate brain function ?

>> they are doing a lot of research on the brain's response to computer technology , how it creates an alternate pathway in thinking. they're able to put a lot more science behind the use of the brain. the biggest issue is your social engagement. that probably does more to light up multiple places in the brain than any other point. when you meet somebody new you want to know how witty they are, how quick they are, what do you have in common. you're really lighting up new spaces in the brain when you are engaged socially.

>> some of the tricks you say to help you remember things, you recommend visualization and association techniques.

>> associative memory is how do you relate a new fact relative to four or five other different things. the more things you can relate something to, the more likely you are to store it and to remember it. names being one. but events being another. so keeping the association paths with multiple connection points is really strong. the curious people, the adventuresome people tend to do a lot better with associative memory development. then the next one is your visual. the difference between thinking in an old 1950s black and white television, and into a new digital color set is the difference between night and day. you want your brain to be alive at digital color level. so you want as much detail as you can get.

>> use it or lose it, as you said. right? the book is called "old is the new young, ericksons' secrets to healthy living ." thanks for sharing some of these tricks with us.

>>> coming up, more music from superstar susan boyle.

>>> but first, this is "today" on nbc.

>>> so have you heard it is a big music week here at the "today" show

Show transcript

TODAY books

updated 11/23/2009 10:15:18 AM ET

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Want to get older without feeling old? In “Old is the New Young,” the Erickson Corporation takes the latest clinical research findings on aging and explains how to keep the mental, physical, social and financial aspects of life thriving. Here is an excerpt.

As we said earlier, research shows that interactive activities benefit your brain the most. These types of activities help your brain exercise several pathways at once and keep your connections working efficiently. Most activities involve interacting with others, exchanging new ideas, or learning a new skill. Some examples:

Dance
Popular ones for older adults are square dancing and ballroom dancing, both of which require partners. You are training your brain to learn new movements while interacting verbally.

Book groups
Actively participate in book discussion groups, or discuss new books or magazine articles with friends. This easy and inexpensive activity sharpens your mind because it helps you formulate and communicate new ideas.

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Learn a new language
Research shows that hearing new accents, practicing different grammatical structures, and uttering new sounds triggers your brain to stay sharp. Try one of the world’s easiest languages called Bahasa, spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia. Or, plan a trip to a foreign country and challenge yourself to learn the language.

Learn a musical instrument
Learning to play (or practicing one you’ve already learned) keeps your mind in shape by hearing new sounds, seeing and interpreting musical notes, and synchronizing handeye coordination.

Volunteer your brain for your community
Find a way to share your knowledge and experience for the benefit of others. A Johns Hopkins School of Medicine study showed that older adults who participated in Experience Corps, a nationwide program in which adults age fifty-five and over tutor and mentor schoolchildren, had increased cognitive abilities. Brain scans documented the increased mental activity in study participants.

Experience new new ways to vacation
Instead of your usual summer trip, seek out new experiences with an educational travel organization like Elderhostel or a senior-friendly travel group like Grand Circle Travel.

Examples of other activities that have been associated with sharper minds are acting, painting/art, quilting, photography, and even surfing the Internet. Most of the above activities have been scientifically studied with regard to their brain benefits. Keep in mind, however, that any activity can be beneficial as long as it’s something new to you.

Beware of one-way learning
Some activities might seem like a good idea for sharpening your mind, but research shows otherwise. An example is taking college classes or attending lectures. Simply listening to a lecture, whether in a formal class or otherwise, does not provide enough brain stimulation to positively impact mental fitness.

If you want to take classes or attend lectures, look for those that are discussion-based and interactive. If you take a class that doesn’t offer discussion or activities, set aside time to talk about the subject matter with friends or family.

Get back what you can
If you want your brain to function as well as it did in your younger days, you’ve got to work at it. Fortunately, research is increasingly providing proof about ways to achieve your goals, no matter what your age or health status.

The Erickson Foundation compared a case-matched sample of Erickson residents to a representative sample of older adults enrolled in the nationwide Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Despite having more chronic conditions than their HRS counterparts, Erickson residents reported being in better health and experiencing less depression. In general, they felt happier. We believe that these results are due, in part, to Erickson residents’ active participation in campus activities and social interaction.

Secret #7: Sharpen your mind
No matter how old you are or how forgetful you’ve become, there are ways you can regain some of your mental sharpness. More and more research studies are showing that you can reprogram your brain to function better. One way to do this is by using brain exercises.

Formal brain exercises, like those developed by Nintendo, Advanced Brain Technologies, PositScience, Quixit, CogniFit, and many others, can be effective for some users. One program developed by PositScience has been shown in several research studies to shave ten years off of a seventy-five-year-old’s brain age. Although several of these products look and sound like simple video games, they can be expensive. Individual users have to pay about $395 for the PositScience program, for example.

To help our residents get more physically active at Erickson communities, we tried the Nintendo Wii system, with an excellent response. We therefore decided to give Nintendo’s Brain Age a try. Although not yet proven scientifically to better your brain function, and the “brain ages” that the game assigns to you need to be taken with a grain of salt, Brain Age is nevertheless a big hit in Japan, where many people carry the portable game and play throughout the day, hoping to improve their brain age. Many of our residents enjoy the system, and one eighty-two-year old resident had this to say: “When I first started playing, the system scored my brain age as eighty. I played it every day for a week and now my brain age is sixty-seven. I think the game helps me concentrate better.”

Another 2008 study from researchers at the University of Illinois showed that playing complex video games may improve older adults’ thinking abilities and help them juggle multiple tasks.

There are other, informal brain exercises that can provide you with the same kind of targeted brain training for a lot less money. Targeted brain training means that the exercises are designed for a specific purpose (like improving memory) in the same way that targeted physical exercises concentrate on certain muscle groups.

Brain exercises to practice at home
Some of the following exercises were developed by Dr. George Rebok, a Johns Hopkins professor and world-renowned expert on older adults’ mental health, and his colleagues.

Improve your memory skills
These tips are useful for improving all types of memory.

Step one: Pay attention. It’s common sense, but you tend to remember what you pay attention to. Example:

When you meet someone new, you may be so focused on what to say that you don’t pay attention to his/her name. Repeat the person’s name to yourself a few times or out loud (“It’s nice to meet you, Bob”), and you’ll be less likely to forget it next time.

The following steps can be remembered by the acronym, “M.O.V.A.”

Step two: M = meaningfulness. Make what you want to remember meaningful. Example: If you read something important or interesting, discuss it with someone, or better yet, several people. Talking about it will help the information stick in your memory.

Step three: O = organization. Group information into natural categories. Example: When planning a trip to the grocery store, group needed items into categories that make the most sense to you—either by product type (e.g., produce, dairy, meats), meals planned for the week, or the store’s layout. Then try to shop without consulting your list.

Organization works well with any large amount of information you need to remember—instructions for setting up your computer, for example.

Step four: V = visualization. See the information in your mind. Visualization lends meaning to the object or information to be remembered and allows the creation of a mental picture that helps with later recall. Example: A good way to practice visualization is to draw or write down what you see. Sharpen your skills by drawing a penny from memory, or anything else you’ve seen thousands of times, like a building you pass by every day.

Step five: A = association. Associate new information with what you already know. Example: If you want to remember a painting to describe to someone, start by concentrating on the painting’s elements individually. Associate each element with something familiar—if there’s a person wearing a hat, think about a favorite hat you’ve owned. Or if there’s a tree, associate it with the tree outside your window. Then try describing the painting in detail.

Excerpted with permission from “Old is the New Young” (GPP Life).