I feel caught inside our cultural myth that aging is a failure, that if only I did it right I could avoid old age, even avoid death. What a peculiar notion! We've some ideas that once we age we are no longer sexy, vital, juicy. Sometimes when I walk into a room I feel as though I'm invisible, and even worse, an outcast.-Lee Lipp
I'm well alert to the truth that I'm old. By the way, I used to state "old," but now when I'm asked in interviews, "How old are you?" I reply, "Well, I grew up in China in a time when age was venerated, so I am eighty six years venerable.-Huston Smith
There is that venerating the elderly 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. During 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 being able to think for myself.
As a boy, I found older adults to be fascinating, somewhat mysterious and, you should definitely playing sports or in school, I was very happy within their company. When I was in grammar school, I visited older neighbors who didn't seem to have younger people around them. 1 day I was walking past a fairly run-down, large home where "Mrs. Davenport" was pruning some bushes in her front yard. She lived alone, and seemed to be a recluse. She also had the trustworthiness of being truly a mean shrew, and instilled fear in the youngsters who sometimes played pranks on her. But on this particular occasion, she asked me easily would help her lift some trimmings right into a wheelbarrow, that i did, while casting a suspicious eye on her behalf, remembering a few 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, dogs and cats began to fascinate me. She never spoke about other people except saying a group of "lousy boys" had thrown rocks at her dogs. WHEN 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 new 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 I find myself revering my older students, as naturally, as happily as greeting my family when they get back from a trip. It's a joy for me personally to be with older adults, learning and teaching. I'm learning our brains are elastic, that people can "stretch" our minds in the same way we stretch our anatomies, even as we age. Neuroscientists call this ability of the brain to help keep itself fit, "brain plasticity." The course I teach, through adult school, in convalescent hospitals is named "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 so long as possible.
Different animals are brought into my class at the convalescent hospital-hospice. Of course some of the clients don't want to be near any animal, yet many do and find it great fun and excitement, like having an instantaneous "buddy." No judgments about being old. The furry ones make many clients feel relaxed, in so what can be an alienating, colorless environment. A 93 year old resident is happily getting together with the fat kitty cat; so energizing for her. The animals brighten the classroom.
We discuss health and nutrition. We review studies-such as those by Dr. Andrew Weil-which recommend that seniors include plenty of antioxidant-rich vegetables and fruits, such as blueberries. And to include anti-inflammation vitamin C (within citrus fruits, beans, oatmeal, enriched pastas, peas, wheat germ, rice bran) and vitamin e antioxidant (in spinach, sunflower seeds, whole grains, wheat germ); together with omega-3 essential 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 also reduces degrees 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 plenty of trivia and word games, both oral and written. We encourage stimulating the imagination, forming mental pictures to keep company with information, utilizing 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 some of the sessions from a Brain Fitness Course from Posit Science where I and my fellow and sister seniors did different exercises to listen more attentively, to target and concentrate, to improve our capability to process information and to remember progressively larger amounts of information. For instance, we distinguish varying sounds; we remember details from stories. We have been experiencing how our brains can transform 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. " Website link or Low?" helps faster sound processing, therefore the brain can respond even to fast speech in conversation; 2. "Tell Us Apart" provides brain practice to tell apart similar sounds so that it can better interpret the spoken word while storing clear memories; 3. "Match It!" helps the brain remember better, as 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, that is critical in most cognitive tasks linked to thinking.
"Dakim's [m] Power" is another computer-based program which aids in slowing memory degeneration by "matching" and "word" games, answering questions. Multiple level activities are available: for "high functioning," for "mild cognition impairment," and for those with "dementia." Seniors may review history or geography or watch clips from old movies where they're asked to keep in mind setting, characters, and actions. A few of the hospitals and senior centers use the involving world of the web to look up information of interest, e-mail and chat.
Sadly, quite a few students already have problems with 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 basic level. We continue steadily to reassure, interact, creatively stimulate, listen, be with, teach and learn from. We've some fun and laughter together, even 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 to express their thoughts. A few of our students appear "just out of it." We are alert to changing needs and must adapt, be responsive and understanding. It's messy sometimes; we accept everything. 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.
Among my students greeted me each morning saying with a perplexed look: "I can't remember what I forgot to remember to inform you." Her daughter would visit her in class, but had to inform her each and every time that she was her daughter. She enjoyed likely to class, especially singing and humming old songs; playing catch with a soft ball; listening to stories. However, there were times when she would sit with a blank expression on her behalf 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 so the flow of ideas, emotions and memories in one room to another 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.