Across the country, there were many ears glued to the radio this morning. Volcanic ash? Government suing Goldman Sachs? No. This was on something that we carry around each and every day – our personal motor – it moves us to get up in the morning, propels us to the shower, and presses that espresso (oh, so Boulder!). The discussion was on a most popular topic – our brain. You remember those embarrassing moments of forgetting someone’s name, or opening the frig to pull out… what was I looking for?
On NPR this morning, Barbara Strauch, Health and Medical Science Editor for The New York Times, told us about the research findings based on tracking people from the 1950′s and following them throughout their lives. Strauch said that we do have ‘little stumbles’, but she reassures us that we should not despair. The science concludes that starting around 40ish, our brain actually improves in a number of areas.
For example, white matter. I used to blame camping in the Grand Canyon and drinking water loaded with heavy metals for my little fatty white matter balls. But, no! “As we do things, as we learn things, the white matter increases and the brain signals move faster,” says Strauch. Thus, your brain sees connections faster, big pictures, assesses the situations at lightening speed – which she calls, “middle-aged wisdom.” Now, this is enough for me. But, wait! There’s more…
We can actually sharpen our brain by getting out of our comfort zone – take up a hobby like playing an instrument or learning a foreign language. Our brain is like a race horse (Kentucky Derby on my mind) – it likes to be worked. If you’re good at crossword or Sudoku puzzles, move on to something else. It must challenge the mind.
This is where Leonardo da Vinci’s Sfumato comes in – embracing the unknown and trying something you’ve never done before. Learning Italian, sculpting with terra-cotta, painting with oils, take up creative writing, learning how to use your new digital camera on a Da Vinci Capers’ trip!
We hope to see you in Boulder next month or in Italy this fall. Now, what adventure will we be doing?!
+00002010-04-20T23:20:23+00:00302010bUTCTue, 20 Apr 2010 23:20:23 +0000 24, 2007 at 10:35 pm04 |
So true! I just have to remember what challenges I was going to do. LOl