Brain health and driving

In a January 30th article in the Journal of Gerontology, a very distinguished University of South Florida team led by Dr. Jerri Edwards reported rather astonishing findings on the value of retaining your driving license at an older age. Their approach was to match a large population of individuals using a variety of general health…

Keeping those troops on alert

I usually don’t read Time , but my wife has a subscription and I happened to notice and read a cover story in a recent issue discussing the profligate prescription of drugs (especially, anti-depressants) to active-duty soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was not surprised by the story, for two reasons. First, as you probably…

Gory neuroscience

I was surprised to read about neuroscience and the brain considered from a particularly intelligent general perspective in the politician Al Gore’s recently published The Assault on Reason (now a Penguin soft-cover). I recommend this book for its perspective about the relationship between “reason” and “marketing” — as “truth” hangs in the balance — in…

We know because we measure

In his Comments, Daniel has asked a lot of questions, and I thought that I’d take a minute to answer two of them. First, after I reviewed a book (Elyn Saks, The Center Cannot Hold, Hyperion:New York, 2007) in which a schizophrenic individual provided her personal descriptions of her life with this illness, he asked…

A sixth misconception about aging: Alzheimers Disease pathology specifically impairs memory/cognitive processes in aging

Our rule when reading about “Ten Misconceptions About Aging” is that you read about prior “misconceptions” before your are entitled to read about this current one, MC #6. If you haven’t done your homework, see blogs on this subject on November 7th, December 5th, April 29th, May 1st and May 5th. Then come back and…

Mr. Leonard Krauss and Dr. Stanley Karansky win a “Merzie”

Over the past three years, we have conducted several research projects at Rossmoor, a retirement community with about 9,000 residents about 20 miles east of San Francisco. Rossmoor is in a beautiful rural setting in a narrow valley surrounded by oak-cloaked hills. I have given a number of lectures there, and am always struck by…

A fifth misconception: Our functional abilities at any stage of life are a handoff from Mother Nature or the Creator of the Universe

If you haven’t done your homework (haven’t read “misconceptions 1-4”), go do it, then read this one. You’ll find those entries on November 7th, December 5th, April 29th, and May 1st. Which lead us to: Misconception 5. Our functional abilities at any stage of life are a handoff from Mother Nature or the Creator of…

“The Brain Fitness Program” on PBS

Many of you may have seen this program.  At last count, it has been shown several thousand times. Almost every PBS station has repeatedly aired it.  Moreover, like a bad penny, it’ll show up again, in the next pledge-break period!  All of this attention stems from its success. PBS viewers have made this one of…

A fourth misconception about getting older: If we fix memory, it’s clear sailing.

Before I talk about this misconception, if you’re new to this argument I ask you to go back and start at the beginning by reviewing misconceptions 1-3.  They are described in posts made on October 7th, December 5th, and April 29th.  After you read them, you’re ready for #4! Misconception 4:  <strong>Cognitive fitness is all…