How much can you control rate of aging?

In 1979, Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer carried out an experiment to find if changing thought patterns could slow aging. "Everybody knows in some way that our minds affect our physical being, but I don't think people are aware of just how profound the effect actually is," she says. The results of that ground-breaking experiment have resurfaced and are now being fully revealed. Read about it for yourself! Then think about your habitual thought patterns . . .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8498233.stm

Unconscious -- by whose definition?

A report of research studies that was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), is more than attention-getting! Individuals described as being in a "vegetative state" (described as a persistent lack of awareness following brain injury), may be more aware than previously thought. According to the article, one of the patients was able to correctly answer a series of yes or no questions, his responses interpreted via brain imaging. Whoa! This information may eventually impact the way in which vegetative patients are managed . . .


http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24475/

Rest to Remember

Researchers at New York University have found that your brain is working for you when you're resting. This means "awake rest" is important for memory and cognitive function, something that many don't seeem to understand with today's round-the-clock activities. According to Lila Davachi, an assistant professor in NYU's Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, "Taking a coffee break after class can actually help you retain that information you just learned. Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned."

http://www.physorg.com/news183819123.html

Synapses and Memory

Ever wondered how a memory is created--and lasts? with each other. It's all about"strengthening the synapses." Studies at UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute have shown that part of the strengthening process involves making new proteins. Those proteins build the synapse and make it stronger. Just like with exercise, when new proteins must build up muscle mass, synapses must also make more protein when recording memories. In this research, the regulation and control of that process was uncovered.

http://www.physorg.com/news180780161.html

Synesthesia Revisited

Is synaesthesia a high-level brain power? That’s the title of an article by Ewen Calloway that was posted by NewScientist. Studies by Jamie Ward and colleagues at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, suggest that this phenomenon may be the result of a special ability in the brain areas used for language and attention.

“Earlier, another research group at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany, taught 16 colour-grapheme synaesthetes to equate characters from an ancient Slavic script none had seen before with letters and numerals they already associated with colours. “

(http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427393.800-is-synaesthesia-a-highlevel-brain-power.html).

Invictus Revisited

I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. –William Ernest Henley (English Poet 1849-1903).

These are the last two lines in an originally untitled poem. The now-familiar title Invictus (Latin for unconquered) reportedly was added by Arthur Quiller-Couch when he included the poem in The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900).

While visiting my cousin in South Africa some years ago, I traveled to Robbins Island and stood in the cell that Nelson Mandela had occupied for so many years. The guide explained how important Invictus had been to Mandela. He reportedly pondered it frequently during his 9,000-plus days of incarnation, especially those last two lines.

That visit was reawakened in memory when I watched the film Invictus. As you no doubt already know, the movie—starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon—is the story of Mandela’s early struggles to unite his country of South Africa. Those challenges are presented through the story of the Springbok team’s preparation for, and eventual winning of, the World Cup in 1995. They were led by rugby team captain, Francois Pienaar (played by Matt Damon).

Brian Moore commented about the movie: “One critic, David Ansen, has written that the story is ‘one that would be hard to believe if it were fiction. The wonder of Invictus is that it actually went down this way.’ It is still too early to assess the true significance of that triumph and the part rugby played in the unification of post-apartheid South Africa, but nobody should doubt that its influence was real.”

I decided to craft my own Invictus for 2010: to remind me to walk my own path, avoid being a victim of circumstance, and live a balanced brain-friendly lifestyle.

I am mentor of my mind, shaman of my soul, and conductor of my life symphony.

Write your own personal Invictus. Read it aloud several times a day. Make this first year in the second decade of the 21st Century the very best yet!

Alzheimer's disease

How much television do you watch on a daily basis? Cleveland Clinic studies, 2001: Watching too much television (e.g., 4 hours a day on average) was linked to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The brain is not active when it is being glued to television.

Greenwood-Robinson, Maggie, PhD. 20/20 Thinking, p. 218-219. NY:Avery Press. 2003.