I feel caught inside our cultural myth that aging is a failure, that when only I did it right I could avoid later years, even avoid death. What a peculiar notion! We have some ideas that once we age we are no longer sexy, vital, juicy. Sometimes when I head into a room Personally i think as though I'm invisible, as well as worse, an outcast.-Lee Lipp
I'm well alert to the fact that I'm old. Incidentally, I used to say "old," however now when I'm asked in interviews, "How old are you?" I reply, "Well, I grew up in China in a period when age was venerated, so I am eighty six years venerable.-Huston Smith
I've found 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. Through 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 exactly the same time being able to think for myself.
As a young boy, I came across 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. One day I was walking past a reasonably 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 reputation of being truly a mean shrew, and instilled fear in the kids who sometimes played pranks on her behalf. But with this particular occasion, she asked me if I would help her lift some trimmings into a wheelbarrow, that i did, while casting a suspicious eye on her behalf, remembering a number of the children said she was a bona fide witch.
Apart from her unsmiling wizened face, I found nothing sinister about her. Her comments on plants, flowers, trees, squirrels, rabbits, muskrats, dogs and cats started to fascinate me. She never spoke about other folks except saying a group of "lousy boys" had thrown rocks at her dogs. After 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 come home from a trip. It's a joy for me to be with older adults, learning and teaching. I am learning that our brains are elastic, that we can "stretch" our minds just as we stretch our anatomies, once we age. Neuroscientists call this ability of the mind to keep itself fit, "brain plasticity." The course I teach, through adult school, in convalescent hospitals is called "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 may be possible for as long as possible.
Different animals are brought into my class at the convalescent hospital-hospice. Needless to say a few of the clients don't wish to be close to 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 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. Also to include anti-inflammation vitamin C (within citric fruits, beans, oatmeal, enriched pastas, peas, wheat germ, rice bran) and vitamin E (in spinach, sunflower seeds, whole grains, wheat germ); along with omega-3 essential fatty acids (in salmon, flax-seed oil, walnuts, supplements that provide 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 in addition reduces levels 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 drum may help build reserve brain cells to fight against failing mental ability. So we do lots of trivia and word games, both oral and written. We encourage stimulating the imagination, forming mental pictures to associate with information, using 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 a few of the sessions from the Brain Fitness Course from Posit Science where I and my fellow and sister seniors did different exercises to pay attention more attentively, to target and concentrate, to boost our ability 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 attending to, how we can enhance the speed with which we process information and nudge our ability to communicate more effectively. I've done five different exercises: 1. "High or Low?" helps faster sound processing, so the brain can respond even to fast speech in conversation; 2. "REVEAL Apart" gives the brain practice to distinguish similar sounds so it can better interpret the spoken word while storing clear memories; 3. "Match It!" helps the mind remember better, because 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 generally in most cognitive tasks linked to thinking.
"Dakim's [m] Power" is another computer-based program which aids in slowing down memory degeneration by "matching" and "word" games, answering questions. Multiple level activities can be found: 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 check up information of interest, e-mail and chat.
Sadly, many of our 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 could manifest in behavioral abnormalities. But even Alzheimer's doesn't exclude meaningful educational and social interaction, even though it is on a simple level. More help continue to reassure, interact, creatively stimulate, listen, be with, teach and study 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 expressing their thoughts. Some of our students appear "just out of it." We are aware of 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 is used by nerve cells to transmit messages-is decreasing dramatically.
One of my students greeted me every morning saying with a perplexed look: "I can't remember what I forgot to remember to tell you." Her daughter would visit her in class, but had to tell her each time that she was her daughter. She enjoyed going to class, especially singing and humming old songs; playing catch with a soft ball; hearing stories. However, there have been times when she'd sit with a blank expression on her behalf face. J. Madeleine Nash writes: "Imagine the human brain as a house filled up with lights. Now imagine someone turning off the lights one by one. That' what Alzheimer's disease does. It turns off the lights so the flow of ideas, emotions and memories from one room to the next slows and eventually ceases." (Time magazine, July 17, 2000) Though we cannot stop this process in our students, we do our far better accompany them, continuing to shine lights of caring in it.