(1) Please read this article and create an action plan.
http://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-06-2013/memory-is-mine-normal.2.html
(1) What do you plan to use from this atricle?
(2) What items are useful to you today?
(3) How will you change your behavior and habits to use this information?
Three words for today
abase
abdicate
abduction
Which of these definitions is accurate?
__ To lower in position, estimation, or the like; degrade __ The lady superior of a nunnery.
__ The group of buildings which collectively form the dwelling-place of a society of monks or nuns. __ The superior of a community of monks. __ To give up (royal power or the like).
__ In mammals, the visceral cavity between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor; the belly.
__ Of, pertaining to, or situated on the abdomen.
__ A carrying away of a person against his will, or illegally.
Look up the three words
Call the instructor and use the three words in sentences and give similar words (synonyms) for these words.
From FreeVocabulary.com
THE ARTICLE
I'm perfectly capable of failing to remember my neighbor's name when I see her at the market. Heck, I'm perfectly capable of failing to recognize my neighbor completely. Recently, I blanked out on a dinner party a friend had thrown for me a few years back. I apparently went, schmoozed, felt grateful for his effort — but forgot about the whole thing. (And no, I hadn't been tipsy.)
Fotuhi listens intently as I share my worries, but he doesn't seem all that concerned. If anything, he seems more interested in the less sensational aspects of my health. He asks about my cholesterol levels and wants to know about my exercise routine (atrocious), sleep habits (worse), stress levels (high, but whose aren't?). All very mundane, I think. All very critical, Fotuhi insists.
Cycling has never ranked high on my list of favorite activities, and I like it even less when I've got EKG leads taped to my chest. No matter how encouraging exercise physiologist Michelle Barnett is — and she's very encouraging — her words don't distract me from the fact that she's wearing a cute T-shirt over her toned abs while I lack both T-shirt and six-pack.
Still, the workout gets my heart pumping a little faster, and that's a good thing. According to psychologist Arthur Kramer, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, physical exercise is one of the best gifts you can give your brain.
A few years ago, Kramer persuaded a group of older adults to embark on a relatively modest exercise regimen, in which they walked three days a week for 45 minutes each time. "Nobody won any medals," Kramer says, but the walkers showed a substantial improvement on cognitive tests at the end of the yearlong study. What's more, brain scans displayed a 2 percent increase in hippocampus size.
"You did very well on the cognitive assessment," the doctor tells me after I'm settled in his office.
The idiosyncrasies of my memory may be related to my long-ago concussion, Fotuhi says. But he tells me that almost no one gets into midlife years without some mind-threatening history or habits. Besides, memory is a quirky thing.
A poor performance wouldn't necessarily be a tragedy. If I were in the institute's three-month brain fitness program, I'd get intensive treatment for any medical problems, as well as help with nutrition and exercise. Moreover, I'd practice meditation, do biofeedback and get plenty of stimulation from computer games, puzzles and brainteasers.
Fotuhi provides no guarantees (and if a person has Alzheimer's disease, for instance, such remedies certainly won't cure it). But, he says, his multipronged approach almost always brings improvement.
So even with my impressive scores, Fotuhi offers a preventive prescription: "You should start getting more sleep — and exercise," he tells me. Meditation would be a big help, too, he says, especially when I'm feeling stressed. I should also do something nice for myself every day — happiness is very good for the brain. All those changes should get my hippocampus as big as possible, creating a buffer against the ravages of time.
Lisa Davis is deputy editor at Sharecare.com. She has written for Health, Reader's Digest, Vogue and other publications.
EXTRA ACTIVITY: does your grandmother need this activity?
Call with at least one phrase from a foreign language.
Claro que sim.
Como se diz ____ em português??
Até amanhã!
Can you say these phrases in other languages? Use Translate.google.com to use these phrases in French or Spanish.
FREE GED ONLINE COURSE: https://sites.google.com/site/stevesattutor/online-ged-course
This is a course about preparing for the GED. Yes, I might select some boring articles, but the idea is to give you something that might be useful after you finish the GED.
If you have a topic that you want to read about, please suggest the topic and I'll go hunt for an article... or you can send me an interesting article (interesting to you) and I will make some reading questions about the article.
http://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-06-2013/memory-is-mine-normal.2.html
(1) What do you plan to use from this atricle?
(2) What items are useful to you today?
(3) How will you change your behavior and habits to use this information?
Three words for today
abase
abdicate
abduction
Which of these definitions is accurate?
__ To lower in position, estimation, or the like; degrade __ The lady superior of a nunnery.
__ The group of buildings which collectively form the dwelling-place of a society of monks or nuns. __ The superior of a community of monks. __ To give up (royal power or the like).
__ In mammals, the visceral cavity between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor; the belly.
__ Of, pertaining to, or situated on the abdomen.
__ A carrying away of a person against his will, or illegally.
Look up the three words
Call the instructor and use the three words in sentences and give similar words (synonyms) for these words.
From FreeVocabulary.com
THE ARTICLE
I'm perfectly capable of failing to remember my neighbor's name when I see her at the market. Heck, I'm perfectly capable of failing to recognize my neighbor completely. Recently, I blanked out on a dinner party a friend had thrown for me a few years back. I apparently went, schmoozed, felt grateful for his effort — but forgot about the whole thing. (And no, I hadn't been tipsy.)
Mine is the kind of memory that causes a 50-plus person like me to
worry, especially given the stats: Approximately 5.4 million Americans
suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and researchers say the number will
nearly triple by 2050.
Experts warn that our society isn't prepared for the cost of caring for so many people who can no longer cope with daily life.
Excuse me: I'm not only concerned about paying for caregiving; I'm just as worried about actually needing it which is why I jumped at the opportunity to have my memory assessed and improved at one of the nation's cutting-edge cognitive clinics: the Neurology Institute for Brain Health and Fitness near Baltimore, MD.
The institute is run by Majid Fotuhi, M.D., Ph.D., a neurologist who is pushing his colleagues to change the way we think about thinking.
Memory experts have long focused primarily on the still-mysterious role played by plaques, tangles and other physiological components of the brain. But Fotuhi and a handful of colleagues have begun to hone in on how people's lifestyles and daily routines affect their minds. The research represents a radically different approach to the study of the brain, and it's starting to get serious attention.
At the institute, Fotuhi works with therapists, a physiologist and a technician to treat a wide range of people, from college students with concussions to people in the late stages of cognitive decline — as well as productive professionals like me who are fretting about their forgetfulness. Many of his patients get a personalized, multi-month "brain fitness program" to prevent problems, fix them or both. The promise: Treatment will cut the risk of a mental decline and also improve the workings of your memory right now.
Experts warn that our society isn't prepared for the cost of caring for so many people who can no longer cope with daily life.
Excuse me: I'm not only concerned about paying for caregiving; I'm just as worried about actually needing it which is why I jumped at the opportunity to have my memory assessed and improved at one of the nation's cutting-edge cognitive clinics: the Neurology Institute for Brain Health and Fitness near Baltimore, MD.
The institute is run by Majid Fotuhi, M.D., Ph.D., a neurologist who is pushing his colleagues to change the way we think about thinking.
Memory experts have long focused primarily on the still-mysterious role played by plaques, tangles and other physiological components of the brain. But Fotuhi and a handful of colleagues have begun to hone in on how people's lifestyles and daily routines affect their minds. The research represents a radically different approach to the study of the brain, and it's starting to get serious attention.
At the institute, Fotuhi works with therapists, a physiologist and a technician to treat a wide range of people, from college students with concussions to people in the late stages of cognitive decline — as well as productive professionals like me who are fretting about their forgetfulness. Many of his patients get a personalized, multi-month "brain fitness program" to prevent problems, fix them or both. The promise: Treatment will cut the risk of a mental decline and also improve the workings of your memory right now.
At the institute, Fotuhi works with therapists, a physiologist and a
technician to treat a wide range of people, from college students with
concussions to people in the late stages of cognitive decline — as well as productive professionals like me who are fretting about their forgetfulness.
Many of his patients get a personalized, multi-month "brain fitness
program" to prevent problems, fix them or both. The promise: Treatment
will cut the risk of a mental decline and also improve the workings of
your memory right now.
On a cold, gray morning this year, I nervously make my way to the clinic, a medical building so nondescript and forgettable that it doesn't seem fair to patients.
As I enter the suite of exam rooms, Fotuhi greets me warmly and ushers me into his office to begin my preliminary examination. The doctor is a teddy bear of a man with a gorilla-size CV: He has a medical degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore; his research is published in leading medical journals, and he lectures around the world. But he's thoroughly approachable as he checks my reflexes and instructs me to jump from foot to foot — a quick way to assess my nimbleness and overall vigor. Then he sits down at his desk and invites me to talk, as if we had all the time in the world.
On a cold, gray morning this year, I nervously make my way to the clinic, a medical building so nondescript and forgettable that it doesn't seem fair to patients.
As I enter the suite of exam rooms, Fotuhi greets me warmly and ushers me into his office to begin my preliminary examination. The doctor is a teddy bear of a man with a gorilla-size CV: He has a medical degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore; his research is published in leading medical journals, and he lectures around the world. But he's thoroughly approachable as he checks my reflexes and instructs me to jump from foot to foot — a quick way to assess my nimbleness and overall vigor. Then he sits down at his desk and invites me to talk, as if we had all the time in the world.
More on Brain Health
Stress and cognivity
I run through my medical history quickly, since it's short and boring, with one significant exception: When I was in college, I was in a bad car accident — high speed, head-on, no seat belt. I hit my head so violently that when I woke up, I had amnesia. Like a character in a soap opera, I'd forgotten much of the preceding year, and my thinking was slow and scrambled for the next few weeks. I recovered, but I can't help wondering about whether that hard whack on the head has somehow affected my brain.Fotuhi listens intently as I share my worries, but he doesn't seem all that concerned. If anything, he seems more interested in the less sensational aspects of my health. He asks about my cholesterol levels and wants to know about my exercise routine (atrocious), sleep habits (worse), stress levels (high, but whose aren't?). All very mundane, I think. All very critical, Fotuhi insists.
Learning a new language or just figuring out how to juggle a few
balls — it all seems to stimulate your neurons and boost your
brainpower.
In recent years, scientists have learned that the brain is an
exquisitely sensitive organ, growing and shrinking like a coral reef in
response to its environment. A mounting stack of studies suggests that
the condition of the body somehow affects the condition of the brain.
According to Gary Small, M.D., director of the UCLA Longevity Center and
author of The Alzheimer's Prevention Program, being overweight
doubles the risk for Alzheimer's; being obese quadruples it. Diabetes
can speed up brain shrinkage, as can high blood pressure.
A wide range of conditions — from sleep apnea to depression — also seems to have an impact on brain health. So does everyday stress. Studies indicate that the stress hormone cortisol can damage the brain's white matter pathways, making it harder for areas to communicate with one another.
Thankfully, there's an upside to the brain's vulnerability: Just as bad habits can impair its functioning, good ones can help it. Several studies, including a 2011 report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that healthy lifestyle choices help create new cells in the hippocampus, the seahorse-shaped region of the brain that processes short-term memories and determines which ones get put in long-term storage. "The best remedy for late-life Alzheimer's disease is midlife intervention," Fotuhi tells me as we finish my initial exam. "Baby boomers need to wake up and shake up their lives."
"When I say 'start,' I want you to name as many words as you can that begin with the letter B," instructs Tracy Riloff, the institute's director of cognitive assessment. That turns out to be challenging when you've got only 60 seconds. I can't come up with "boy" or "book," but inexplicably I manage to pull out the words "brusque" and "bile." We move on to other letters and eventually other exercises: I draw shapes from memory, repeat Riloff's stories back to her and sort cards into categories. It all reminds me of the aptitude tests I took in elementary school.
It also makes me feel as if I'm getting a real workout — which is not far from the truth, since research shows that mental exercise can keep your brain in shape. A 2000 study reported that London cabbies plumped up their hippocampi as they learned to navigate the maze of streets in the inner city. Other research has found that medical students bulk up their brains as they cram for exams. Learning a new language or just figuring out how to juggle a few balls — it all seems to stimulate your neurons and boost your brainpower. "If someone told me 20 years ago that the brain is like a muscle, I would have laughed," UCLA's Small says. "But in many ways, it is."
My muscle of a brain is exhausted, so I'm glad that the mental aerobics part of my assessment is over. Unfortunately, it's time for the physical part.
A wide range of conditions — from sleep apnea to depression — also seems to have an impact on brain health. So does everyday stress. Studies indicate that the stress hormone cortisol can damage the brain's white matter pathways, making it harder for areas to communicate with one another.
Thankfully, there's an upside to the brain's vulnerability: Just as bad habits can impair its functioning, good ones can help it. Several studies, including a 2011 report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that healthy lifestyle choices help create new cells in the hippocampus, the seahorse-shaped region of the brain that processes short-term memories and determines which ones get put in long-term storage. "The best remedy for late-life Alzheimer's disease is midlife intervention," Fotuhi tells me as we finish my initial exam. "Baby boomers need to wake up and shake up their lives."
Weight training for the mind
The next part of my evaluation, not surprisingly, is a memory test."When I say 'start,' I want you to name as many words as you can that begin with the letter B," instructs Tracy Riloff, the institute's director of cognitive assessment. That turns out to be challenging when you've got only 60 seconds. I can't come up with "boy" or "book," but inexplicably I manage to pull out the words "brusque" and "bile." We move on to other letters and eventually other exercises: I draw shapes from memory, repeat Riloff's stories back to her and sort cards into categories. It all reminds me of the aptitude tests I took in elementary school.
It also makes me feel as if I'm getting a real workout — which is not far from the truth, since research shows that mental exercise can keep your brain in shape. A 2000 study reported that London cabbies plumped up their hippocampi as they learned to navigate the maze of streets in the inner city. Other research has found that medical students bulk up their brains as they cram for exams. Learning a new language or just figuring out how to juggle a few balls — it all seems to stimulate your neurons and boost your brainpower. "If someone told me 20 years ago that the brain is like a muscle, I would have laughed," UCLA's Small says. "But in many ways, it is."
My muscle of a brain is exhausted, so I'm glad that the mental aerobics part of my assessment is over. Unfortunately, it's time for the physical part.
More on Brain Health
Physical exercise and brain size
I head into the next exam room, where a stationary bike is waiting for me. A stress test will assess how well my cardiovascular system is feeding my brain.Cycling has never ranked high on my list of favorite activities, and I like it even less when I've got EKG leads taped to my chest. No matter how encouraging exercise physiologist Michelle Barnett is — and she's very encouraging — her words don't distract me from the fact that she's wearing a cute T-shirt over her toned abs while I lack both T-shirt and six-pack.
Still, the workout gets my heart pumping a little faster, and that's a good thing. According to psychologist Arthur Kramer, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, physical exercise is one of the best gifts you can give your brain.
A few years ago, Kramer persuaded a group of older adults to embark on a relatively modest exercise regimen, in which they walked three days a week for 45 minutes each time. "Nobody won any medals," Kramer says, but the walkers showed a substantial improvement on cognitive tests at the end of the yearlong study. What's more, brain scans displayed a 2 percent increase in hippocampus size.
Since the hippocampus generally shrinks about half a percent a year
after age 50, his subjects weren't just slowing the march of time but
reversing it. "If we had a drug that did that, everyone would pay a lot
of money for it," Kramer says. "But this doesn't cost a thing. Just take
a walk."
A rhythmic whooshing noise fills the room. It's the sound of the blood in one of my carotid arteries, the main feeders for my brain. Plaque can clog these arteries, just as it can stop up the arteries that go to the heart. And just like a clot in a coronary artery can cause a heart attack, one in a carotid can cause a stroke. Even a partial closure can leave your brain operating at reduced power. So the technician is checking how well things are moving — and I'm happy to learn that my blood is flowing freely.
Later I also get good news after an EEG, a test that entails covering my scalp with goop and wearing an electrode-studded skullcap that traces my brain waves.
Research offers tantalizing suggestions that the practice may be good for memory. It's simple, though not necessarily easy: All it takes is a relaxed awareness of one's thoughts, sensations and emotions. Sahin helps me perfect my belly breathing as I picture myself in a remote meadow and concentrate on progressively relaxing my body, from my feet to my eyebrows. Sahin says I'm learning to simultaneously focus and relax.
Optimal blood flow is key
After finishing my stress test and getting my shirt back, I head down the hallway to meet with a radiology technician. I lie on an exam table as he waves an ultrasound wand up and down the side of my neck.A rhythmic whooshing noise fills the room. It's the sound of the blood in one of my carotid arteries, the main feeders for my brain. Plaque can clog these arteries, just as it can stop up the arteries that go to the heart. And just like a clot in a coronary artery can cause a heart attack, one in a carotid can cause a stroke. Even a partial closure can leave your brain operating at reduced power. So the technician is checking how well things are moving — and I'm happy to learn that my blood is flowing freely.
Later I also get good news after an EEG, a test that entails covering my scalp with goop and wearing an electrode-studded skullcap that traces my brain waves.
Meditation for relaxation
By now I'm ready for a break, and luckily it's time for Taking It Easy 101. At the institute nearly everyone learns mindful meditation with brain fitness director Eylem Sahin.Research offers tantalizing suggestions that the practice may be good for memory. It's simple, though not necessarily easy: All it takes is a relaxed awareness of one's thoughts, sensations and emotions. Sahin helps me perfect my belly breathing as I picture myself in a remote meadow and concentrate on progressively relaxing my body, from my feet to my eyebrows. Sahin says I'm learning to simultaneously focus and relax.
More on Brain Health
Memory can be quirky
Memory loss is a horrible thing. It makes your life seem even more fleeting than it already is, and it's frustrating, embarrassing and scary. So I'm feeling really anxious as I head back to the institute the following day to hear Fotuhi's diagnosis, hoping his words bring a wide smile to my face."You did very well on the cognitive assessment," the doctor tells me after I'm settled in his office.
The idiosyncrasies of my memory may be related to my long-ago concussion, Fotuhi says. But he tells me that almost no one gets into midlife years without some mind-threatening history or habits. Besides, memory is a quirky thing.
A poor performance wouldn't necessarily be a tragedy. If I were in the institute's three-month brain fitness program, I'd get intensive treatment for any medical problems, as well as help with nutrition and exercise. Moreover, I'd practice meditation, do biofeedback and get plenty of stimulation from computer games, puzzles and brainteasers.
Fotuhi provides no guarantees (and if a person has Alzheimer's disease, for instance, such remedies certainly won't cure it). But, he says, his multipronged approach almost always brings improvement.
Taking care of your brain
"A lot of people think that if they're having memory problems, their memory is lost and gone for good," Fotuhi asserts. "They don't realize the brain is kind of like their biceps. Both can be toned up at any age."So even with my impressive scores, Fotuhi offers a preventive prescription: "You should start getting more sleep — and exercise," he tells me. Meditation would be a big help, too, he says, especially when I'm feeling stressed. I should also do something nice for myself every day — happiness is very good for the brain. All those changes should get my hippocampus as big as possible, creating a buffer against the ravages of time.
Lisa Davis is deputy editor at Sharecare.com. She has written for Health, Reader's Digest, Vogue and other publications.
EXTRA ACTIVITY: does your grandmother need this activity?
Call with at least one phrase from a foreign language.
Claro que sim.
Como se diz ____ em português??
Até amanhã!
Can you say these phrases in other languages? Use Translate.google.com to use these phrases in French or Spanish.
FREE GED ONLINE COURSE: https://sites.google.com/site/stevesattutor/online-ged-course
This is a course about preparing for the GED. Yes, I might select some boring articles, but the idea is to give you something that might be useful after you finish the GED.
If you have a topic that you want to read about, please suggest the topic and I'll go hunt for an article... or you can send me an interesting article (interesting to you) and I will make some reading questions about the article.
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