This is another book ‘review’ for my friends, family and colleagues by Daniel Levitin (neuroscientist and professional musician) aptly entitled for us “Successful aging: a neuroscientist explores the power and potential of our lives”. The title sounded, well … but it is extremely well researched, well written, thoughtful and impactful for our age group as we prepare for the next phase(s). The tome presents the latest findings on psychology and neuroscience from a developmental perspective and sprinkles in many anecdotes from active elders from our generation, Joni Mitchell, Steven Stills, Paul Simon, Pablo Casals, Jane Fonda, Dalai Lama, along with many older researchers as well. It's dense but readable.
I enclose the outline, healthy practices to maintain intelligence, a definition of wisdom, and his ‘prescription’ for keeping the mind going.
Contents
1. Continually developing brain
a. Personality, Memory (sense of you), Perception, Intelligence (problem-solving), Motivation, Social, Pain
2. Choices we make
a. Internal clock, Diet (brain food), Exercise, Sleep (memory consolidation)
3. New longevity
a. Living longer, Living smarter (cognitive enhancement), Living better (telomeres etc)
Health practices to main intelligence
C – curiosity
O – openness
A – associations – engage with others
C – conscientiousness – follow-through (he thinks this is tantamount)
H – healthy practices (diet, exercise, sleep etc)
Definition of wisdom
1. Social decision-making ability and pragmatic knowledge of life
2. Prosocial attitudes and behaviors
3. Ability to maintain emotion homeostasis (tendency towards positive)
4. A tendency toward reflection and self-understanding
5. Acknowledgement of and coping effectively with uncertainty
6. Valuing of relativism and tolerance
7. Spirituality
8. Openness to new experience
9. A sense of humor
Rejuvenating your brain
1. Don’t stop being engaged in meaningful ‘work’.
2. Look forward, not backwards.
3. Exercise, preferably in nature.
4. Embrace a moderated and healthy lifestyle.
5. Keep your social circle exciting.
6. Spend time with people younger than you.
7. See your doctor regularly, not obsessively.
8. Don’t think of yourself as old.
9. Appreciate your cognitive strengths (pattern recognition, crystallized intelligence, wisdom, accumulated knowledge)
10. Promote cognitive health through experiential learning (traveling, g’children, new activities and situations)
Live on, live well!
