What I Look Forward to In My 'Older' Years...

"Every man can, if he so desires, can become the sculptor of his own brain."

— Santiago Ramon y Cajal

Above is a scene shot from the movie Sabrina (1995).  Sabrina is one of my all time favourite movies.  I'm yet to see the original with Audrey Hepburn, and I think that's what I'll be doing tonight, as I am home with a head cold which seems to be getting worse.  In the above photo, Tom (John Wood) is sitting in his lounge room and there are books scattered everywhere.  When he isn't chauffering, he's reading.

This is one of my favourite scenes, because this is what I'd love to do more of...reading.  And it's how I imagine myself as I get older and I have more time to indulge in such a decadent past time. 

I'm finding that as I get older, my love for reading is become more voracious.  My interest and curiousity in the world is really starting to pick up at quite a pace, and the world just seems to be so much more interesting, don't you think?

However, I've also found lately that my mental faculties are just not as fast as they once were, and I'm having more and more trouble remembering things and retaining information.  I find this most unsatisfactory, considering I want to learn more, not less.

It's slowing me down, and I need to go over things more often, which just takes more time.  It also affects my confidence and my ability to learn.  Considering I will be going to university next year to begin studies, I was a bit concerned about my ability to take in information and retain it.  The reason becomes more poignant when you realise that I'll be doing a language and linguistics degree, so the importance of my listening and retention skills becomes paramount.

It wasn't until I read the above book, 'The Brain that Changes Itself', by Norman Doidge, M.D., that a flicker of hope about my current dilemma, presented itself.  My very good friend, who herself is experiencing difficulties, in relation to her brain and nervous system after a simple operation, put me onto this book (side-effects from anaesthetics).  I am grateful for the referral, and after reading this book am astounded and amazed at the brain's ability to change, in order to improve the way our body works and how it can heal itself.  Neuroplasticity is an amazing area of science, and one that is absolutely fascinating!

Anyway...here are a couple of excerpts from the book, 'The Brain that Changes Itself'.  I highly recommend it.

1.  "Neurosplasticity research has shown us that every sustained activity ever mapped - including physical activities, sensory activities, learning, thinking, and imagining - changes the brain as well as the mind.  Cultural ideas and activities are no exception.  Our brains are modified by the cultural activities we do - be they reading, studying music, or learning new languages.  We all have what might be called a culturally modified brain, and as cultures evolve, they continually lead to new changes in the brain.  As Merzenich puts it, "Our brains are vastly different, in fine detail, from the brains of our ancestors...In each stage of cultural development...the average human had to learn complex new skills and abilities that all involve massive brain change...Each one of us can actually learn an incredibly elaborate set of ancestrally developed skills and abilities in our lifetimes, in a sense generating a re-creation of this history of cultural evolution via brain plasticity."

So a neuroplastically informed view of culture and the brain implies a two-way street: the brain and genetics produce culture, but culture also shapes the brain.  Sometimes these changes can be dramatic."

2.  "One of the first people to begin thinking about how plasticity must change the way we think about culture was the Canadian cognitive neuroscientist Merlin Donald, who argued in 2000 that culture changes our functional cognitive architecture, meaning that, as with learning to read and write, mental functions are reorganized.  We now know that for this to happen, anatomical structures must change too.  Donald also argued that complex cultural activities like literacy and language change brain functions, but our most basic brain functions such as vision and memory are not altered.  As he put it, "No one suggests that culture determines anything fundamental about vision or basic memory capacity.  However, this is obviously not true of functional architecture of literacy and probably not of language."

Yet in the few years since that statement, it has become clear that even such brain fundamentals as visual processing and memory capacity are to some extent neuroplastic.  The idea that culture may change such fundamental brain activities as sight and perception is a radical one."

Anyway...I could go on about this forever, but you'll just have to read the book!  There are case studies of people with differing ailments, such as those who have suffered strokes; those who have lost sight, vision, limbs, etc, and the fascinating ways that they have 'rewired' their brains in order to function better and to regain some type of normality in their lives.  Lots of fascinating stories about how neuroscientists are able to change, rewire and recreate 'brain maps', so that people can use other senses or parts of the body to do the job of senses that are lost.  A bit like those who lose sight, who use their fingers to read.  Their fingers take on the role of 'eyes'.

So in my quest to improve my cognitive abilities, I've started doing Brain Exercises using Brain Training Software, in the same way as I exercise my physical body.  I probably won't see a real change or notice any differences until maybe another month.  But I will let you know down the track how I'm going. 

Meanwhile, I'm currently enjoying some time out while recuperating in my cave.  My new book "Ultramarathon Man' by David Karnazes should arrive at my doorstep either today or tomorrow, and I can't wait to get into it!