Seniors - Good News!! & a Hearty Laugh

A Shiny New Year 2009?

It ain't all bad!!! Stop thinking doom and gloom. Oh, I know it's hard, especially this time of year. The weather's bleak. Flooding in January? You are poorer and older than you were last year, and you may be fatter. OK, let's don't get negative............


Your memory is shot. Worried your new year's resolutions will go down the river? You know deep down in your heart that you are becoming forgetful and what about all your bad habits? Wish you could just resolve to make them disappear? POOF!! All gone............I said, don't go negative......the world is in even worse shape than you are.


Here's some good news to bolster you.......

The older brain is a wiser brain
According to new findings in neuroscience, your inability to remember names at cocktail parties or where you left your keys is not necessarily a symptom of early-onset dementia. Instead, it is a sign that your focus of attention has become broader. Getting distracted could be a good thing.


Did you ever think that getting distracted allows our creative juices to flow? "It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind," Shelley H. Carson, a Harvard psychology researcher, told The New York Times.


"A broad attention span may enable older adults to ultimately know more about a situation and the indirect message of what's going on than their younger peers," adds Dr. Lynn Hasher, at the University of Toronto. "We believe that this characteristic may play a significant role in why we think of older people as wiser." In other words, while younger brains are cluttered up with trivia, your brain is freed to work on a whole lot more important things.


Be excited - the windmills of your mind just may not splinter!!!

Losing the ability to think, understand, & learn among people over 70 has been declining sharply in recent years. Brain scientists aren't sure why, but they think it's tied to the fact that older people are better educated, wealthier and more active than ever before. People who are better off are more likely to use it, not lose it. So remember: Like sex, mental challenges are very good for you, and you are never too old. Spending time Googling is good for you.


We are also being flooded with remarkable new findings about brain plasticity. It seems that the brain - even the aging brain - is more malleable than we thought. It can even grow new nerve cells. One day, you'll probably be able to take a pill to help keep your neural pathways firing on all cylinders. Meantime, exercise, social connections, flexibility (can you touch your toes?) and eagerness to embrace new experiences are extremely effective cognitive medicine. Now THAT'S Good News!!!

This is a new twist on the Red Riding Hood & the Big Bad Wolf story..............

Little Red Riding Hood is skipping thru the forest road when she sees the big bad wolf crouched down behind a log.
'My, what big eyes you have, Mr. Wolf.'
The wolf jumps up and runs away.
Further down the road, Little Red Riding Hood sees the wolf again. This time he is crouched behind a bush.
'My what big ears you have, Mr. Wolf.'
Again the wolf jumps up and runs away.
About 1/4 mile down the road Little Red Riding Hood sees the wolf again and this time he is crouched down behind a rock.
'My what big teeth you have Mr. Wolf.'
With that the wolf jumps up and screams, 'Will you knock it off, I'm trying to poop!'


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