How to Stay Mentally Sharp and Fulfilled as You Age

Today's blog post comes from a podcast at The Art of Manliness. This seems like a timely subject since we all seem to be getting older by the day.

Everyone gets old.

But not everyone experiences old age the same way. Some folks spend the last few decades of their life sick, sad, and stagnating, while others stay sharp and find great satisfaction in the twilight years of life.

My guest today is a neuroscientist who has dug into the research on what individuals can do to increase their chances of achieving the latter outcome instead of the former.

His name Daniel Levitin and today we discuss his latest book Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives. We begin our conversation discussing the societal narratives we have about old age that don’t always hold true. We then dig into the fact that while the brain slows in some ways with age, it gets sharper in other ways. Daniel shares the personality trait that’s the biggest predictor of a successful elderhood, and the recognizable-yet-surprising reason the idea that memory declines with age is overblown. We also talk about what really works for preserving your memory and keeping your mind agile and keen, and no, it’s not doing puzzles and brain games. We end our show discussing the question of whether people get happier or sadder as they age.

I'm going to have to listen to this again, since I nodded off about halfway through it. Not that it wasn't interesting, it's just that I was tired.

Here are the highlights:

• What are some of our culture’s myths and biases about aging?
• How the elderly get marginalized in our society
• What’s going on in our brain as we get to our 40s, 50s, and 60s
• Why intelligence improves with age
• The importance of conscientiousness as a trait for aging successfully
• Why you should focus on learning and doing new things as you age
• Do we really become more forgetful as we get older?
• What can we proactively do to improve our memory? Are brain games bunk?
• How and when we attribute our maladies to age rather than randomness
• Why physical movement is so crucial for physical and mental health
• The undeniable power of strong social connections
• Nature’s restorative powers
• Why older adults are actually happier than younger people

That last point is interesting...apparently the optimal age for happiness is 82 years old. I wrote about happiness last week (and I'm still taking the happiness course from Yale...be sure to check it out here)

Interesting days

Today - Get Out Your Guitar Day, Peppermint Patty Day, Safer Internet Day, Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day, Pro Sports Wives Day, Satisfied Staying Single Day, Make a Friend Day, Extraterrestrial Culture Day and White Shirt Day

Tomorrow - Darwin Day, Lost Penny Day and Plum Pudding Day

Week long celebrations:

February 9 - 15: Kraut and Frankfurter Week

Next Tuesday - Drink Wine Day, Pluto Day, Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day and Battery Day

March 11 - World Plumbing Day, Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day and Registered Dietitian Day