STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
How can you live longer and better, while buffering yourself against Alzheimer’s?
Dust off your lava lamp, tutor a preschooler and pick up a book.
That’s the prescription Dr. John Medina gave during his keynote speech for the 21st annual Sun Valley Wellness Festival Friday night at the Sun Valley Opera House.
Of course, there’s more.
Medina, a molecular biologist who authored the New York Times bestseller “Brain Rules,” said one way to keep vital is to take the dopamine lollipop that is nostalgia. And that applies to anyone 30 and older.
It turns out that nostalgia is good for you because it increases happiness, sense of fulfillment, optimism and social connectivity, as it gives you a feeling of belonging to a group. It decreases your fear of death and makes you feel close to loved ones, especially those with perceived social differences.
“The more nostalgic you become, the greater your tolerance for outsiders,” said Medina.
Everything that happens to us between age 25 and 29 comprise the greatest moments of our life, said Medina. That’s generally when people listen to “the music of my generation,” read their favorite books, watch the plays and movies they will always remember fondly and enjoy the give and take of political viewpoints the most.
The years between 55 and 60 are when things seem their worst. Then, fondness for things rebounds.
Medina recounted a study by research scientist Ellen Langer, who gathered a bunch of 75- to 80-year-old men together and fed them Swanson TV dinners, a diet of radio from the 1959 and treated them like 20-year-olds.
A follow-up cognitive motor assessment showed their hearing sensitivity had improved, as had their vision and manual dexterity. The length of their fingers grew as they started using their fingers again to do things like play the piano.
One man threw away his cane, and all engaged in a spontaneous touch football game.
“Get out your lava lamp. Develop a room in your house devoted to nostalgia,” Medina said.
POWER OF LEARNING WITH FRIENDS
Going to college after 30 offers powerful benefits that extend life. Learning a new musical instrument improves memory and impulse control. And learning a foreign language increases problem solving abilities and fluid intelligence.
Reading at least 3.5 hours a week reduces the rate of all causes or mortality by 23 percent.
And you get a boomerang effect if you not only imbibe information but give it out—say, teaching it to someone else.
Residents of an assistive living facility who were asked to teach elementary school students reduced their lifetime risk for Alzheimers, while improving memory.
“The best benefit is if you teach those who are way younger,” said Medina noting that preschoolers can so de-center a senior that it reduces risk of depression, anxiety disorders and stress, while lowering mortality rate.
At the same time, seniors teaching preschoolers is a bonus for youngsters. Because seniors tend to be more patient and more relaxed than their teacher or working parents, it boosts their problem solving language development better than just with a teacher. And it aids their emotional development and increases social skills.
“You can make a strong argument that assistive living centers should be married to preschools,” Medina said, adding that such facilities should be located near one another.
BE A FRIEND
One of the best things you can do for the wellness of your brain is simply to be a friend to someone, said Medina.
Those who are married, work as volunteers and have frequent contact with family and neighbors have a 70 percent reduction in the rate of cognitive decline versus those who score low on the social integration scale.
Forty percent of seniors say they are lonely. And that's scary because socially isolated seniors fall at twice the rate of interactive seniors. They also have increased memory dysfunction, poor problem solving, increased risk of viral infections and a greater incidence of diseases like cancer. The probability of death for lonely seniors is 45 percent higher than those with lots of friends.
"Loneliness is the enemy of the brain, said Medina. "We're only now learning how toxic loneliness can be to the body. Researchers suspect the demanding act of socializing builds up the brain, much as exercising muscles builds up the body."
STUDY MINDFULNESS
Medina advocated an eight-week course in mindfulness or what one researcher called monitoring one’s present experience with acceptance.
Mindfulness improves memory, boosts creativity, elevates verbal fluency and increases cognitive flexibility scores—that is, seeing another point of view.
“It’s the single most powerful tool against depression every measured,” Medina said.
It also reduces the amount of negative rumination one does—that is, thinking about the nasty things you want to say. It makes people happier, improves reaction times, reduces the number of infectious diseases. And it reduces loneliness.
People who are stressed tend to get cortisol or adrenaline, depending on their parents genetic makeup. Mindfulness is the only tool that addresses both.
"The more mindful you become the longer you live," said Medina. "Those who practice mindfulness have an 86 percent decreased risk of heart attack and stroke."
DID YOU KNOW?
Sam Hart has written a book titled "Mindfulness for Dogs," as well as one titled "Mindfulness for Cats."
SUN VALLEY WELLNESS FESTIVAL CONTINUES
The Festival continues today and Monday, July 2, at the Community School Campus. Included is the free Experience Hall full of organic cotton wear, individual saunas and more. For information, visit www.sunvalleywellness.org.