mindhacks points to a Salon interview with Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, author of a new book on midlife memory loss. She turned herself into a medical guinea pig to research her own failing memory. ” Suddenly there were sinkholes, as if the information had just been sucked down the drain.”
More than 70 percent of seniors over the age of 65 live alone.
The brain needs social interaction and without it begins to fail.
Isolation contributes heavily to Alzheimer’s disease.
…social interaction is very important. The more isolated you are the more likely you are to have your brain and memory start to fade. Memory is everything. Memory is who we are. When it goes, there is nothing left there. It’s what we know about our lives. When it goes — as it does in Alzheimer’s disease — people don’t necessarily lose the ability to get up or eat a meal or go for a walk or sit in a chair. They lose themselves.
Does age offer anything positive from our brains?
We can make certain valid assumptions based on previous experience that younger people cannot. You can look at your daughter’s boyfriend and realize in about 20 seconds that this is not going to work. But it will take her about two years.