06/03/2007

Honey, have you seen my glasses?

By Ed Hungness
Local columnist edhungness@
yahoo.com

Read Ed's past columns here

An old college buddy of mine recently sent a magazine article to me about the effects of aging on the brain.

After reading it, I think AARP might want to make it required reading for admission to its fine organization. I'm also wondering if my wife might have put my friend up to sending me the essay.

Being a scientific article, there was some pretty heavy-duty verbiage used to express the author's conclusions, one of which is: Older people tend to want an easy life but they don't realize how bad that is for them. (The author is probably in his 30s.)

As people age, he writes, the brain starts to shrink, the cerebral cortex thins and there is a drop in the neuronal architecture that supports learning. Translation: It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

I don't disagree with him at all and believe I could have been a subject in his research. In fact, just the other day I was working on the computer and I had misplaced my glasses. I looked everywhere for them, and the cottage is not that big. I couldn't find them anywhere!

My bride saw me rummaging around and grumbling to myself. When she asked if she could help me, I told her that I couldn't find my glasses. She just stared at me like wives often do. Then she kindly informed me that my glasses were shoved up on top of my head.

I might add that this has happened more than once.

I think most of us have had similar experiences. I'm sure you all have experienced going down into the basement, or some such place, to retrieve something. You get there and then just stand for a moment trying to remember what it was you came for. You stare off into space hoping it might come back to you. Sometimes you remember and other times you must first return to the beginning of your journey before the fog lifts. This not only helps you remember, but also gives you a little exercise as a bonus.

I didn't really need a scientist to tell me that I'm not remembering things as clearly as I once did. I didn't know, however, that my brain was actually shrinking in size.

The funny thing is that as we age, other things shrink, too, so why not our waistlines?

The point of this whole story is that we do need to exercise our brains. We need to do things like crossword and sudoku puzzles, read books or write a newspaper column.

Now, does anyone know where I put my glasses?

Ed Hungness and his wife owned their cottage on Fife Lake for six years before moving there after his retirement in 2005. His writing draws from life experiences, fond childhood memories and a love for the outdoors and northern Michigan. He can be reached at edhungness@yahoo.com or care of the Record-Eagle.