calling all older ATS'ers

Hi old-timers. (with that I mean people older than 40).
No doubt you have noticed as you grow older, you brain gets slower. You forget things that you read, you look at mathematical or physical problems you did when you were young, and you can't make any sense of it. You struggle to understand new things.

How do you deal with it? How do you keep your brains active and learn new things quickly?

Or is it just me? I have noticed a drastic decrease in my ability to learn new things, and I find it extremely frustrating.
I can remember when I was younger, that I would just read a single formula once, and then remember it. Nowadays it is not that easy. Heck, I still program, still design stuff, still learn new things, but it is as though everything just goes so much slower. When I read a book I cannot recite word for word what I have read, I can just relate in general terms what I have read.

Heck, I am 50. I am still young, I am still studying, but it frustrates me to no end to see how slow my mind has become. I sit in some classes with youngsters, and they speak to me as though I am a guru in the subjects we are studying. But that knowledge only comes from experience, not really new things they try to teach us.

How do you elderly deal with it all?

I would like to hear if other people on ATS that are oldish have the same issues, and if so, what do you do about it?

reply to post by Hellhound604



hi op
try changing your diet
i find lots of tuna and pilchards helped my concentration
seems to work for me

Exercise your brain. Do puzzles, brain teasers, etc. Every day.

Make sure your diet is healthy, plenty of exercise, etc.

When all else fails, google the answer....

I listen to Metal music and interact with these great younger people who are keeping the genre alive and write Metal reviews of bands and albums, plus interview bands. I am an artist and like to use symbolism in my paintings and do much research for the subjects of my paintings. Also I have 3 grandchildren living with me who help keep my mind sharp dealing with their questions, tricks and general all around teenager life.

reply to post by Hellhound604


I'm 61 years young. Try to not use the past you, as the epitome of your accomplishments. Use the old you as a springboard to new heights of experience. Now, is the time to take chances. Thinking outside the box is so much easier when you have less to lose. Hope that makes sense to you.

Take supplements with Omega 3's to boost mind and immune system.

Des

reply to post by Hellhound604


Taking multivitamins tablets every day will help. I'm nowhere near your age, and I have been taking multivitamins for years and I can really tell a difference in my energy, and thought process.

How do you deal with it? How do you keep your brains active and learn new things quickly?

I think using the brain to solve problems and figure things out was our problem all along. I'm thinking with my heart now, the brain is pretty fried from stress and the love kisses from sodium fluoride and mercury poisoning over the years. I do need my brain to remember how to spell words correctly.

Our hearts are our real minds.

Originally posted by Destinyone
reply to post by Hellhound604

 

I'm 61 years young. Try to not use the past you, as the epitome of your accomplishments. Use the old you as a springboard to new heights of experience. Now, is the time to take chances. Thinking outside the box is so much easier when you have less to lose. Hope that makes sense to you.

Take supplements with Omega 3's to boost mind and immune system.

Des

edit on 11-5-2012 by Destinyone because: (no reason given)

thanks for that, will try to follow your advice. Recently started with Omega 3 and fish too. Speaking of chances, guess that is why I did the mad thing last year, resigning from a very highly-paid job, selling everything I had and moving to a new country just to follow my dreams.

Originally posted by Destinyone

I'm 61 years young. Try to not use the past you, as the epitome of your accomplishments. Use the old you as a springboard to new heights of experience. Now, is the time to take chances. Thinking outside the box is so much easier when you have less to lose. Hope that makes sense to you.

Take supplements with Omega 3's to boost mind and immune system.

Des

Could not agree with this statement more! Hit it on the head there, Des. While I am just in my middle forties I am rather enjoying the fact while I may be slower than I once was, I have now learned how to think more critically and outside of the box. I find it has opened up a whole new world of possibilities in terms of learning opportunities for me. So I'm happy to trade off some speed in thinking and a wee bit of memory loss in exchange for the ability to see things from angles that some may ignore.

Try running on "Hellhound time" and not "worldly time", it will always be the perfect speed for you. If others find that too slow and try to push you to go faster well then it's eventually their loss, not yours.

Speed in which new topics can be learned can be overcome by google searches. Memory loss in what you have learned can be overcome by saving everything in your 'favorite website' list... but that only works if you can remember just why it is you saved it in the first place....

Originally posted by Hellhound604

Originally posted by Destinyone
reply to post by Hellhound604

 

I'm 61 years young. Try to not use the past you, as the epitome of your accomplishments. Use the old you as a springboard to new heights of experience. Now, is the time to take chances. Thinking outside the box is so much easier when you have less to lose. Hope that makes sense to you.

Take supplements with Omega 3's to boost mind and immune system.

Des

edit on 11-5-2012 by Destinyone because: (no reason given)

thanks for that, will try to follow your advice. Recently started with Omega 3 and fish too. Speaking of chances, guess that is why I did the mad thing last year, resigning from a very highly-paid job, selling everything I had and moving to a new country just to follow my dreams.

Ahhhh...following your heart instead of your head. This is a good thing. When a partner and I sold our restaurant a couple of years ago, I thought OK, this is retirement. Nope that was boredom. Last year I started a new business I really love. Now, I have the experience under my belt, to fine tune what I need to, in order to make my time cost effective, yet satisfying. Will I make a lot of money? That would be nice, but it's not important. I'm following my heart.

And you know what, by following my heart, I actually feel younger than I did 5 years ago....


ETA: I see our esteemed Jibbyjedi gave you the same advice...see, we oldsters know what we are talking about...


Des

reply to post by Destinyone


thanks for all the advice, that is exactly how I viewed it to be, but I guess sometimes I get trapped in a wave of nostalgia.

I keep my brain fit by trying to figure out what the hell you people are typing and whether it stay s within T&C.
6 hours a day and my mind is fit as uh......whatchamacallit.
Yeah, that's it. a whatchamacallit!
Seriously though I feel your pain here - I find myself constantly searching for names and words that used to pop up in nanoseconds. I think it may stem from having too much stuff in your head, it's like a closet stuffed full making it hard to find any one particular object.

On a personal note you guys (and gals) in this thread are exactly the kind of people I would love to hang out with and have some good coffee while sitting around a campfire in the evening.

62 YO I was a senior network engineer doing work all over the world. Now I am a systems administrator with about 50 computers. Solving the multitudes of little problems day in and day out works to keep my skills up -- a couple of times a year I will participate in a track day just to prove to myself that I can't drive as fast as I used to -- and I scare easier.

I have mildly high blood pressure and I asked the doctor to change my prescription to GUANFACINE - it is an old blood pressure medication that recent studies have shown it to be somewhat effective in adult atten deficit disorders, they also found that it seems to help with focus and memory with older people. Its generic, manages my BP has very few side effects and might tend to make you drowsie so you take it before bed and it helps you get to sleep. It actually seems to work. I also take niacin -- lowers cholesterol and may be effective at clearing the plaque that causes alzheimers.

I am nervous about alzheimers I would rather be dead, but I worry that I might not be able to act on that sentiment, if I become senile, perhaps I won't care.

I go to a regular car show which always seems to organize a bunch of us into a mountain run (codgers with old racing cars on curvy roads). It is good and challenging exercise.

I still forget stuff. But Einstein said that if you can look something up don't commit it to memory -- I don't exactly agree with that but I find that I am doing a lot of looking up. Thank-you Google (and spell check)

Oh and my wife lets me flirt with young women because she knows I haven't got a prayer.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


true.... Maybe I have too much in my mind.
Reminds me of a couple of years ago, when I did another degree, and I came into a new department, and the head of that research department, a professor that was in the same class as me when I was a first year engineering student (I think we had chemistry 1 together). Was so weird that after a couple of classes in a specific field, he started referring most of the more technical questions to me. Here I was, being a professional engineer, in an undergraduate biology class, and it was so easy for me, coming from outside their field, to come up with unique solutions to their problems, or when a group of us worked on an academic work, and the leader of our group, one of the most respected academicians in the country(one that I considered to be on the same level as God) kept on referring to me for the technical inputs.
Now, when some of my fellow-students comment to me "but you are so clever", if feel so embarrassed, because I know, my knowledge only comes from experience, and if they pull their fingers out of their arses, they would learn so much more than me.
So, really, I should just accept things the way they are, drink my vitamins, and let life go on, but it is not that easy.

reply to post by Hellhound604

I just gave up on learning ...and yeah
hi

Originally posted by nii900
reply to post by Hellhound604

 

I just gave up on learning ...and yeah
hi

I guess I'll never be able to give up on learning, that is just to much a part of what I am.... So I will just have to learn to accept that I am not as quick as I was, and take things the way they come.

that's solo/trad

As in every grain - Reason and Faith
www.nytimes.com...

reply to post by Hellhound604

57 here.

This is going to sound absolutely ridiculous (and embarrassing as hell to admit) but twice this year while walking to work I had to look down to make sure I had put my pants on. The winter chill went right through my jeans, and it sure felt as though I was naked. I have NEVER forgetten to wear pants, but on those occasions I honestly wasn't sure.

Too many times my brain feels like it's floating in a fish tank. I equate my concentration to that of a dimmer switch on a light. And, now it's rarely turned all way up. I hover between 40 and 70%.

reply to post by jiggerj


Did you know that people at work will let you wear your shirt inside our for hours before someone mentions it.