Mind games are the best bet. Gambling for the Mind
May 26th 2008 07:29
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From the Couriermail.com.au:
DEMENTIA used to be seen as an irreversible disease - an almost accepted curse of getting old.
It was thought to be a natural, unavoidable slide from forgetting where you'd put your glasses to putting your glasses in the freezer and wearing a frozen sausage on your nose. (You get the idea).
But that's not the case. Doctors are now addressing dementia as a physiological condition.
Just this month Queensland researchers announced they had identified the key stem cell that activates the regeneration of neurons in the brain. Earlier research confirmed that environmental stimulation is a definite factor in guarding against memory loss and dementia. The adage "use it or lose it" is now a key part of geriatric care.
So why then do so many people, and in particular aged people, pursue such brain-deadening inactivities as playing the pokies?
Sure Australians love to gamble – and, by far, the majority of them gamble responsibly – but there are many forms of gambling and there are some that are, arguably, better for you. Just put some thought into it.
My grandmothers used to meet regularly on a Saturday morning to discuss the horses over a warm tea cake topped with cinnamon-flecked melting butter and a strong brew of tea in a battered anodised pot. The shandies would come later, mid-afternoon. The form guide spread in front of them – black pen squiggles and notations alongside spidery calculations; the transistor radio regularly tweaked to keep it on station – they would talk about the jockey's form of late and the colour of his silks; of the trainer's methods; of the state of the track; of the horse's health.
Then there were the numbers – what number the horse would carry; what barrier it drew; what place it ran last time; the number of starts; the number of metres until the finishing lines.
And then there was the betting – the odds, the systems, whether to try a quinella or go the daily double – 50¢ cents went a long way in the 1970s.
It was a massive affair that took a lot of brain power and a lot of mathematics, not to mention a few quick hands of rummy between races and the obligatory packet of humbugs.
If you wanted to gamble on the pokies, it meant a bus trip to the Tweed. Five-cent pieces were saved up in a jam jar, carefully set aside from the grocery change, and were rolled up later in brown-paper wrappers from the bank. The trips to the Tweed were usually midweek so you could keep Saturday free for the "serious" gambling (serious not in terms of money outlaid, but in the brainwork invested).
It may seem nostalgic to reflect on these race days gone by – days when Eagle Farm was bursting with patrons of all ages, well before the advent of alcopops and "girls days out" – but when you compare them to the preferred gambling methods of pensioners nowadays, the danger becomes evident. Now the "serious" gambling is based around poker machines.
The latest statistics show $34.5 million per week – that's per week– was swallowed up by the state's pokies in the year to the end of April. And there are about 42,000 poker machines in the state waiting for you to grip them in a solitary, spin-after-spin cycle akin to sleepwalking. The State Government proudly boasts that the number of machines will be frozen for the next two years – but will that have any effect on problem gamblers? It isn't as if we're under-supplied. And they're usually within walking distance (or motorised scooter distance).
The brainwork with poker machines involves little more than having the intellectual capacity to insert a note and press a button – over, and over, and over again. A monkey could do it – and they'd lose just as much money.
The coinage is not saved up in jam jars; it comes in note form from ATMs. Now don't get me wrong, there is no difference between the addictiveness of betting on horses and pumping a poker machine. And if you are anti-gambling, then both are to be equally decried. But the difference that needs some recognition lies in the mental effort expended in each method.
If you're retired and you want to "have a flutter", then for goodness sake do something at least for the health of your mind – don't waste away in front of a spinning, flashing, mesmerising "game", take an interest in a form of gambling that you can invest more time and thought in; a form of gambling where a win can sometimes be directly attributed to the amount of consideration and calculation you put into it.
Better still, only invest your brain power – play the logistics and statistics for fun – and leave your dollar coins invested in a jar in the pantry beside the White Wings tea cake packet mix.
We all know the benefits of keeping up physical activity as we age, but it is about time we thought about exercising the brain. Think about it – and then, think about it some more.
This makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
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