YMCA's brain agility class
June 12th 2011 18:42
Brain Agility geared for adults over the age of 55.
More than 20 local seniors were the first in Woodland to participate in this Seven-Week Brain Agility program which can help maintain and improve cognitive functioning.
Brain Agility will be offered again on Wednesday mornings and another session in the evening beginning June 15 and continuing to Wednesday, July 20, at the YMCA, 1300 College St. The cost of the program is $10 for members and $35 for non-members. This includes the workbook.
Susan Brienes and her husband Marvin, regularly participate in physical fitness classes at the City of Woodland/YMCA Wellness Center. They registered for the Brain Agility class because they understand that exercising the brain is an important factor to living a healthy lifestyle.
"Keeping the body strong and mind sharp is important work for seniors. We've gotten into the happy habit of coming the Y Wellness Center almost daily. Why? Because it makes that work fun and rewarding. We're so lucky to have the Y as a resource in our community," said Susan Brienes.
Failing memory, difficulty working with complexity, and other cognitive difficulties are major concerns for many older Americans. Often these concerns lead to fears of dementia and loss of independence.
While the prospect of normal age-related cognitive decline may be discouraging, the bright side is that in most cases it is not a harbinger of dementia. And the good news is that this decline can be forestalled and in many cases reversed.
Until recently common knowledge was that as we age our brains lose neurons, cells critical to cognitive functioning. However, we now know that, in the absence of any disease or injury, we keep most of the neurons we had at age 20 well into our later life. What does happen is that as the brain ages the interconnections between neurons decrease, leading to cognitive decline. But the story does not end there. We also now know that at any age the neurons can form new interconnections leading to improved cognitive functioning. This ability of the brain is called brain plasticity.
Mental exercise increases blood flow to the brain, an important factor facilitating brain plasticity.
Recently developed brain imaging techniques show us quite clearly that when we engage in a mental activity, blood flow increases to those areas of the brain involved with the cognitive functions required by that activity. And this blood flow together with the mental activity can promote new interconnections related to those specific areas and cognitive functions.
This helps explain why it is important to exercise a full range of cognitive functions such as memory, attention, logical reasoning, word fluency, and others.
Brain Agility participant, Nancy Parker commented, "The exercises were fun, but sometimes challenging. You really do give your brain a work out!"
This program has been developed by Peter Moulton, Ph.D., a psychologist in Oregon, and is based on his recent book, "Brain Agility, which provides a 30-day program of mental exercises: 13 exercises for 30 minutes of daily mental exercise involving a wide range of cognitive functions. The exercises are based on current research which indicates the benefits of doing them. In addition to providing exercises and how to do them, the seven-week program provides presentations on how the brain functions, how it ages, and how cognitive functioning can be improved through nutrition, physical exercise, stress reduction, and other lifestyle changes.
The Brain Agility program has been very successfully offered by retirement centers, senior centers, YMCAs, and other community organizations providing services to seniors. Over 90% of those completing the program have indicated improved memory and feelings of being mentally sharper. All have indicated they would recommend the program to others.
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