Creativity and successful brain aging

Creativity and successful brain aging: Going with the flow
Creativity and flexible attitudes can promote healthy brain aging
Published on March 23, 2010

Scholars have suspected for decades that the aging process is kinder to the creative, active, and flexible mind. Now there is more convincing evidence than ever before to support the importance of keeping an open mind to helping your brain age successfully.

In a recent scientific article, psychologists Susan McFadden and Anne Basting point out that “What’s good for the person is usually good for the brain.” They note that the more diverse the older person’s social network, the greater the resistance to infection and disease, and the less the cognitive decline. It’s not just the plain fact that you have many friends, but that if you have many friends, the chances are good that you are engaging in a variety of cognitively enriching activities. Even Facebook offers cognitive stimulation. Sure, you may get fed up with the 29th comment on the day’s weather from people complaining it’s too cold or reveling that it’s a warm spring day, but even this virtual set of friendship connections is keeping your brain cells if not your fingers clicking.

So friendships are one way to keep your brain and body functioning in top form, but leisure activities are another. One of the most fascinating studies I ever read was published some years ago in which scientists found that cognitively engaging work activities (tasks that rely on integrating, analyzing, and supervising others) helped stave off loss of intelligence through midlife. Now it turns out that leisure activities can accomplish the same end result. Playing musical instruments, chess, bridge, and dancing are just some of the types of cognitively and physically engaging activities that can keep your brain alert and well-tuned well into your later years.

Here is the full article.