New Study Challenges Decline Narrative; Another Memory Aid + Fibre and Dementia.
The May Smidgen
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Dear Friends,
In this post we take a look at various articles and science studies that caught my eye recently, for the May Smidgen. The dictionary definition of ‘smidgen’ is a small amount of something, so it’s appropriate for these short monthly offerings. I give you an outline of what the article or study is about and include the link so that you can read further if you’re interested.
New Study Challenges Decline Narrative
It’s commonly believed that everyone declines as they get older. A Yale University challenges that notion. The study found that instead of analysing averages, as is the usual procedure in studies, when you look at individual results, they show that many people improve with age. It’s all to do with beliefs about ageing. If we think negatively about it, how we grow older will be negatively affected. The people with positive results in the study, had a positive mindset about growing older.
“If you average everyone together, you see decline, but when you look at individual trajectories, you uncover a very different story. A meaningful percentage of the older participants that we studied got better.” said Dr Becca Levy PhD, who wrote the article, and a book: “Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and How Well you Live.”
Prior studies conducted by Dr Levy found negative age beliefs predict poorer memory, slower walking speed, higher cardiovascular risk, and biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Read the article to get the full picture on the power of being positive and how it will affect your ageing process.
This Japanese Technique Helps Memory
Do you feel your memory is letting you down? Forgetting your keys, going over in your head: did you turn the cooker off? The Japanese have a simple but powerful technique to deal with this. It’s called’ shisha kanko.’
It stems from railway operators in Japan. It literally means ‘pointing and calling’ and it’s used to improve attentiveness and accuracy. Originally developed for railways, it is now used in various industries and daily life to ensure accuracy.
“It was developed as a method of ensuring safety on the Japanese railway system. Operators are trained to focus on and point at an object such as a signal or stopping point and verbally ‘call out’ the name of the object.” Says Joy Gallon, a licenced therapist with Thriveworks.
So it involves physically pointing, vocalizing, and hearing, using the senses, which heightens focus and awareness. When you put your keys in a safe place, say out loud: ‘Keys in bowl' (or wherever you put them), and point at the cooker and verbally say: ‘Cooker off’. That presumably locks it into your memory. The article in the Huffington Post, has more about it.
Increase your soluble fibre intake to reduce your dementia risk.
A longitudinal study, The Rush Memory and Aging Project followed over 1,500 adults for nearly seven years. The study found that participants with the most dietary fibre intake had a whopping 54% lower chance of developing dementia, compared to those with the lowest intake, which is huge.
The most protective elements found in this new study were beans, whole grains and apples complete with skin. If you don’t already have these foods in your diet it may be as well to include some.
According to an article in the Guardian, which I mentioned as a source in an article about ‘fibremaxxing’ in the March Smidgen, we need to aim for 25-30g of insoluble fibre per day. Insoluble fibre is also know as ‘roughage’ as it passes through the digestive tract largely intact. This promotes regular bowel movements and gut health. However, many people don’t reach that daily amount and exceeding it by too much can bring it’s own problems.
The article in the Guardian advises how to introduce more fibre to your diet without causing issues.
I’m currently working on various projects, some to add to the Premium Content Library. One of the items I’ve almost finished is a guided morning stretching routine for while you’re still in bed. It’s useful when you know you’re going to get up stiff after a previous day of sitting, or overly exercising, and need to get moving quickly. The exercises are taken from the yoga practice I’ve done for over 35 years and I’m adding a voice-over to guide you through. The Guide will be added to the Premium Content Library, and sent to my paid subscribers as soon as it’s finished.
I hope everyone availed themselves of the free 6 Isometric Exercise Guide I published earlier this week. It’s for everyone, free and paid subscribers. I then released the last item I’ve been working on which was The Beginner’s Guide to Resistance Training for Over-60s and it’s to be found in my Gumroad Shop. Together they make the complete strength building package for life in the second half. The links are to be found here.
Next week’s post is titled: What is it About The Mediterranean Diet That Supports Longevity?
I hope you enjoyed this post and found the content of interest. The new memory aid sounds useful. Let us know what you think by pressing the Leave a Comment button below. You might like to share the post to friends who would enjoy it, too. Tapping the🤍 will show you liked it and help others find it. I appreciate each of you who takes the time to read what I write.
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Nice to see a scientific analysis that mirrors what I’ve always thought. If you let your brain fall into negativity, your body will follow. Life presents us with lots of stuff to worry about, but worry is destructive without action. If you worry about “Having enough money” then sit down and examine your plans in detail. (At our age it is something we should do regularly). If you worry about balance, find an exercise program that has balance exercises (or simply challenge yourself to stand on one leg while putting on your underwear!) and commit to doing the exercises for 3 months to see if things get better-if not-see the doc. Worry that leads to action is good, plus it focuses your attention so you just can’t keep piling on worries. Worry that is just worry makes you into a negative person that others don’t want to be around, reinforcing the social isolation and creating a new problem.
I really appreciate these links, Patricia - thank you! Just wanted to let you know, though, that the link to the Yale article seems to be broken - I got a 404 message when I tried to follow it.