Older brains aren't slower

[btroj]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2542894/Brains-older-people-slower-stored-information-time.html

Older brains aren't slower, they are just too full of information. I have always said that I am at a point where I must forget something in order to learn something new.

Key to staying mentally quick? Don't learn anything. Must be why politicians think quickly........

[Rex]

At 71 I think everything I've got is slower, if it works at all.

[bhn22]

Like Rush Limbaugh used to say... "With half my brain tied behind my back, just to make it fair".

[felix]

The apex is around 38-42 years old for most males. Learning is up to that point without forgetting anything of value. The apex point is defined when you drop that pencil, comb, et.al. forgetting you had it at all when something more significant comes into play, like picking up a razor, phone (instead?). Yep, like btroj says, ya' gotta' forget something to learn something new after that apex point in time. My dad told me this back in my 20s as I told it to many new employees when they were first hired, and several (years later) have called me at home telling me that the apex thingie is TRUE!!! I also know that over 70 somewhere things get dishevelled and can cause a stop or slur in communication when reciting the most remembered prayers, for example. And, it gets logarithmically worse as time goes by. The mind starts to ramble for no apparent reason. ... felix

[oldred]

The apex is around 38-42 years old for most males

That's the age when the broad mind and narrow waist start to trade places.

[btroj]

That's the age when the broad mind and narrow waist start to trade places.

I like that.

Sadly, I resemble it too.

[MtGun44]

If you only know two or three things, like some folks, searching thru them is pretty easy.

Bill

Actually, I think the key to keeping your mind agile (within limits, aging eventually takes a
horrible physical toll on the equipment) is to do USE it. A recent study showed that if people
read a novel, their overall mental acuity for various processes went up and stayed higher than
baseline for several days afterwards. Apparently the act of reading forces a very large number
of different parts of the brain to work together and this cross linking process cleans out the
cobwebs and reinforces these thought paths in ways that make all work better, even for
other stuff.

Seems like shooting, cleaning and lubing your guns - knocks the rust off and keeps them
from rusting and gumming up. How many folks do you know that never learned anything
new after they got out of high school? They put their brain in 'neutral' and haven't
engaged it in years. I have known a few, but generally they aren't
very interesting to hang around so they drop out of my circle. That kind will be pretty
scarce hereabout, folks here are into learning new stuff all the time.

Like my father said - "A whole lot more folks have rusted out than have actually worn out."

Then again there is his other saying "Nobody makes it out alive." :-(

[popper]

"A whole lot more folks have rusted out than have actually worn out."
Need to do a 'core dump' every once in a while so I can learn more. Takes longer to go through the 'contact list' to find the name with the face. Same with remembering where I placed something. The more I get, the longer it takes to find it.
Actually that article is pretty stupid.

[Idaho Mule]

My brain is plenty quick, it's the rest of me that's havin' problems. JW

[AlaskanGuy]

I wish i had a reset button, or a refresh button... Something that would dump the cache of useless info so i could fill it with useful stuff....

I have a couple other things I am reading up on... Hydro-electric energy is one, pretty interesting stuff... And Forge for blacksmithing..... Both of those keep my technical side happy and expanding.... Learning something is very stimulating.... Keeps the wheels turning all the time.... Try it.

AG