Talk of the Town: Brain power tips for staying young

In our youth-obsessed society, there are plenty of folks giving advice about how to stay young. There thousands of anti-aging products on the market for the skin. Cosmetic companies are cleaning up on creams and lotions that promise “younger looking skin” in ‘X’ amount of weeks. Doctors prescribe a healthy diet to keep us young, and, of course, plenty of exercise and regular check-ups. But what about food for the brain?

Syndicated radio host John Tesh did a little investigating himself for his radio talk show and discovered some interesting brain food facts.

According to Dr. Gene Cohen, director of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University, humans continue to form new brain cells their entire lives. Cohen offered suggestions on how you can improve your brainpower using the latest neuroscience from his book “The Mature Mind.”

Cohen says there is a pretty basic solution for keeping the mind razor sharp: New experiences help modify brain structure. That means new activities that challenge the mind create new brain cells and sharpen the ones you already have. The result is better overall functioning, improved memory, and the ability to quickly recall information.

Another tip to keeping your mind working: Exercise. That seems to be the one cure-all for almost everything that ails ya! Use it or lose it! Exercise reduces the formation of icky plaque and enhances blood flow to the brain, and a plaque-free brain is a smarter, faster brain.

In a nutshell: what’s the best way to challenge the mind? It’s not so much a specific activity as it is doing something that’s mentally challenging. Whether it’s crossword puzzles, wood carving or playing an instrument, it has to be something that makes your brain work harder. If you can do a task effortlessly, it’s probably not making your brain “kick it up a notch.”

Experts say you have to make your brain sweat—just like aerobic exercise. Your brain has to be challenged on a regular basis — not just once-a-month.

The same holds true for your job or any hobby. If you’re not finding new challenges at work or in your recreational interests, you’re not demanding your brain to create new cells.

And now the $64,000 question: What’s better for the brain: Crosswords or physical activities?

Crosswords are better because they create new brain cells throughout the key parts of the cerebral cortex which, Cohen says, improves the overall function. So if you’re wheelchair-bound, you can still get a positive result, but if you can also work in exercise, even better. Exercise develops new brain cells in the frontal lobe - which helps you organize your thoughts, problem solve, and focus.

So, no matter what your physical limitations are, try to get some type of exercise. That way, you’ll be one of the smartest people at the potluck.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, Green Valley Lodge #2592, sponsored a Dictionary/Thesaurus Project this month to coincide with the start of the new school year.

The Elks traditionally give dictionaries to local second graders in order to assist them in school. Accordingly, 216 dictionaries were recently distributed to the nine second-grade classes of Sahuarita Primary School by Exalted Ruler Phyllis Curran, Public Relations Chair Carol Sturdevant, and Project Chair Tamara Kahrimanis.

Kahrimanis also designed a thesaurus program for fourth graders, introducing the thesaurus to nearly 60 students who comprise the three fourth-grade classes at Continental School. She explained to them how the thesaurus can be used to improve their writing skills, so that students are better prepared when they are eligible at the start of the fifth grade to enter the Elks national essay contest on “What Is An American.” Students learned that U.S. Savings Bonds are awarded to the winners by the Grand Lodge of the B.P.O.E.

The Dictionary/Thesaurus Project has been well received by teachers and parents. It is hoped that similar combined projects will appear in the state. This approach builds on the Dictionary Project and establishes a continuous bridge involving additional grade levels, so as to provide practical preparation for the Elks national essay contest on Americanism. Best of all, more students benefit.

For 20 years, the Arizona Opera League’s Green Valley opera shuttle was a given, taking operagoers to Tucson to enjoy Arizona Opera productions until this year, when gas prices made bus rentals climb to an un-affordable level. All searches to keep the tradition alive lead to a dismal end, leaving only the hope for an underwriting angel. One was found, in the person of Chester Soling, a member of the Arizona Opera board of directors as well as an Arizona Opera League past vice president. He understood the need for transportation in order to keep Green Valley area residents attending opera performances. Calling it a win-win situation, he wrote a check to breathe new life into the opera shuttle, which will operate this season under the name of ‘Chet-Mobile’ in his honor.

The Arizona Opera League applauds the underwriter and will be able to run the opera shuttle round-trip from Green Valley to the Tucson Music Hall to all Sunday matinees. The departures will be from the upper parking lot of the Desert Hills Center at 1 p.m. sharp. Reservations are necessary, as the Chet Mobile holds only 29 passengers. Contact Trude Raymond, 625-3361.

Opera season tickets as well as single performance tickets are available at the opera box office, 293-4336, or any Ticketmaster outlet.

Ride the Chet Mobile to the opening of the 2008-09 season of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” on Sunday, Oct. 12, followed by: Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado” on Sunday, Nov. 16; Donizetti’s “The Elexir of Love” on Sunday, Jan. 18; Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” on Sunday, Feb. 22, and Puccini’s “Tosca” on Sunday, April 5.

Previews to all performances will again be held by the Arizona Opera League at the Performing Arts and Learning Center, 1250 W. Continental Road, Green Valley. Additional information will be in the Greater Green Valley Arts Council’s “What’s Happening” brochure, the Cultural Calendar in the Green Valley News and Sun, as well as on KGVY Radio and at 625-3361.

rford@gvnews.com