As another year comes to an end, many seniors want to start the next one off right, and making their annual resolutions is a step in the right direction. For many people, their efforts to fulfill their resolutions only last a few days into the New Year, but achieving goals can leave the individual feeling renewed and confident.

Aging expert Dr. Barbara Nicklas explained that if you’re of a certain age and thinking about a New Year’s resolution, she recommends beginning or increasing your level of physical activity in some way.

Seniors need to ensure that they remain healthy and active during 2013. Simple activities, such as physical and mental exercising, can lead to feeling better. In addition, adults should consume more fresh food, visit the doctor regularly and make sure that their home is safe in the event of a fall.

Setting unrealistic goals, unplanned setbacks or having resolutions that were not that important are some of the reasons that people lose interest in keeping their New Year’s resolutions.
When older adults make resolutions, Nicklas explained, they “may experience more frequent setbacks and barriers—but being able to set manageable and realistic goals is important.” She encourages seniors to separate the goals into short-term, which are daily goals, and long-term, which are monthly goals.

Nicklas suggested a few things that active seniors can do in 2013. Joining an exercise class that is geared toward seniors will increase social contact and accountability. Seniors should find ways to increase movement throughout daily life, such as walking up and down a flight of stairs daily, or standing while talking on the phone. She also recommends starting a walking program that will increase endurance. Seniors can start by walking as long as they can without feeling pain and then add 30 seconds or a minute to that every day. These basic steps can lead to more social interaction and healthier life in 2013. Nicklas explained that physical activity is one of the main things that helps preserve body functions during aging.

“Older adults can benefit from resolving to make small changes in one or two lifestyle behaviors that are known to enhance well-being,” Nicklas stated.

Gwen Weiss, author of Extraordinary Centenarians in America, explained that while researching her book she met many inspirational seniors. “They demonstrated to me that long life could mean a healthy, enjoyable life surrounded by friends, loved ones, regular activities and purpose,” Weiss said.

She also explained the importance for seniors of creating realistic resolutions. “Doing this will help motivate them to create some structure in their lives as they age. This helps keep their minds keen and alert and can also keep them connected with other people to stave off loneliness. These are key factors that contribute to vibrant longevity,” Weiss said.

Creating and following through with resolutions will lead seniors down a path for a successful and healthy year in 2013, and many more to come.

By Roy Herndon Smith, Ph.D.

Many older people live alone. Even when they are healthy and able, the cumulative effects of losses—of friends, family members and familiar stores and institutions in their neighborhood—can lead them to withdraw from others and to lose confidence in their abilities; sometimes their sense of who they are begins to dissolve.

A geriatric care manager can help such a person reconnect with their abilities and with others.

For example, a social worker at an agency referred Mr. J, aged 90, to me. He was a successful artist. He was also a brilliant art teacher, who had, for over 40 years, taught private classes at his studio. Most of his students had been other working artists who found that Mr. J created a culture that nurtured their individual creativity. Many of his students had been with him for decades. A few students had started coming to his classes with their parents when they were teenagers. He had written a book about his teaching method that was, for a time, a popular text in art schools.

A series of losses—of his wife of over 50 years and of two close friends—had led Mr. J to feel, at age 85, that he needed to move in a new direction. He stopped teaching and doing much painting. At the time that I began working with him, he was feeling lost, alone and anxious. He was full of ideas for new projects and ventures, which he worked on, but none of them was “it”—what he wanted to “spend the next decade doing”—and none of them provided him with the intense, in-depth interactions with others that he missed.
I began visiting Mr. J, for an hour at a time, every three weeks, in his apartment, which was also his studio. At first, I focused primarily on helping him secure the benefits to which he was entitled and understanding the sources of his loneliness and anxiety. I became convinced that he needed to resume teaching, but he insisted that he was done with that part of his life.

During a visit after about six months, toward the end the hour, he asked me if I would mind drawing something for him. I said that, while I had taken some art classes decades ago, I hadn’t done any art for years. He said that was okay; he just wanted to see what I would do. He gave me a pad of paper and a drawing pencil and suggested an exercise.
At each meeting after this one, Mr. J and I would spend the last 15 minutes of our hour together with him giving me a drawing lesson. I was amazed at how freeing these lessons were. Our conversations during the rest of our meetings deepened as we focused on his philosophy of teaching and art.

During this time, Mr. J began to write poetry. For a few months, he attended a writing class taught by a poet. He had me read his poems, which were moving and colorful—something like his art.

After about another six months, during which we continued to meet, Mr. J arranged with some of his former students to teach a workshop in which the students both wrote poems and did drawings. The workshop was a success.

After the workshop, a number of his former students, who had been asking Mr. J if he would please resume teaching art, asked him again. He said yes, but he also said that the classes would be different, that he would be trying out new ideas with them. With the help of his students, he set up a weekly class, which he has continued to teach, now for over two years.

While he still acutely misses those he has lost, Mr. J no longer talks about being lonely or not knowing what he is going to be doing for the next 10 years; he’s doing it.
Sometimes effective geriatric care management involves encouraging older people to try out and practice new ways of exercising their skills and wisdom. When they regain confidence in their abilities, they are often also able to reach out and reconnect with others who appreciate and gain a great deal from what they have to give.

Roy Herndon Smith works for Community Geriatric Care Management (a wholly owned subsidiary of Foremost Home Care)communitygeriatriccare@gmail.com

Benefits of Eating Well
Eating well is vital for everyone at all ages. Whatever your age, your daily food choices can make an important difference in your health and in how you look and feel.

Eating Well Promotes Health
Eating a well-planned, balanced mix of foods every day has many health benefits. For instance, eating well may reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, bone loss, some kinds of cancer and anemia. If you already have one or more of these chronic diseases, eating well and being physically active may help you better manage them. Healthy eating may also help you reduce high blood pressure, lower high cholesterol and manage diabetes.

Eating well gives you the nutrients needed to keep your muscles, bones, organs and other parts of your body healthy throughout your life. These nutrients include vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fats and water.

Eating Well Promotes Energy
Eating well helps keep up your energy level, too. By consuming enough calories—a way to measure the energy you get from food—you give your body the fuel it needs throughout the day. The number of calories needed depends on how old you are, whether you’re a man or woman, your height and weight, and how active you are.

Food Choices Can Affect Weight
Consuming the right number of calories for your level of physical activity helps you control your weight, too. Extra weight is a concern for older adults because it can increase the risk for diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease and can increase joint problems. Eating more calories than your body needs for your activity level will lead to extra pounds.

If you become less physically active as you age, you will probably need fewer calories to stay at the same weight. Choosing mostly nutrient-dense foods—foods which have a lot of nutrients but relatively few calories—can give you the nutrients you need while keeping down calorie intake.

Food Choices Affect Digestion
Your food choices also affect your digestion. For instance, not getting enough fiber or fluids may cause constipation. Eating more whole-grain foods with fiber, fruits and vegetables or drinking more water may help with constipation.

Make One Change at a Time
Eating well isn’t just a “diet” or “program” that’s here today and gone tomorrow. It is part of a healthy lifestyle that you can adopt now and stay with in the years to come.
To eat healthier, you can begin by taking small steps, making one change at a time. For instance, you might:
Take the salt shaker off your table. Decreasing your salt intake slowly will allow you to adjust.
Switch to whole-grain bread, seafood or more vegetables and fruits when you shop.
These changes may be easier than you think. They’re possible even if you need help with shopping or cooking, or if you have a limited budget.

Checking With Your Doctor
If you have a specific medical condition, be sure to check with your doctor or registered dietitian about foods you should include or avoid.

You Can Start Today
Whatever your age, you can start making positive lifestyle changes today. Eating well can help you stay healthy and independent—and look and feel good—in the years to come.
For more information visit nihseniorhealth.gov

By John Friia

As people grow older, the chances of getting diagnosed with a chronic illness or weakened immune system increases. The Food and Drug Administration has created guidelines of what seniors should consume, to ensure that they remain healthy.

Like the standards for adults, seniors are encouraged to stay away from foods that have high cholesterol, trans fats and saturated fats. The FDA is also concerned about seniors contracting food borne illnesses, and has stressed that foods such as meats, seafood and vegetables be prepared properly.

It was for this reason that Golden Cuisine was created. Golden Cuisine is a company that delivers ready-to-eat frozen meals especially for seniors. In addition, the meals are easy to prepare and promote emotional and as well as physical well-being. Meals from Golden Cuisine can be home-delivered or found in local senior centers.

“Golden Cuisine is specifically made for seniors. We look at the interaction of medicine and foods, and the easy-to-read packaging,” Adriane Berg, spokesperson for Golden Cuisine, said.

The meals are broken down into different categories, including low sodium and cholesterol, meals for diabetics and rehab hyper-metabolic for patients who are recently recovering from surgery and need to gain weight.

Though the meals are FDA-approved, the New York City Department of the Aging has additional requirements that must be met by organizations serving local seniors. “DFTA sets regulations for senior nutrition, and Golden Cuisine is one of the few companies that have been approved by both the FDA and DFTA,” explained Berg.

Compared to other prepared meals, Golden Cuisine has a lower average of sodium in each meal. Each type of meal is specially composed for seniors by a board-certified nutritionist to ensure that it meets senior requirements, which include three ounces of protein, one cup of vegetables and one serving of starch.

Golden Cuisine aims to educate seniors about growing old gracefully and offers special nutritional tips for seniors and caregivers through their online newsletter. The company also offers seniors the chance to share family and cultural recipes through their new website, www.GoldenCuisineCookbook.com

Golden Cuisine has assisted numerous seniors throughout the country, and has been included in the annual Inc. 5000 list. In 2011, Signature Foods, the parent company of Golden Cuisine, was ranked No. 102 out of all the companies, and No. 5 in the food companies category. The headquarters are located in Georgia, and the company has been named as one of the winners of the 2011 Pacesetter Awards, for maintaining excellent customer service and for being the fastest-growing private company in the Atlanta area.

Seniors interested in trying some of the meals can purchase them online at www.GoldenCuisine.com.

Like many successful companies, WAHVE (Work at Home Vintage Employees) was a business created to solve a specific problem. Founder and CEO Sharon Emek had been mulling over the conundrum her industry, insurance, had been facing for years: the imminent loss of a huge segment of the workforce through retirement. Fifty percent of workers in the insurance industry are baby boomers.

“There had been many articles written over the last number of years, saying that the industry is going to face a big crisis with all our baby boomers retiring, that we’re going to lose all this institutional knowledge,” Emek said. “We did not have young people come into the industry over the last 10 years. They went to Wall Street or elsewhere. No one sees the insurance industry as a very sexy industry.”

Emek, an Upper East Sider, has a long and distinguished career in insurance and knows the industry inside and out. She had been the chair of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York and started her own firm in 1988. She regularly spoke at industry events and networked with other agents and brokers, and saw firsthand that everyone was facing the same hurdle.

“We’re all fighting over the same qualified people,” she said. “I woke up with the idea one day.”

The idea—to utilize newly retired professionals at a lower cost by having them work remotely—became WAHVE, a company that Emek believes can help not only the insurance industry but the seniors it employs. The company only hires people with 25 or more years of experience—no exceptions. Emek said that she settled on calling them “vintage employees,” evoking the category of fine wines or cool cars, after tossing out other names that just pointed to old age.

“We’re vintage. We’re not retiring, we just want more life-work balance and to work in a different way,” Emek said. “I’ve always been very technologically advanced in my industry. I’d already been working remotely at home for 10 years.”

The company hires contract employees, most of whom have been working in the industry for their entire career and want to either return to work after retiring or who are transitioning from full-time office work. They get matched with insurance companies on assignments of varying lengths, full time or part time, and work from home or wherever they want to set up. Emek said that they’ve developed software that matches employees with clients based on very specific criteria, not unlike a dating service system.

“It’s unbelievably simple,” said Frank Sentner, the company’s chief operating officer. “The hardest thing is to get it through the heads of the business people that there’s really no difference between managing personnel in your office or managing personnel who you’ve never met who work remotely.”

When he talks to potential clients, Sentner focuses on the cost benefits of hiring virtual vintage employees through WAHVE.

“It costs about 40 to 50 percent less. [Employers save on] office space, heat, light, electricity, computer systems, bandwidth. Pretty much every cost in an insurance firm is directly related to personnel, to headcount,” Sentner said. “Our people are all of a certain age, they are working to supplement a retirement income, so they’re willing to take less because they’re working from home.”

Emek said that many of their employees are happy to trade the higher salaries for the flexibility to live near family and take on the amount of work they want to at any given time. She also said that many of the clients, forced to cut costs somehow, are thrilled to be able to hire older Americans.

“Brokers win because they get amazing talent at a lower price and they don’t have to outsource overseas—a lot of them feel terrible in this economy outsourcing overseas,” she said. “The retiree feels wonderful because instead of having to work in a local hardware store, they’re actually a real insurance professional. Many of them have designations and licenses, and so they feel that they’re still important, they’re still involved in the industry, they’re supplementing their retirement income.”

Statistics show Emek’s observations are right on the nose. This summer, AARP and the Society for Human Resource Management conducted a survey of workers over age 50 to find out what they’re looking for in potential employment. The survey found 78 percent of respondents plan to continue working for financial reasons, like money and health insurance, as opposed to working solely for enjoyment or the desire to remain productive. The survey also found that 52 percent of those who are currently unemployed would prefer to find a job in their professional field instead of changing careers or starting their own business. In addition, 62 percent of workers rated alternative work arrangements as “very important” in considering jobs, and 44 percent rated telecommuting as “important.”

Emek hopes that WAHVE will soon be expanding into other white-collar industries, like law and accounting, and she’s committed to the model of sticking with vintage employees. For one thing, she said, hiring people with over 25 years of experience means that they don’t need extensive training. She’s also convinced that every industry needs to take another look at how they define and utilize older workers.

“The word isn’t ‘retirement.’ People say, ‘I don’t see myself as sitting on my porch in a rocking chair,’” Emek said. “We need a new lexicon to define what’s happening. Because we’re living longer, the definition of work is changing. I don’t know what will replace retirement. That’s why I’m using the word ‘vintage.’”

About a year and a half ago, writer Dick Pollak and his wife Diane Walsh, a pianist, decided to sublet their Upper West Side apartment and travel around the world. But first, Walsh had scheduled performances in California and Iowa—with a break in between.

“We had some time to kill in California,” Pollak, 78, explained. So in March of 2011, the couple signed up for a Road Scholar program called “Magical Monterey.”

According to Pollak’s travel blog (You’re Only Old Once), the Monterey trip included “about two dozen other graying travelers.” While staying at Hidden Valley, an arts center in Carmel Valley, Pollak and his fellow Road Scholars attended a winemaking lecture, musical performances, dance-inspired exercise classes, a Monterey Bay Aquarium field trip and a scenic bus trip along 17-Mile Drive, among other activities. “It was a positive experience,” Pollak said.

Founded in 1975, the Boston-based nonprofit travel organization changed its name from Elderhostel to Road Scholar a little over two years ago. “There was this misperception of what the programs were like,” explained Despina Gakopoulos, a spokesperson for the organization. The word “hostel” gave people the mistaken impression that they’d be staying in sparse or dorm-like accommodations, she said. And not everyone wants to be associated with the word “elder,” she added.

Originally, the organization offered programs on college and university campuses. While many Road Scholar trips continue to be associated with educational institutions, others are not. So while some participants (like Pollak and his wife) may find themselves bunking in a dorm, those on other trips may stay at a hotel or inn.

Every Road Scholar trip has an educational focus. “We use local experts and instructors as opposed to a tour guide, so you really learn in depth about whatever topic or area you’re studying or visiting,” Gakopoulos said.

In 2011, more than 100,000 people attended Road Scholar programs around the globe, Gakopoulos said. The organization offers about 6,500 programs in 50 U.S. states and 150 countries. In the past, the age requirement for all programs used to be 55 and over. Road Scholar, however no longer has an age requirement for its programs.

Road Scholar’s U.S.-based programs average about $150 a day, while its international programs are about $288 a day (excluding airfare).

“Being a nonprofit, we try to keep the cost down as much as we can,” Gakopoulos said. The price of a program typically includes accommodations, lectures, activities, most meals (unless noted), taxes, gratuities and transportation within the program, as well as a travel assistance and insurance plan, she said.

For those who may perceive a Road Scholar program as financially out of reach, the nonprofit offers needs-based scholarships of up to $800 for its U.S. based programs, Gakopoulos said. Most U.S. programs tend to be about six days in length, while international ones are roughly 13 days.

Internationally, programs in Costa Rica, Italy, France and the United Kingdom tend to attract a lot of people, Gakopoulos said. More recently, Road Scholar started offering programs in Cuba, which have been “phenomenally popular,” she said. “We were granted a [people-to-people] license to operate programs there last year that was renewed again this year,” she explained. One eight-night trip named “Cuba Today: People and Society” includes an intercultural exchange at a middle-class family home.

The Road Scholar website categorizes its programs by location as well as by interest. And every program has an activity level rating ranging from physically easy to challenging, Gakopoulos said. “So people can choose what makes the most sense for them,” she added.

But it’s not just the educational activities that make Road Scholar Trips unique, Gakopoulos said. It is the sense of community created among people sharing the same interests, she added.
When asked what he enjoyed most about the Monterey trip, Pollak spoke of a spirited conversation at dinner with a table of birders. “They proved to be a quite interesting and very varied group from all over the country, and we had quite a jolly time,” he said. “As I recall, we didn’t talk much about birds.”

Although Pollak and his wife typically “don’t do organized groups,” he said they would be open to going on another Road Scholar trip in the future. “The only negative was the rain—that’s hardly Road Scholar’s fault,” said Pollak.

It’s hard to believe there was once a world before The Segway. Back when the only time humans could both stand around and move simultaneously was on an escalator. Now—in no way overestimating the market for such devices—the Robomancers over at Honda have invented something called the UNI-CUB Personal Mobility Device. With promotional language like “For Individuals. For Society. Honda Introduces a new kind of mobility.” [SPOILER ALERT: It's a stool with wheels.]

#FutureOfStuff: Ever seen Wall-E? The future will be indolent.

.@BYTES1GHz is a single serving of undigested tech for the unfocused and/or unconcerned. Don’t be disappoint. Like. Enjoy.

Ashley King and Council Member Gale Brewer harvest lettuce from the Greenhouse Project Science Laboratory at P.S. 333 Manhattan School for Children.

By Amanda Woods

For some senior citizens on the Upper West Side, it may be difficult to take a trip to the Greenmarket and buy a few days’ supply of fruits and vegetables. With this in mind, Council Member Gale Brewer launched “Grow Green, Age Well” to help connect the elderly to locally produced healthy food.

“When they go grocery shopping, they often need some help,” Brewer said

The idea came about in 2010, when Brewer was developing a plan to make the neighborhood more friendly to seniors. In discussions with the New York Academy of Medicine, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Brewer outlined issues of concern to seniors in the neighborhood, and access to fresh fruits and vegetables was one of them. Brewer hoped to find a way to integrate healthy local food into menus at senior centers.

“[We thought] maybe we could substitute some of the vegetables that were frozen with fresh fruits and vegetables,” Brewer said. “We met with senior centers, and much to my surprise and pleasure, the [GrowNYC] Greenmarket said, ‘Oh, we can do that.’”

The program consists of four elements. The first, “Wholesale for Whole Meals,” involves delivering food from GrowNYC’s wholesale program to senior centers such as Project FIND’s Hargrave Center and Goddard Riverside, food banks and Citymeals-on-Wheels.

Cheryl Huber, assistant director of greenmarkets for GrowNYC, said that the organization is in the process of connecting its markets to senior center kitchens.

“We know seniors are some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers, and they, more than anyone, need access to fresh food,” Huber said.

Local senior centers welcomed the new program.

“We started, a while ago, thinking about the health and wellness of the seniors,” said Barbara Blackman, section head of program services for Project FIND, which operates five senior centers in Manhattan. “It’s a very good step in the right direction for our team. We’re very happy with the wholesale market.”

Through another program within the initiative, “Greenhouse to Goddard,” which begins July 19, high school students will harvest about 100 heads of lettuce at the Greenhouse Project Science Lab at P.S. 333 Manhattan School for Children and deliver it to the Goddard Riverside Senior Center, a short walk from the school.

Stephan Russo, executive director of the Goddard Center, is looking forward to seeing the program kick off.
“It’s local, it’s healthy, it’s cost effective,” Russo said. “We appreciate that Gale made the connection with the school’s greenhouse to grow and harvest lettuce this summer that can be delivered to our senior center just five blocks away.”

Because many elderly live on a fixed income, “Grow Green, Age Well” will also introduce a West Side Senior Supported Agriculture Program, which will help those who cannot shell out enough money at once for an entire season of produce, as with a traditional community supported agriculture program.

The program also includes the second annual Age-Friendly West Side Grocery Guide, which advises seniors on delivery options and senior discounts and where to look for fresh prepared foods in single portions.

Brewer notes that “Grow Green” will not only aid local seniors but upstate farmers who grow the produce.
“I’m very excited about it because it’s local planning,” Brewer said. “If it all works, it’s a wonderful, amazing story.”

Many older people live alone and do not have a close family member or friend living nearby who can help them if they become ill and unable to do all the tasks necessary to maintain their lives at home. They or a family member will sometimes employ a geriatric care manager.

A geriatric care manager can perform a range of needed tasks, such as helping with paying bills; planning for medical care and ensuring that a client goes to doctor’s appointments; working with doctors, nurses and social workers at hospitals and rehabilitation centers to ensure that a client receives the best possible medical care; arranging for and supervising home care aides; and working with a client to maintain his or her quality of life.

For example, a professional colleague referred me to Ms. D, who lives alone. She had been a professor until she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

The first time I met her, she told me that she had been having increasing trouble remembering how to pay her bills. Sometimes she got disoriented on the subway, even when going to a familiar place, and panicked when she realized she did not know where she was. She needed help logging on to check her email. She did not remember how to tell the time from a digital clock. She did not know how to retrieve messages from her answering machine. She was overwhelmed, uncertain and close to despair.

Since that first meeting, I have met with her in her home for two hours a week. As I help her go through her mail, pay bills, check her email and do other tasks, I repeatedly confirm what she can do. She is a witty conversationalist. She has become active in the senior center and is going to be teaching a writing class there. She maintains close friendships.

By the second or third meeting, she had become more confident. She has stopped getting lost or panicked on the subway. She continues to have difficulties with other tasks, but, as I help her with them, her lack of ability rarely overwhelms her. She is enjoying her time at the senior center and conversations with friends.

This case illustrates a principle in working with someone suffering with dementia: Help with the specific tasks with which she is having difficulty, but repeatedly and consistently confirm her remaining abilities and help her find others who will appreciate what she knows and can do.

Roy Herndon Smith, Ph.D., is with Community Geriatric Care (communitygeriatriccare@gmail.com), a subsidiary of Foremost Home Care.

Michael J. Gelb

Authors Michael J. Gelb and Kelly Howell recently released Brain Power: Improve Your Mind As You Age, a book that attempts to demystify the long-standing belief that memory declines with age and offers simple tricks and techniques to improve brain activity and enhance overall mental well-being.

Gelb, who leads seminars around the world on the subject, has written 12 books, including How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day and Innovate Like Edison: The Five-Step System for Breakthrough Business Success. He has won a number of awards, including the Brain Trust Charity’s “Brain of the Year” award. A former professional juggler, Gelb once performed with The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

We spoke with Gelb about their new book, the biggest misconception people have about memory and aging and the different methods people can use to increase their mental acuity.

Why did you decide to write this book?

I wrote it for two reasons. One is because there are tens of millions of baby boomers who need to read it—the book provides simple lifestyle and attitude changes people can make so they can live happier and more fulfilling lives. There’s a personal reason, too. I’m approaching 60 myself, so I’m at an age where I’m thinking about my memory and mental well-being.

Why were you a good person to co-author it?

I have been passionately studying the mind and how to develop it for a very long time. And I don’t just study it theoretically; I put the techniques I talk about to practice in my everyday life. At my age, I’m a good candidate to try them out. I also lecture all over the world and see them work in the people in the audiences.  I’ve also closely studied some of the greatest minds in history, including Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Edison, when writing my books.

What kind of research went into writing the book?

I studied a variety of research to see what the average person can do as they get older to strengthen their memory. I interviewed experts in the field, including physicians, gerontologists and neuroscientists. My goal was to discover what simple, research-validated techniques there are to improve our mental well-being.

What is the biggest misconception people have about memory?

Most people think that their memory is doomed to decline and they are destined to forget everything when they get older. That’s totally absurd. Even when people are young, if they forget something they say, “Oh, I’m having a senior moment.” But ask any elementary school teacher; kids forget things all the time. They don’t dwell on it, though. You never hear them say, “I’m having a junior moment.” They just move on with their day. It’s when people start commiserating with each other that they’re getting older and are forgetting everything—they begin to self-hypnotize and they actually do start forgetting things.

What are some things people can do to improve memory in the long run?

Exercise is key. Getting the blood pumping to deliver oxygen to the brain helps improve mental activity. Weight training and tai chi both improve posture, strengthen the ligaments and muscles and strengthen the immune system. Practicing your balance also helps. Try standing on one leg or a balance board. It’s important to keep strengthening and nurturing your balance.

What are some quick tips and techniques people can do every day?

The most important thing people can do is learn something new every day for just 15 minutes. Get out of your habitual rut and do something different. This could be reading a book, learning about a new subject, having a lively conversation, going to a museum or playing a brain game. It should be challenging and stimulate your mind. Another technique is to use your non-dominant hand for 15 minutes.

What would you say is your favorite tip?

One of the best reactions I get from people who hear me speak is when I tell them to take a daily dose of GFH—that’s gratitude, forgiveness and humor. These are really simple things that anecdotal wisdom tells us is good for us, but now there is scientific backing that validate their benefits.

At what age should people start actively working to improve their memory?

I recommend doing these things if you want to maintain mental acuity at any age. It’s flat-out common sense for living a happy and fulfilling life. It’s never too early to start. However, as you get older, your margin of error declines. In your twenties, you can get away with abusing your body, but that gets harder in your forties and even harder in your fifties. So as you get older, it’s something you should think about more and more.

Did you come across any controversy in the scientific community on these subjects as you conducted research for the book?

One neuroscientist argued that we do lose brain cells as we get older. And I don’t dispute that. However, we both came to the agreement that it is not so much the number of brain cells we have but how we use them. The goal is to use them often and extensively.

For more information, visit 

www.michaelgelb.com.