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By Sandra Cusack and Wendy Thompson: Key Porter Books, 2005. (246 pages)
Mental Fitness for Life is based on a community research project involving Century House—a 2,100-member seniors centre in New Westminster—which evolved into an award-winning eight-week Mental Fitness for Life course. That course is now this book. It addresses what we fear most as we age, “losing it”—“it” being mental fitness, with memory being the first to go.
After an introduction to outdated research on aging and the latest findings (in which you evaluate your current mental fitness level), the seven-chapter book covers seven Steps—Goal Setting, Power Thinking, Creativity, Positive Mental Attitude, Memory and Learning, Speaking your Mind, and Mentally Fit for Life.
What are the benefits of practicing mental fitness? Everyone who participated in the pilot program reported dramatic improvements in their mental fitness level and memory. More importantly, participants gained new perspectives and more positive attitudes. In short, research shows the brain works like a muscle - the harder you use it, the more it grows. It is optimistic that we can expect to live 30 years beyond retirement in the 21st century if our minds are stimulated and challenged to grow and develop.
Mental Fitness for Life also speaks of how people who engage in purposeful activity and have social connections other than family live longer and enjoy a better quality of life.
Given the author, Wendy Thompson’s, background as an Olympic speed skater, motivational speaker, and trainer, there is plenty of enthusiastic “personal coaching” and inspiring quotations peppered through the pages. Each Step chapter begins with a Mental Fitness Warm-Up quiz to stimulate memory and lateral thinking. These exercises encourage you to change old patterns of thinking.
While the authors stress using our brains at any age can only be beneficial, they do not talk about the benefits to those who live with brain damage. According to Canadian geriatric psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Kiraly who developed The Healthy Brain Program in 1999, many researches show that even people with dementia can generate new connections in the brain. Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity does not stop after brain injury. Therefore, even people with dementia benefit from healthy brain habits and brain care.
Reviewed by Kerry McPhedran, writer, caregiver for her mother, and volunteer with the Alzheimer Society of B.C.
