MUDGE’S Musings
An interesting week for medical news here at L-HC.
And by the way, it’s not an accident that health-related news dominates our attention.
“Our attention” being that of the ubiquitous Boomers, the oldest of whom are fast approaching age 62!
And we weren’t to trust anyone over 30!
The pharmaceutical companies are aware of demographics big time, as they prepare for the largest individual age-group ever, in the wealthiest nation ever, to treat their assorted and accumulating ailments with the finest chemicals a PPO can buy.
And, as a group we Boomers are as self-absorbed, especially regarding our health issues, as our parents, the so-called Greatest Generation, was self-sacrificing.
So, health related news dominates.
This story by Associated Press by way of Wired magazine concentrates on aging’s effects on the brain.
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — When aging hampers memory, some people’s brains compensate to stay sharp. Now scientists want to know how those brains make do – in hopes of developing treatments to help everyone else keep up.
This is not Alzheimer’s disease, but the wear-and-tear of so-called normal aging. New research is making clear that memory and other brain functions decline to varying degrees even in otherwise healthy people as they age, as anyone who habitually loses car keys probably suspected.
The medical establishment is turning its attention to aging’s effects on the brain, and the brain’s effect on aging.
“We need to understand how to defer normal cognitive aging … the way we’ve invested in fighting heart disease and cancer.”
Amen. The prospect of a decayed brain in a reasonably healthy body is just as foreboding as its opposite. Take a look at the rest of the article:
[Please click the link below for the complete article — but then please come on back!]
Wired News – AP News
So, while the medical wizards research, what’s a guy or gal on the cusp of old age to do?
Staying at intellectually demanding jobs, even crossword puzzles might be an answer. Use it or lose it, indeed.
Drugs. For our generation, definitely the easiest of all.
Finally, exercise. In fact, I can think of an exercise that might be especially appropriate in so many ways, as picked up in this nanocorner of the ‘Sphere© earlier: sex.
And, to turn an old saying on its tail: I guess now I aspire to remaining bright eyed and bushy brained.
It’s it for now. Thanks,
–MUDGE
Posted by mudge 
Left-handed Complement 