Page 50 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power
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old concept of senility implied that it was caused by hardening or blocking of arteries and their
smaller branches. However, recent research has shown that age-related memory loss is usually not
caused by diseases of arteries or other blood vessels in the brain.
A year later, Esther died suddenly of a heart attack. The brain autopsy showed no evidence of
stroke other than in the basal ganglia, consistent with the clinical and MRI results. The only other
abnormality was an occasional amyloid plaque without any neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques
and neurofibrillary tangles, both of which are visible only under a microscope, are the pathologic
features of Alzheimer's disease. But with aging, an occasional amyloid plaque can appear even in the
absence of any symptoms of memory loss. So while her autopsy told us that she did not have
Alzheimer's disease, we couldn't rule out the possibility that it would have developed if she had lived
for another five to ten years.
I think it is best to drop the term senility because it doesn't tell us anything beyond the fact that the
person is old and has memory loss.
What Aging Is and Isn't
Dr. Robert Butler, formerly the head of the department of geriatric medicine at Mount Sinai School
of Medicine in New York, cautioned against “ageism,” which is a tendency to think of every
problem of the elderly as being a natural consequence of aging and hence doing nothing to solve it.
Ageism also underlies the widespread prejudice against older people and is sometimes used to
prevent them from working, or forcing them to retire early.
Aging does not mean you have to:
Lose interest in doing things.
Lose your memories permanently.
Get depressed.
Focus on death more than on life.
Think that it is no longer possible to change.
Be satisfied with being bored.
View the rest of your life as a downhill course.
Successful aging involves:
A positive outlook.
Continuing to maintain interests and hobbies.
