It has recently been said in a video content that is sourced from the New England Journal of Medicine that the Director of the School of Medicine of the University of Washington has stated that the brain of persons above age 60 becomes more practical and more creative because it is at this age that the right and left hemispheres of the brain begin to function together. While younger people use only one hemisphere of the brain, the synergy between the two hemispheres of the brain in older people expands their creative potential to peak limits up to age 70; at which point the intellectual capability of the brain increases by 300 percent to reach its full strength. Free Stock photos by Vecteezy
At this peak level, the older person using the two hemispheres of the brain at the same time, gains the following advantages over younger people. Older people at this advanced stage,
Can make the right decisions most of the time because they have passed the stage of being distracted by negative emotions;
Can make the right and better decisions than younger persons
Can solve complex problems easier the increase in the power
Have more creative potentials
The downside of the intellectual advantages of old age is that the older person’s brain looses the speed for information processing. Their brain is no longer as fast as the brain of younger people. In many cases, this is said to be due to information overload. There is just too much information in the older person’s mind than in the younger person’s mind. It is said in Cote D’Ivoire that the death of an elderly person is like the burning of a library. The information overload in the older person’s mind however, creates difficulties that make it impossible, in many cases, to remember things even in their immediate environment. Examples of such situations occur very often in many homes.
Mama Sahada Mustapha had been looking for her spectacles since 6.00am when she got out bed. At 7.30am she went to have her bath. As the water splashed on her face, she started to use her right hand to wash her face and immediately had to grab her spectacles to stop the pair of specs from falling. She put on her spectacles when she woke up at 6.00am but had forgotten all about it.
It was 8.30 in the morning and Mr. Nguru was wearing his socks to dress up for a meeting at 10am. He had to put out his head outside the bedroom door to listen to his wife. He returned to his chair in the bedroom to continue dressing up just two minutes after talking to his wife. He looked around for his socks. He looked into his shoes where he usually left his socks each time he came home in the evenings. He couldn’t find the socks. He examined the shoe rack close-by to find the socks. Just as he was thinking of taking another pair socks, he bent down. His hands touched his socks. He had been wearing the socks he had been looking for in the last ten minutes.
Mr. Davies was looking for his car keys. He looked all over the bedroom but could not find the car keys. His wife entered the room. She asked him what he was looking for. He said “Car keys.” His wife pointed to the car keys on the bed only three inches away from the very spot he had been sitting. Mr. Davies had dressed up, taken his car keys and left them on the bed to listen to a phone call and had completely forgotten that he had put the car keys on the bed.
These are some of the difficulties old people experience in remembering. Forgetfulness slows down the actions of old people. Besides forgetfulness, a number of diseases begin to show up at old age: Alzheimer’s disease (unfortunate for some old people), diabetes, heart problems, eye problems and a myriad other health problems. The body is getting weaker; the once strong engine is getting older and weaker.
At this stage, there are two factors that work against the older person. These are those discussed so far:
Forgetfulness
Health problems
But beyond the above problems is the contradiction that the older person, at age 65 and above has reached the highest point in their mental capability and their creative potential. Unfortunately, society does not recognize that older persons reach their highest potential after age 60. People are required to retire at 60 or at 65 if they worked for the public services.
Retirement age is therefore the time older people should be able to take advantage of their higher mental and creative capability to engage in jobs and hobbies they never had time for during their active working period, working for the government or for some institution for monthly salary and perks.
To quote from the video content,
If a person leads a healthy life style, moves, has viable physical activity and is fully mentally active, intellectual abilities do NOT decrease with age; they simply GROW, reaching a peak at the age of 80-90 years.
This is the time older person should take advantage of their newly acquired advantage of using their highest intellectual and creative capability to work for themselves. This is the period when most talented people make their contributions to society:
Scientists
Creative artists
Inventors
Statesmen and Stateswomen
Philosophers
Discoverers
The conditions required for living an active and fruitful life after age 60 and beyond are as follow:
Get into the habit of exercise. Exercise for 15 minutes everyday five days a week.
Eat nutritious meals
Avoid alcohol: it destroys your internal organs and makes you die inside before it finally takes you down.
Meet friends: School mates, club members etc. Have a chat; keep memories alive.
Travel to visit friends and family when you can and when you can afford.
Go to football games; attend entertainment shows
The above will help to heal some of your physical diseases. For those who would suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, it has been found that the disease occurs when the brain lacks oxygen. It has also been found that the element that produces the oxygen needed by the brain is contained in coconut oil. When Alzheimer begins to attack an older person, ensure to use coconut oil in their food and go to the hospital immediately. pexels-liliana-drew-8497929.jpg257.58 KB
Creative Life
To prepare for the creative life stage where the older person has now reached, it is recommended that older persons should do the following:
Learn new things. The neurons in the brain that stimulate the connections of the brain cells will disappear if you do not engage yourself in some mental work. Keep your mind active. If you have a hobby, you can now turn it into a career.
Create new things: This is the period of your life where your creative genius begins to show. Don’t waste this precious time.
Remember your health and your forgetfulness are the two disasters that may stand in your way to a happier and creative life. You can do the following:
Write down the things you want or need to do tomorrow in a notebook every evening. Do not trust your memory. If your notebook is not close by, you can write your thoughts and ideas in draft in the Messages section of your phone
Learn to use mnemonics in writing your thoughts and ideas. It is easier to commit mnemonics to memory than long sentences.
After your prayers or at the appropriate point in your prayers, salat or in whatever your religion may be, repeat the things you want to do during the day. Repeat the things you want to do also at the evening prayers. Psychologists say repetition activates your super-conscious mind to help you with new ideas and new ways for accomplishing your work. Religious persons say that repetition activates the “God part in you”, or your “divine intelligence” to help you with ideas and ways for accomplishing your goals.
Remember to cherish your life and the lives of your loved ones. Don’t die with your music in you.
