Senior Moments

Then there's the memory kind of senior moment.  What a friend of mine calls 'brain farts.' "Now, why did I come in here? What happened to my...keys, watch, book...? Give me a sec and I'll remember that name that's right on the tip of my tongue."
They're like snowflakes, little annoying flaky bits that don't amount to much, but send a tiny shiver before they melt away. Nuisance snow. At what point might the tiny flakes begin to stick together, cluster, clog? And how can I chase away the lowering clouds?
When I first started looking for information about preserving brain function, I had to work hard to find it. Now that millions of baby boomers are looking at milestone birthdays, the topic is big news and big business.
The task of sorting through it is made easier by my stint in grad school, which was less about gaining knowledge peculiar to my profession of nursing, and more about learning to discern whether writers and speakers actually knew what they were talking about. A lot of what I'm seeing and hearing about keeping functions such as memory intact is repetitive--the same few nuggets packaged in different ways by those who have a way with words (or not).
Here's what I now think I know for sure:
1. What's good for the body in general is good for the brain, especially including getting aerobic exercise, eating a balanced diet that includes sources of healthy fats such as fish or fish oil, and taking serious precautions to avoid falls.
2. Be wary about the effects of alcohol and other potentially mind-altering substances such as presciption medications. We all need to take the medications we require to keep us in good health (nurse talking) but we should get lots of help to manage them and evaluate their effects.
3. Maintaining social connections is a BIG deal.
4. There's great news about the brain. It's a lot more flexible than once was thought and capable of adding neurons all our lives. While these findings suggest ways to build better brain function, it's not so easy to figure out what's effective and what's not. A guy named Dr. Gary Small seems to know what he's talking about and is creating a useful body of work about beating brain aging. I particularly liked a multimedia kit he did with Dr. Andrew Weil.
5. Even if the body is lagging behind, the mind can help us find the path to wellness and wisdom.