{"id":2906,"date":"2007-06-04T15:28:28","date_gmt":"2007-06-04T20:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/?p=2906"},"modified":"2021-03-22T21:50:06","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T02:50:06","slug":"keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Your Smarts as You Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here<\/a> for the original post.<\/p>\n

Nobody likes to spend too much time thinking about what doctors call age-related decline in brain function.<\/p>\n

You can get really worried about the future of your brain until you meet someone like Chicago icon Studs Terkel. Studs is now 95, and although he readily acknowledges he\u2019s as deaf as a post he remains virtually a walking encyclopedia of facts, poems, books he\u2019s read, and details about the people he\u2019s met and interviewed. It\u2019s like he\u2019s burned every minute of his entire life onto a CD and his brain can retrieve anything in seconds.<\/p>\n

This gives me great hope.<\/p>\n

Now, Studs doesn\u2019t know any secret for his astonishing memory, and I seriously believe he thinks everybody has a memory like his. He doesn\u2019t take a bevy of vitamins, but does eat reasonably well and has never been known to turn down a dry gin martini.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Studs is an intensely curious man. He\u2019s read voraciously his entire life, sometimes for entertainment but mostly to expand his world. He listens to all types of music, has visited museums everywhere, and gives wonderful talks about his favorite films and artists. And, of course, as many Chicagoans know, he\u2019s interviewed just about everyone in the arts and politics during his longtime radio program (old programs are heard every week on WFMT in Chicago).<\/p>\n

Most important, I believe, is that he sits and simply thinks about what he has read, heard, and seen.<\/p>\n

If you were reading this and expecting a list of supplements to take to be as smart as Studs, you\u2019re out of luck. The most challenging part of preserving your brain is up to you. If your key intellectual effort is to watch Seinfeld reruns, and your main conversational topics are weather and crabgrass, believe me, the contribution from \u201csmart supplements\u201d will be minimal at best.<\/p>\n

Here are a few suggestions to exercise your brain:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Do the New York Times crossword puzzle at least three times a week. Look up words you don\u2019t know. While you\u2019re at it, read the New York Times.
\n\u2022\tTake an adult education course in something challenging, like art history, classical music appreciation, or a new language.
\n\u2022 Visit museums when possible; if you live in a small community, get down to the library and start tackling the great literature of the world.
\n\u2022\tRent by mail the top fifty films ever made. This list is available online and the DVDs are at Netflix or www.facets.org<\/a>.
\n\u2022\tRead a poem a day and try to memorize at least one poem a week.
\n\u2022\tVisit www.aldaily.com<\/a> (Arts & Letters Daily), a wonderful link to hundreds of intellectually challenging articles from dozens of writers around the world.
\n\u2022\tStart a journal that not only records events, but also your thoughts.<\/p>\n

Am I giving you a headache? In our next health tip, I\u2019ll provide a list of what to eat and the supplements to take to ward off age-related memory dysfunction.<\/p>\n

And I agree: popping pills is easier than reading Shakespeare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here for the original post. Nobody likes to spend too much time thinking about what doctors call age-related decline in brain function. You can get really worried about the future of your brain until you meet someone like Chicago icon Studs Terkel. Studs is now 95, and although he readily acknowledges he\u2019s as deaf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[352,204,2,50,3,70],"tags":[375,374],"class_list":["post-2906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aging","category-b","category-blog","category-healthy-lifestyle","category-knowledge-base","category-s","tag-brain","tag-smarts"],"yoast_head":"\r\nKeeping Your Smarts as You Age - WholeHealth Chicago<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keeping Your Smarts as You Age - WholeHealth Chicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click here for the original post. Nobody likes to spend too much time thinking about what doctors call age-related decline in brain function. You can get really worried about the future of your brain until you meet someone like Chicago icon Studs Terkel. Studs is now 95, and although he readily acknowledges he\u2019s as deaf […]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WholeHealth Chicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wholehealthchicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-04T20:28:28+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-23T02:50:06+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wholehealthchicago\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wholehealthchi\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@wholehealthchi\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wholehealthchicago\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age\",\"name\":\"Keeping Your Smarts as You Age - WholeHealth Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-06-04T20:28:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-23T02:50:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Keeping Your Smarts as You Age\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"WholeHealth Chicago\",\"description\":\"WholeHealth Chicago is the Midwest's oldest and most respected center for integrative care, successfully blending the latest advances in conventional medicine with a wide range of clinically proven alternative therapies.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19\",\"name\":\"wholehealthchicago\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"wholehealthchicago\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/author\/wholehealthchicago\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Keeping Your Smarts as You Age - WholeHealth Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Keeping Your Smarts as You Age - WholeHealth Chicago","og_description":"Click here for the original post. Nobody likes to spend too much time thinking about what doctors call age-related decline in brain function. You can get really worried about the future of your brain until you meet someone like Chicago icon Studs Terkel. Studs is now 95, and although he readily acknowledges he\u2019s as deaf […]","og_url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age","og_site_name":"WholeHealth Chicago","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wholehealthchicago","article_published_time":"2007-06-04T20:28:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-23T02:50:06+00:00","author":"wholehealthchicago","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@wholehealthchi","twitter_site":"@wholehealthchi","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"wholehealthchicago","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age","name":"Keeping Your Smarts as You Age - WholeHealth Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-06-04T20:28:28+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-23T02:50:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/04\/keeping-your-smarts-as-you-age#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Keeping Your Smarts as You Age"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/","name":"WholeHealth Chicago","description":"WholeHealth Chicago is the Midwest's oldest and most respected center for integrative care, successfully blending the latest advances in conventional medicine with a wide range of clinically proven alternative therapies.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19","name":"wholehealthchicago","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"wholehealthchicago"},"url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/author\/wholehealthchicago"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26654,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2906\/revisions\/26654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}