Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives

I enjoyed this book very much. Some of the information was not new but much was. It was very interesting, informative, well-sourced and even included a bit of humor. Loved the author’s style. I took a few notes for personal reminders of matters I need to focus more on.

Contrary to implications by some other reader reviewers, there are practical tips concerning how to age successfully sprinkled throughout the book. For instance, when explaining that myelination decreases as we age, Dr. Levitin recommends eating good fats (e.g., fish oil) to help replenish the myelin and thus enhance neural transmission. I would call that a rejuvenation tip, and it's not just located in the last part of the book (I've only read 25 % of the book and I've noticed them throughout). Maybe those readers did not notice them because they already knew those tips; but there are a number that I was not aware of because they're based on recent research (I retired from teaching and researching psychology nearly 10 years ago).I also like that the practical tips are accompanied by the reasons that they can be helpful in maintaining youthfulness: e.g., taking a walk in nature impacts all the senses, which in turn keeps the brain active, alert and healthy and stimulates it to make new connections. The references are not listed at the spot that the research is described, but the name of the scientist who claims it is there, so a google search can find the study. (And doing a google search for complex new information might be good for your brain.)Edited after finishing the book: You don't have to google the references; the author put the references in notes at the end of the book, and you can find the entire studies online or in your nearest university library stacks.I finished the book without stopping except to sleep. Now I have a stiff neck. Thanks, Dr. Levitin.

“Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential Of Our Lives” is an interesting book that goes in-depth on how our brain works and how it changes as we age. Unfortunately, author Daniel Levitin shares more neuroscience than practical information about successful aging. You have to get to the appendix before the authors list ideas for rejuvenating your brain.1. Don’t retire. Don’t stop being engaged with meaningful work.2. Look forward. Don’t look back. (Reminiscing doesn’t promote health)3. Exercise. Get your heart rate going. Preferably in nature.4. Embrace a moderated lifestyle with healthy practices.5. Keep your social circle exciting and new.6. Spend time with people younger than you.7. See your doctor regularly, but not obsessively.8. Don’t think of yourself as old (other than taking prudent precautions)9. Appreciate your cognitive strengths – pattern recognition, crystallized intelligence, wisdom, and accumulated knowledge.10. Promote cognitive health through external learning: traveling, spending time with grandchildren, and immersing yourself in new activities and situations. Do new things.But there is a lot more that we learn from this book.While we might think of old age as a time of mental decline, it also improves brain function. We are open to new positive things, and a chemical change in our brain makes it easier to accept death.Older brains may work more slowly but make more thoughtful decisions because they have a lifetime of information to rely on.Here is how to ward off Alzheimer's disease a diet rich in vegetables and good fats, oxygenating the blood through moderate exercise, brain training exercises, good sleep hygiene, and a regimen of supplements individually tailored to each person’s own needs based on blood and genetic testing.“Babies are born with certain predispositions—a pattern of individual differences in how they react to different situations, as well as the regulation of those patterns. In babies and children, these patterns are usually called temperament, whereas, in adults, these patterns are called personality. Temperament and the young child’s early life experiences contribute to growing a personality. That personality will be based on the child’s developing views of self and others as they are shaped by experience.”Our long-term memories can become faulty because of the way memory works. Levitin writes, ” as soon as you retrieve a memory, it becomes editable, just like a text document; it enters a vulnerable state and can get rewritten without your intent, consent, or knowledge. Often, memory is rewritten by new information that gets colored in during one recollection. Then that new information gets grafted onto and stored with the old, all seamlessly, without your conscious awareness. This process can happen over and over again until the original memory in your brain has been replaced with subsequent interpretations, impressions, and recollections.”There are also similarities between infancy and old age. “Infancy is a time of perceptual and mental growth, but before that growth is complete, we might say it is also a time of confusion and lack of control over our bodies. In some respects, then, aging is similar to infancy.I found the book fascinating, although I wish the author had offered more about successful aging rather than the science of how the brain works

The author is a neuroscientist, but he writes for the general public. I found the book imminently readable. I dare say 97% of the population would find things that they never knew in this read. It is chock full of explanations of how the brain and the rest of the body work and suggestions on how to assure they keep working.

who knew that stopping HRT could affect memory? read on, loads of useful paths of inquiry!

It's your attitude which keeps you growing graciously.Our life keeps adding numbers but more important is the quality we add to each year.

Dieses Buch biete sehr viel: Neben Erklärungen zum Alterungsprozess u.a. des Gehirns sowie den damit verbundene psychologischen Anpassungen findet man auch Tipps zur Gestaltung des eigenen, möglichst gesund und vital verlaufenden Alterungsprozesses. Das Buch ist packend geschrieben, auch für Nicht-Muttersprachler gut verständlich.Ich habe es als Geschenk für einen runden Geburtstag gekauft (und später ausgeliehen und selbst gelesen) und das war ein Erfolg, also man erhält hier ein umfangreiches Buch mit praktischem Nutzen, darüber hinaus finde ich das Thema "Successful Aging" ganz grundsätzlich interessant, alleine schon weil es irgendwann (hoffentlich) jeden von uns betrifft. Hier kann man doch einiges für sich mitnehmen.

Not just for older people! Remember we are all going to get there! Hopefully! So much to learn in this book. Going to read it again and again!

Very well-written, a pleasure to read. The book treats different issues of aging people, it concerns each one of us.D. Levitin goes deep in Neurosciences aspects to explain us what aging means for a human being, but remains understandable also if this domain in completely new for you. He gives multiple examples how persons live their aging with happiness and entrepreneurship. The biases that society stick to aging people are well described and give us keys to review our opinions.D. Levitin also provides lots of advices to take better take care of yourself in this phase of your life. Very helpful and hopeful.