Enhancing Memory – For Young and Old
By Rita Watson (Consulted by Katherine McHugh)
Someone asked a yoga teacher/friend of mine and me to: “…give me the scoop about hot yoga!” My initial response (as one might imagine) was: “Well, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it, the highest aim of yoga is to bring alignment, integration, union, of mind, body and spirit.”
So, “What’s with yoga (hot, or not*)?”
by Rita Watson
by Hilgos
When Berna Huebner was told about her mother, “The lights are out,” she sought help in the world of art. Huebner, who is herself a mother, says: “This unfortunately is not a story about a miraculous cure – rather it is a tale of transformation.” Depicted in a documentary she created I Remember Better When I Paint, narrated by Olivia de Havilland the story gives hope to children whose mothers live in a world in which their memories have been hijacked by a debilitating disease. Huebner said to me: “As anyone will tell you, Alzheimer’s is an aggressive and difficult disease. My mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s was no exception. As the disease tightened its grip she would often become agitated and distant. And then finally, she stopped speaking altogether.”
Hope through her art
Huebner recalled: “I struggled to find a way to reach her. Doctors and nurses were pessimistic about my chances of accessing my mother’s memory and ultimately communicating with her, a woman who had once been full of life and light; a woman who valued her work and independence.”
When everyone was giving up on the worsening dementia of Huebner’s mother, painter Hilda Goldblatt Gorenstein, she was given hope by her mother’s psychiatrist. He suggested that Huebner contact her mother’s former art school, the Art Institute of Chicago.
Huebner recalls: “When I asked my mother if she would like to paint again, her eyes suddenly sparkled, and she answered, ‘Yes, I remember better when I paint.’ ”
To continue reading at Rita Watson’s Psychology Today blog, please go to: Read More
As a society, our connections and interconnections through social media and technology are cramming vast amounts of information into our brains. When forgetfulness sets in, at first we dismiss it as “brain overload.” Then one day we feel as if our brain is in tangles. The good news is that there are programs to help keep the brain fit.
By James M. Ellison, M.D., M.P.H.
compelling new article in USA Today about early onset Alzheimer’s reminds us that dementia is not solely a disease of the elderly. In fact, the first patient in whom Alzheimer described the disease — that would later bear his name — was in her 50’s when symptoms became apparent. Diagnosis shocks young dementia victims – USATODAY.com Though age is the most powerful risk factor for dementia, some 5 percent of those afflicted by Alzheimer’s Disease, the most common form of dementia, develop symptoms before reaching 65.
Once again, Ritalin is in the news. Researchers from the Queensland Brain Institute tell us that “Individuals who take Ritalin are significantly more aware of their mistakes.” Ritalin Increases Awareness of Mistakes | Psych Central News. Given the recent scare reports this is good news. Boston Brain Fitness has an interview with Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., leader in the field of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder that addresses the earlier controversy. Dr Hallowell
