Nonagenarians Keep Mental Muscles Healthy With Intellectual Pursuits ; Learning New Things and Staying Socially Involved Keep These Seniors in Exceptional Form.

By TESS NACELEWICZ

Alan Bernstein figures he’s taken enough college classes since retiring 30 years ago to have made significant progress toward earning another degree.

But the 94-year-old Portland resident already has bachelor’s and master’s degrees – both in history – and said he isn’t really interested in applying to get another diploma.

He mused about what he would write on a college application about his life goals. “Maybe I should say: ‘Coasting towards 100,’ ” he said.

Bernstein will turn 95 this month, and is considering getting a walker because he can’t get around as quickly as he used to. But the retired Maine state labor economist remains very active mentally – taking classes this past semester at the University of Southern Maine in geography, ethnology and on how spirituality and religion impact health.

Bernstein studies for his own enjoyment, but recent research on the brain suggests that continued learning may provide other benefits for aging adults. The research indicates that giving mental muscles a workout may help ward off problems with cognition and memory as we age.

“Mental exercise, especially learning new things or pursuing activities that are intellectually stimulating, may strengthen brain cell networks and help preserve mental functions,” according to “Staying Sharp,” a publication on memory loss and aging published by the AARP in conjunction with the New York-based Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.

Bernstein isn’t the only Maine senior keeping his mental muscles buff.

In addition to the regular college classes he takes at USM, he also studies at USM’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, known as OLLI. There, he’s among about 900 learners from Greater Portland aged 50 and older who pay a nominal fee to take a wide variety of non-credit college-level courses just for the love of learning.

But Bernstein does have the distinction of being among the oldest of his classmates. In a recent special ceremony, OLLI honored him and 22 other nonagenarians – people in their 90s – who take classes there.

The nonagenarian students stand out, according to Susan Morrow, assistant director of programs for OLLI.

“They are ‘Wow!’ people, every one of them,” she said. “They have this vitality.”

Their secret to staying so mentally alert?

It’s no great mystery, according to two of OLLI’s most active nonagenarians. Bernstein and Nancy Payne, a 90-year-old Falmouth resident who is an artist and author, simply advise people to pursue their interests and stay engaged socially.

Payne, one of the founding members of OLLI, which was called Senior College when it started in 1997, said one tip is to volunteer because it gives meaning to life and leaves little time for feeling lonely or blue.

“I think we all feel we have to be needed,” said Payne, a volunteer on OLLI’s long-range planning committee and its diversity committee, which is working to attract a more multicultural student body at OLLI.

Being part of a social network, through volunteering or by maintaining connections with friends and family, is important to mental fitness, according to the AARP article.

“The more contact we have with others as we age, the better we may be at retaining mental sharpness,” the publication says. “There is even evidence that people who engage in social activities such as learning to play a musical instrument or dancing are less likely to develop dementia.”

Michael Brady, an adult education professor at USM who also helped found OLLI, said just coming to the institute to take classes provides social opportunities for learners.

“They are meeting new friends and have a new sense of belonging,” Brady said. “I think there is a link between emotional health and intellectual health.”

Bernstein and Payne said one of the best parts of taking classes is the people in them.

Payne, who recently took a course on Yeats and Irish politics at OLLI, said she enjoys getting to know her classmates. “They are so well-read and have such interesting ideas and have led such interesting lives,” she said.

How people manage stress in their lives and remain positive despite negative life experiences also plays a role in maintaining mental sharpness as we age, according to the AARP article.

“An ability to adapt to life’s challenges, to maintain a degree of control over our life” are among the “pillars of successful aging,” the article says.

Brady calls the ability to cope with life changes “resiliency” and said that Payne, whom he knows through his work with OLLI, has shown plenty of that.

“She’s a role model for me,” said Brady, who is in his 50s. “I’d love to be like Nancy Payne when I’m 90.”

Payne’s husband died unexpectedly 30 years ago, but in the midst of her grief she decided she had to find ways to make a new life for herself.

One of her efforts was using her experience as a widow to write a book to help other widows. “Widowing: A Guide to Another Life” came out about eight years ago. Payne published it herself when she couldn’t find anyone else to do it.

Payne also ran for state Legislature in 1979 as a Republican from Portland, winning a seat in the state House of Representatives.

She utilized that experience to write “Phoenix/Maine,” a suspense novel about the Legislature with an underlying theme of bipartisanship, published five years ago.

And Payne, who majored in art history in college, took up watercolor painting more than three decades ago. In April her artwork was featured as part of a show at USM’s Glickman Family Library.

Brady said that resiliency of the type Payne has shown “is really about learning from your circumstances and making adjustments.”

Continuous learning – engaging the brain throughout life – helps with cognitive fitness, the AARP article says. “Brain experts are convinced that engaging in ‘active learning’ throughout life will help maintain brain health in our later years,” the article concludes.

Both Payne and Bernstein say they’ve always been avid readers.

Bernstein, whose wife died in 1991, had to pare down his belongings when he recently relocated to a retirement home, but one thing he insisted move with him was his set of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

And he and Payne said they enjoy the courses they take because it opens their minds to information that’s new and different.

Brady said a group of OLLI students who participated in a focus group a few years ago likened taking the courses to stretching the body to keep it strong and supple.

“They feel the OLLI courses stretch them intellectually,” he said.

Staff Writer Tess Nacelewicz can be contacted at 791-6367 or at:

tnacelewicz@pressherald.com

[Sidebar]

AGING SUCCESSFULLY

SOME STUDIES have shown a correlation between aging “successfully” – having the least declines in cognition and memory – and the following characteristics:

* Mental exercise. Learning new things or pursuing intellectually stimulating activities may strengthen brain cell networks and help preserve mental functions.

* Longer formal education. The length of time spent in formal study is associated with mental sharpness among older persons, possibly because continued learning creates a “neural reserve” of denser, stronger nerve-cell connections.

* A sense of control. A sense of being able to control or influence our own lives or those of others – feeling that what we do makes a difference – seems to prevent cognitive decline, for reasons that are unclear.

* Physical activity. Being physically active, particularly doing aerobic exercise, is strongly linked to lifelong brain health.

FOR MORE information, visit: http://www.aarp.org/nrta/Articles/ a2003-08-19-memoryloss.html

Source: “Staying Sharp,” a publication by the AARP in conjunction with the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.

Originally published by By TESS NACELEWICZ Staff Writer.

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