Myth #1.  We only use 10 percent of our brain.

Dr. Michael F. Roizen, well-known aging authority and co-author of “YOU: The Owner’s Manual,” was recently asked, “A lot of people believe that we use only 10 percent of our brain. Is that true?”  Take encouragement from his response:

“It’s not true. In fact, you’d be in big trouble if you only used 10 percent. The reality is that we use all of our brain, but we don’t use it all the time,” said Dr. Oz.

“The brain was really hidden from us until we had new technologies that could allow us either to operate on the brain, or to see what the brain does when you’re actually thinking or doing tasks.”

Now we know that challenging your mind can keep your brain young. For example, Suzanne spoke four languages fluently – English, Swiss-German, French, and German. Sadly, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the language center of her brain. The surgeons hoped to remove the tumor without destroying her ability to speak her languages. Surprisingly, her surgery gave her doctors an opportunity to see how learning a language exercises the brain.

During surgery to remove the tumor, Suzanne was awakened. She was shown pictures and asked to identify them in each of her languages.

The goal was to use an MRI to light up the part of the brain that Suzanne used as she spoke and to help the surgeon avoid the language area when removing the tumor. But the doctors discovered something quite amazing – each of Suzanne’s languages resides in a different part of her brain.

The surgery was successful – the tumor was removed and Suzanne’s knowledge of four languages was saved. Her case dispelled a long-held brain myth – that language resides in just one small region of the brain. Because Suzanne had learned her languages at different ages, her brain had stored them in different places – showing that challenging your brain creates new neural pathways.

“Just like you challenge a muscle to grow it, well, the brain gets new connections,” said Dr. Roizen.

Myth #2.  You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.

Memory loss is not inevitable. Want to keep your brain young? Exercise it. Try to learn to play a musical instrument, doing crossword puzzles, learning a language — even playing computer games. Again, listen to Dr. Roizen: “the data now indicate that an hour of games for 40 weeks can make your brain equivalent, your brain’s real age, 10 years younger,” Roizen said.

Myth #3.  Bigger brains produce better memory.

Not so. The size of a person’s brain doesn’t have anything to do with their intellectual capacity! Dr.Mehmet Oz, the other co-author of “YOU: The Owner’s Manual,” says, “There is no correlation with the size of a human brain and its intellect. In fact, Einstein was sort of a famous example. His brain was about average size – no difference between his and almost any other brain.”  In other words, most of us can benefit from engaging in memory-improvement activities!

Myth #4.  You can’t make new brain cells.

When I studied psychology in the 60s, it was generally accepted that people were born with all of the brain cells they would ever have. Since brain cells continually die, we assumed that the process of aging meant that our brains would inevitably decline as we got older.

Now we know that our brains are slowly, constantly producing new brain cells. Previously, scientists assumed that the fresh neurons just acted as replacements for old and dying cells. Now research indicates that these new adult neurons may help old cells adapt to new experiences and can be used to rejuvenate our brains as we age.

At Senior Memory Source we are engaged in the study and publication of practices that will help us to realize this potential.  You will want to subscribe to this column to get up-to-the-minute news and information about how to enjoy the greatest quality of life you have ever had in your “golden years”!

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