Book Review: The Aging Mind: An owner’s manual

The Aging Mind: An owner's manual

Patrick Rabbit (2015). London: Routledge.

Professor Rabbit, a UK cognitive gerontologist, is a delightful and encouraging companion in the exploration of 'normal' aging of the brain and its effect on the mind and body. Now in his 70s he continues to work and write on this topic drawing on over 50 years of research and on his own experiences of the aging process.

He sets the tone of his book saying that what we find out through research may not always be comforting but 'there is always excitement and dignity in understanding our situation as clearly as we possibly can' (p 4), and this book is replete with information to help understand and make the most of the longer lives many of us can expect.

Aging affects the whole brain and this affects our senses and all our abilities. Consequently how well our brain is aging shows up in our hearing, sight, touch and gait; with grip and balance being key markers. He discusses why and how our brain ages, how fast it happens (quite slowly over a long period from mid 30s to late 60s then quite rapidly with decision speed and IQ declining more rapidly than memory) and how with reducing bandwidth it becomes increasingly hard to do, remember or perceive more than one thing at a time.

On the plus side he says that with motivation, engagement and revision we can still learn very effectively 'even when we are very old indeed' (p 97), which is encouraging for both therapists and clients.

While most body cells reproduce themselves anything from 40 to 120 times before reaching a limit controlled by telomeres (for longevity you really have to hope for good ones) our brain cells are mostly those we were born with, slowly diminishing in number. We can't stop this happening but we may be able to slow it down.

The rate of brain cell loss depends on blood supply and the best way to increase this is through 20 mins walking every day which has a 'measurable effect on survival and on keeping our wits' (p 242). Something for therapists to take note of given all the 'lethal sitting' we do. Just moving briskly around between clients will make a useful difference. In contrast, Rabbit says there is no convincing evidence that brain training, crosswords etc help much.

Despite the losses and challenges that come with aging, studies show young people are more depressed by the experience of pain and illness perhaps because poor health is less common in youth, while older people are more likely to know others in the same boat, and may be more accepting and grateful for what they still have.

On death, Rabbit notes that those who appear most contented 'seem to live in tighter boundaries of the present' (p 186) and that studies from different countries and cultures all report a reduction in fear about death as age advances.

I found this book enlightening and useful in understanding the changes I am experiencing and those that my older clients are also experiencing. Memory lapses and moments of confusion often prompt anxiety about dementia for the over 60s but Rabbit shows that for most of us they are just signs of normal aging.

The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life

Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg & Tom Pyszczynski (2016). London: Penguin.

'The worm at the core of all our usual springs of delight' is a quotation from William James' book The Varieties of Religious Experience.

Inspired by the earlier work of Ernest Becker who claimed in The Denial of Death that human activity is driven largely by unconscious efforts to deny and transcend death, the authors, who are American experimental social psychology professors, have been collaborating on research for 25 years to test this hypothesis and explore its implications in our lives. Through over 500 published studies they found that fear of death does indeed have a profound and persuasive effect on human affairs at all levels

Diana Pringle