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What is middle age? As human life expectancy changes, so does this marker. I did wonder about those in today’s world who are born with a life expectancy in the 30s or 40s. Surely their teenage years can’t be called their “middle age”. Luckily for the purposes of containing such definitional wild goose chases, Ms Strauch points out quickly that most researchers consider middle age to be between 40 and 68.
Both our body and brain change with age but few of us know that our brain doesn’t decline, if that is the word for what happens to our skin and fitness with age, at the same rate as our body does. In fact, this book aims to show that the change that occurs in the brain isn’t a decline at all but that the brain continues to remain at its peak for longer than we imagine. While our ability to retain bits of data such as people’s names may suffer, our judgment – our knowledge combined with our ability to make connections – improves and we generally start becoming happier. She also explains why the soi-disant midlife crisis really doesn’t exist.
Organised in three parts addressing what changes, why the change and how to improve our brain, the book presents a simplified overview of existing research on the aging of the brain. In the process, Ms Strauch uncovers phenomena such as how the use of both of the brain’s halves – bilateralisation – helps the brain adapt to the changes brought by age, and how myelin (the white matter) continues to grow with age aiding the brain’s processing abilities.
I found the third section “Healthier Brains” particularly interesting. Ms Strauch casts a wide net here, discussing evidence of how aerobic or heart-rate raising exercise helps brain cell growth; and how the beliefs regarding anti-oxidant rich foods, low-calorie diets and ORAC etc have never had a clinical trial; and how low distress and rich social connections can help the brain cope and remain high-functioning.
If you are the sort of reader, who likes to read the bibliography as much as you do the book, then you may be a bit disappointed. This book is not of the calibre of Dr Louann Brizendine’s books on the female and the male brains. Unlike Dr Brizendine, Ms Strauch is not a specialist in the subject of brain science. And that is also why she has succeeded in writing an accessible and simple book on a timely topic.
That said, I think that the book could have been much shorter that the 230 pages (including references) or 198 pages (including Epilogue). I sometimes found myself nodding off because the argument appears to be being made a bit too slowly. Good editing would have made this book a quicker read. The time we saved could have been spent enjoying some time doing a brain gym puzzle perhaps, or eating blueberries and nattering with a friend, all of which evidently would help our brains.
Star rating: 4 out of 5
Usefulness note: The book, written accessibly and simply, has wide appeal. After all sooner than later, most of us will reach “middle age”, however it may be being defined at the time. It is better to understand why and how our brains are changing, if nothing else, then just to avoid worrying.