Brain fitness: Get out of the gym, into the classroom

If you’re over 50, you need exercise to stay fit-no disputing that. But what are you doing to keep your brain lean and mean?

The concept of brain fitness has caught fire lately, with much of the attention focused on a new breed of software programs and games that claim to help older people maintain mental acuity and blunt the cognitive decline associated with aging.

Nancy Merz Nordstrom is a bit of a skeptic. An expert on lifelong learning, she agrees that a challenged, stimulated brain is key to vibrancy in later life. She just prefers a real-world approach to the virtual.

“You can use mind software on your own-I don’t have any problem with it,” Merz Nordstrom says. “It’s just that you also need to get out of the house and stay active.”

Merz Nordstrom would be the first to admit that she’s biased on this topic; she’s the director of the Elderhostel Institute Network, an association whose members include many of the Lifelong Learning Institutes (LLI) around the country that run adult education programs.

She’s also the author of a well-regarded book on the benefits of adult learning, Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years. The book is a great resource guide to the range of adult learning options and a catalyst for getting started.

“It’s as simple as ‘use it or lose it,’” Nordstrom says. “If we want to do everything possible to keep our whole being alert, vibrant and connected as we age, we have to continue to challenge ourselves.”

A growing body of brain research backs her up on this point. Some of the findings-detailed in Merz Nordstrom’s book-suggest that the brain’s physical anatomy responds to learning by regenerating brain cells. The benefits include enhanced mental alertness, thought processes, response times and reflexes.

“When you look at the benefits gained from keeping your mind sharp, it’s incredible,” Merz Nordstrom says. “Lifelong learning is like a health club for your brain.”

Americans appear to be getting the message. An AARP study forecast that more than 95 percent of Americans over age 50 will participate in learning activities of one type or another during their lifetimes. And another report, by a research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, showed that the number of older adults returning to the classroom more than doubled during the 1990s.

What are all those people studying?

Some are pursuing degrees or doing work-related study. But Merz Nordstrom focuses on the large numbers that are there for personal enrichment-the sheer joy of learning.

“What we find is that people want to study the things they never had time for before,” Merz Nordstrom says. “If their college years were focused on a career, now they want to study liberal arts, or an artistic endeavor. The humanities are very big, especially history.”

And not all that learning is going on in classrooms. Merz Nordstrom devotes substantial sections of her book to educational travel (after all, she works for Elderhostel) and learning-oriented community service opportunities.

“For most people, it will just be a question of how involved, how focused?” she says. “How big a part of your life do you want to make this?”

If you’d like to learn more, check out a local LLI. Most-but not all-are run under the auspices of a college or university. Merz-Nordstrom recommends calling your local college or university to see if continuing education programs are offered for older adults.

—Mark Miller, Retirement Revisited
February 27, 2008

Live and learn Pelham writer touts the benefits of new experiences for a vital retirement

If your idea of retirement is early-bird specials, bingo, shuffleboard, and living in a Sun Belt community, stop here.

This story isn't for you.

Or maybe it is, since Nancy Merz Nordstrom intends to debunk those stereotypical images of people in their golden years.

"We're used to images like those because of how retirement is portrayed in the media. It's how most of our predecessors chose to live their later years," she says.

Merz Nordstrom, who lives in Pelham, lays out plans for an exciting, stimulating, post-50 life -- what she calls the "third age of life" rather than retirement -- in her book, Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years

She's living proof that it's possible, desirable and healthy to spice up life with learning as you age.

Now 62, Merz Nordstrom was widowed at 48 and left with four children, ages 15 to early 20s, all living at home. She floundered for a few years, dealing with grief and figuring out what to do next. At 51, she returned to school, pursuing a graduate degree in adult education at Cambridge College. It changed her life.

"When I walked across the academic threshold, I felt and acted old. In short, I was old," she says in the book's introduction. "Over the next two years, I underwent a complete rejuvenation -- a higher quality rejuvenation than any spa or resort could ever hope to provide. I felt like I had found the fountain of youth."

She emerged from her studies "full of zest, joy and enthusiasm" and was more alive than she'd been in years. That's when she decided to devote her life to getting the word out on the joys and rewards to lifelong learning.

It led to a career directing the Elderhostel Institute Network, a group of 375 lifelong learning centers. Soon, she was immersed in lifelong learning and meeting people all over whose lives, like hers, changed because of invigorating learning experiences.

Lifelong learning is not a bit like your youthful school days. There are no detention halls, tests, term papers or bossy teachers. And even those who hated school thrive with these new experiences.

"It doesn't matter what form your work life took or how far you climbed the corporate ladder -- or how much you ignored it. Lifelong learning is not exclusive. It gives people the opportunity to let their hidden talents come out and explore new things. It's learning for the sheer joy of learning," she said.

Lifelong learning takes place in three ways -- in classes, through educational travel and by performing meaningful community service.

"It's different for each person. But it's all about enjoying whatever you're doing and whatever stimulates and enriches your life," she said.

Studies have confirmed Merz Nordstrom's position that lifelong learning is good for body, mind and spirit, she says.

"Research conducted in the 1990s reveals that more than ever before, a challenged, stimulated brain may well be the key to a vibrant later life. As 78 million baby boomers start to redefine their own retirement, news that staying active and keeping their brains constantly engaged may help stave off mental and physical ailments and diseases has many asking how best to do so. The answer is simple: lifelong or later-life learning," she said

Her book is a blueprint on how to get going. Each chapter begins with first-person accounts of lifelong learning in action, told by people who used the excitement of personal discovery to effect change and empower their lives.

One essay is by the late Mark Levine, who was director of community service at UMass Lowell and founded the Learning in Retirement (LIRA) program there.

Each of its six parts explores a different aspect of lifelong learning: what it is, brain research, the classroom, educational travel, meaningful community involvement and its future.

Each section includes exercises and blank pages to help the reader make notes and plan for a meaningful learning experience.

Merz Nordstrom hopes her book gets those over 50 eager to embark on this great adventure.

"Lifelong learning opens minds, increases wisdom, makes the world a better place. It helps us adapt to change, find meaning in our lives, be involved as active contributors to society and make new friends. It leads to an enriching life of self-fulfillment," she said.

The Lowell Sun
November 4, 2007

Click here to download an article from The COA Reporter, LaGrange County Council on Aging, LaGrange, IN (in PDF format)

April 2007