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June 29, 2007
Maintaining health as we age
Cynader offers recommendations for mental acuity to seniors.
FREEMAN PORITZ
According to one of this country's leading neurologists, "We
are facing in Canada, and really throughout the industrialized western
world, a demographic tsunami."
Speaking to the annual general meeting of the Jewish Seniors Alliance
June 21, Dr. Max Cynader said, "In the next 25 years, a full
quarter of our population will be seniors."
More than 150 people turned up for the AGM and to hear Cynader,
director of the Brain Research Centre and professor of ophthalmology
at the University of British Columbia, speak on the subject of the
aging brain.
Cynader has been at the forefront of new approaches to the identification
of genes and gene products associated with brain plasticity, and
with various types of neurological injury.
He said that while it is, of course, a concept most relevant to
seniors, the notion of the aging brain and the difficulties that
come with aging should also be a concern for the younger generation.
Everyone, he pointed out, ages eventually.
Addressing methods of dealing with three of the most common ailments
that afflict seniors – Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and strokes
– Cynader observed that, "Ten per cent of people over
65 years of age suffer from the disease [Alzheimer's]. And if you
make it to 85, the odds are actually 40 per cent that you'll suffer
from at least mild cognitive impairment, which is the first stage
[of Alzheimer's]." However, he also added that scientists are
continually researching new ways to effectively combat these common
degenerative ailments.
Cynader noted, too, that exercise can help build and regenerate
brain cells. "Exercise is good for you," he said. "Not
only is it good for your body, but it's good for your brain. Up
until recently, we thought you had all the brain cells as adults
that you were ever going to have. But that's not true. You're still
making new brain cells in parts of your brain. One part of your
brain that's involved in memory formation is still making new brain
cells – a few thousand every day. And another part of your
brain that is involved in motor co-ordination skills is also making
a few thousand every day."
Ben Dayson, a longtime member of the Vancouver Jewish community
and the JSA, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, had a question
for Cynader. "Doctor," he said, "can you tell us
one thing? My age is 100. One thing is that I can't sleep in bed,
and I don't know what to do. I take up a chair and I fall asleep,
I take a book and I fall asleep, I watch TV, I fall asleep. And
I don't know what could be done. I could eat less, I could run around
– that don't do any good. Why can't I fall asleep in bed?"
"The answer," Cynader replied, "is whatever it is
that you're doing, you're doing something right."
Summing up his address, Cynader had some suggestions on ways to
live longer and more healthfully.
"You can eat less," he said. "You should improve
your diet. Exercise. Be happy. Avoid stress. Do whatever it takes.
And, of course, you want to stay cognitively, socially and emotionally
connected. There is a challenging future ahead of us as our population
ages, and we really are facing some serious issues as a society.
But, if we think ahead and we do research, I think there's a real
opportunity to confront these challenges and to make a real difference
in dealing with them.
"I'm hoping for a world in which we avoid these degenerative
disorders that I talked about earlier and in which, basically, by
combining desk practices and exercise with modern neuropharmacology,
we're going to come up with a situation where we can all live long
and prosper."
Freeman Poritz is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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