What Aging Is...and is Not;

Memory Myths and Memory Techniques

Ascension has been fortunate enough to host three excellent adult ed classes about aging led by Maximilian E. Fuhrmann Ph.D., ABPP, Clinical Psychologist and Gerontologist.

Class 1 (What Aging Is) slides HERE

Class 2 (Memory Myths) slides HERE

Class 3 (Dementia & Neurocognitive Disorders) slides HERE

And some notes to remember from Dr. Fuhrmann...

What Aging Is

• • A natural biological process which starts at conception

  •  The skin becomes thinner with less fat under the skin leading to bleeding

  • Grip strength declines making it harder to open things

  • You have trouble seeing in dim or glaring light

  •  You have trouble hearing high pitch high frequency sounds

  •  You have trouble hearing over background noise or someone not facing you when speaking

  •  You have decreased sense of touch on the ends of your fingers making buttons on technology and touch devices very difficult to use

  •  Your reaction time can be 3 seconds slower than when you were in your 20s

  •  You struggle with recalling names on demand and often remember hours or days later

  •  You may fall down more and harder than when you were younger

  •  You must give more concentration to encoding new information in the brain

  •  You can lose height

  •  You may be the victim of ageism attributing the same behaviors of the young (making errors, forgetting) to aging and dementia

  • You may experience worsening of health issues originally caused by trauma, injury, not great genetics or lack of treatment – the body holds its history

  • You will not obtain as many nutrients from your food

  • You will heal more slowly but cancer may grow slower

  • You will have less body water

  • You will have more wisdom

  • You will be able to solve problems through adaptation, flexibility and creativity better and potentially faster than ever before

  • You may become more forgiving and compassionate with yourself and others

  • You can be a great asset and role model for the young!

What Aging Is NOT

• • Pain

  • Dementia or neurocognitive disorders

  • Anxiety

  • Substance Abuse

  • Major Depressive Disorder

  • A Disease or impairment as in “I’m caring for my aging parents” and opposed to “I’m caring for my aging adolescents”

  • Something to fear

  • Something to deny

  • Something to fight as in “ant-aging medicine, creams, potions and lotions”

  • Loneliness

  • Isolation

  • Being crotchety or grumpy (as in grumpy old people)

  • Sexual repression

  • Conservatism

  • Becoming set in one’s ways

  • A reason to have an ageist attributional bias (when a young person forgets, they are busy or distracted or don’t care to remember, when an older person does the same thing – forgets – they are labeled as having dementia.

Visit Dr. Fuhrmann's website for a wealth of information about aging well HERE.