'Fun' Facts About Aging (one man's XP)

[z929669]

Just pondering about some of the technical folks here and throughout the modding community at large and their impressive ability to both substantively learn and retain information. I'm constantly impressed by my --largely-assumed "younger"-- peers' cognitive abilities and their efficiency of information recall with respective tools of the trade like xEdit in relation to game mechanics or crash logs in relation to troubleshooting. I've often asked myself, "Why am I not getting this? Am I just not smart enough"?

In an effort to reassure myself otherwise, I tend to delve into other explanations for my intellectual sluggishness. My most convincing self-reassurance argument is the aging process. I don't recall ever questioning my own intelligence to the extent that I do today, so aging is the obvious explanation (but wisdom increases with age, so maybe I'm just better at grasping and contemplating 'truth' now than I ever was).

Anyway, my experience is --beginning at around my mid thirties (or marriage + children)-- my tendency to doze off when relaxed has accelerated. Slowly at first but with increasing rate over time. Now, I can get up early and have a normal, wakeful workday while I'm busy, but when I'm able to relax for 5 minutes or when I settle in to read documentation, I tend to doze off. When I was younger, I fidgeted and became generally annoying in similar situations ... now, I doze off.

So that's it. Dozing off. If I'm unable to keep myself awake long enough to learn and retain new information or get drowsy during the first few paragraphs of documentation, it's just not gonna happen. So this got me to thinking about some of the contemporaneous, commonplace knowledge of the aging process and what is impacted:

• Memory capacity decreases
• Learning ability decreases
• Cognitive flexibility decreases
• Social anxiety increases
• Libido decreases
• REM sleep time decreases
• ... (lots more that I'm glossing over)

The cause of all this is rooted in fundamentals of the biology (organic physics/chemistry) of senescence. But I've grown into the opinion that the most fundamental 'vehicle' of all the inconveniences of senescence is lethargy and the rapidly-increasing propensity to doze off. I can provide a sound 'lethargy' argument for every aging consequence I can conjure (albeit, recall of a reliable and complete list theoretically decreases daily with age).

One needs time to learn ... awake and alert time.

So I decided to post this as a reminder to myself of what I was thinking at some earlier point, and maybe it will also provide some encouragement for those of similar experience

[Mousetick]

According to scientific research, sleep is supposed to be good for the brain and its cognitive functions. I believe it.

Also taking regular breaks and walking are supposed to be beneficial. I believe that too.

IMHO, awake and alert time is necessary to learn, but not sufficient. There are other factors, some of which you mentioned, that are linked. One is interest in the subject matter and the motivation to invest time in it, which is rather subjective or contextual. Another is the ability to grasp unfamiliar new concepts and paradigms, which seems to diminish as we age - our brain has become "wired" in certain way and it's more and more difficult to "rewire" it. Another is how we prioritize cognitive resources as adults: we may unconsciously put certain matters (e.g. job/housing/family/...) in front of other, less important topics and dedicate fewer resources to them.

Lastly, I think learning is not useful if it's not based on understanding and applied in practice. It's boring and tiresome. Without understanding and practice, it's just accumulated knowledge, it doesn't make us "smarter": it doesn't increase our ability to analyze and recognize situations, solve problems, invent new ideas, and learn more in the process - that is, our expertise, or more commonly, our experience.

I'd argue that attempting to forcefully stuff the brain with a chunk of raw knowledge contributes to doziness, at any age. Also, the more complex or unfamiliar the subject matter is, the more it needs to be broken down and articulated into smaller pieces, recursively until each piece becomes easy to grasp. Learning can then be accomplished step by step, each requiring a shorter attention and less cognitive energy, with breaks in between to internalize and revitalize.

Disclosure: I'm in my late 50s and I routinely take naps

[Mercury71]

I am 53 and function better if i take a nap.

At work i experience that the younger have much more energy and focus, it is hard to keep up.

I try to stay on top by being in shape, going to the gym several days every week and avoid alcohol.

[z929669]

6 hours ago, Mousetick said:

According to scientific research, sleep is supposed to be good for the brain and its cognitive functions. I believe it.

Also taking regular breaks and walking are supposed to be beneficial. I believe that too.

IMHO, awake and alert time is necessary to learn, but not sufficient. There are other factors, some of which you mentioned, that are linked. One is interest in the subject matter and the motivation to invest time in it, which is rather subjective or contextual. Another is the ability to grasp unfamiliar new concepts and paradigms, which seems to diminish as we age - our brain has become "wired" in certain way and it's more and more difficult to "rewire" it. Another is how we prioritize cognitive resources as adults: we may unconsciously put certain matters (e.g. job/housing/family/...) in front of other, less important topics and dedicate fewer resources to them.

Lastly, I think learning is not useful if it's not based on understanding and applied in practice. It's boring and tiresome. Without understanding and practice, it's just accumulated knowledge, it doesn't make us "smarter": it doesn't increase our ability to analyze and recognize situations, solve problems, invent new ideas, and learn more in the process - that is, our expertise, or more commonly, our experience.

I'd argue that attempting to forcefully stuff the brain with a chunk of raw knowledge contributes to doziness, at any age. Also, the more complex or unfamiliar the subject matter is, the more it needs to be broken down and articulated into smaller pieces, recursively until each piece becomes easy to grasp. Learning can then be accomplished step by step, each requiring a shorter attention and less cognitive energy, with breaks in between to internalize and revitalize.

Disclosure: I'm in my late 50s and I routinely take naps

I agree with everything you are saying here. My epiphany was more to do with cause and effect. The effect I'm speaking to is degraded ability to retain information as I age (most notably somewhere in my early 50s ... I'm right behind you at 55, BTW). I'm proposing that one of the fundamental causes is lack of energy to 'focus' for long enough to gain and solidify comprehension. It's a bit of chicken/egg, since it's all intertwined, but I'm sure that my "engagement capacity" would benefit from an energy boost sufficient to get me past dozing off within a few minutes of encountering something new to comprehend ... just long enough to reinforce the new information by actually applying it ... it's just become noticeably different within the past several years for me.

Of course, there's also historic knowledge acquired over past decades that likely acts as a catalyst if it aligns well with the new information. Responsibilities (or awareness of them) also piles up as I age, so this obviously contributes to mental clutter and a tendency to shut down. Time is consistent, but my perception of its passing is definitely accelerated the more I have under my belt.

2 hours ago, Mercury71 said:

I am 53 and function better if i take a nap.

At work i experience that the younger have much more energy and focus, it is hard to keep up.

I try to stay on top by being in shape, going to the gym several days every week and avoid alcohol.

Exercise and naps are definitively increasingly requirements for me too. Unfortunately, both increasingly cut into my time to gain understanding.

Gosh, I'm getting drowsy now just thinking about it

[Mousetick]

14 hours ago, z929669 said:

I'm proposing that one of the fundamental causes is lack of energy to 'focus' for long enough to gain and solidify comprehension.

I think that's true but I'm also wondering if doziness and lack of energy to focus are not the subconscious manifestation of the other intertwined factors. Like you said: chicken/egg.

So I'm not sure it should be something to worry about or be bothered by, assuming it doesn't degrade quality of day-to-day life.

14 hours ago, z929669 said:

Time is consistent, but my perception of its passing is definitely accelerated the more I have under my belt.

Indeed. I think this perception of time accelerating is another contributing factor: how we choose to spend the limited, shortening time that remains, and the anxiety that that generates.

[TechAngel85]

Diet and exercise do play a big role within our biology. If you're not fueling your body correctly, then it's not going to run at it's optimum performance. The American diet is terrible and probably among the worst in the world. There are tribes in other areas of the world who live longer averages than us without such declines. Studies of them resulted in much of it coming down to their diets. These diets tended to be mainly veggies as a stable with only occasional animal proteins and little to no sugars.

The same goes for exercising the body, which keeps the body in a higher performing condition. These tribes are often out working fields in their 60s, 70s, and 80s; keeping their bodies in shape. For us that's just visiting the gym one to three times a week and actually working out with cardio and light weights.

Not even I do these things consistently, but I do eat healthier than the typical American by eating mostly vegetarian and avoiding gluten when I can (still working on the sugar...chocolate...). I don't exercise like I should, but that is one of the things my partner and I are aiming to change this year.

Oh, I'm 38 btw. The only thing that really bothers me at my age is one of my hips (old martial art injury), and my back refusing to stay in aliment (exercise should remedy that).