Get Your Granny A Computer.
Good morning to you,
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Well, that was a strange weekend.
By the time it was finished I was feeling really sorry for myself.
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Last night I was doing my best imitation of a caterpillar, because Big H had me smothered in quilts as I was so shivery
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I spent the night on the settee in the living room, propped up with big pillows and with whiskey to hand for when my throat got all dry from my mouth being open to breathe all the time.
I don’t think that there is any reason to make a fuss, as colds and flu seem to take the same amount of time to clear up no matter what you do.
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As I was not having a great deal of fun, I hope that you had some for me!
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If you spent it the same way that I did then you have my commiserations.
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Now that it is so cold and rainy up here, Big H and I are thinking again about what we want to do when he retires.
I don’t know what is best…..stay where we are and where we know it….or move somewhere new, different and hopefully warmer.
At one time we were going to move down South to be beside the boys, but since then they have made different plans because of jobs etc., so perhaps that is not a sensible thing to do as they have their own lives.
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Big H and I have been looking at living on a barge, living in a seaside flat, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight, but as we have not been to any of these places then it may be a stupid plan.
We did consider a smallholding but I think that it would be far too much work.
I wonder if everyone who retires goes through all of this and then decides to stay put…a sort of right of passage!
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Hey, a very interesting squib in The Times.
It seems that a professor of neuroscience at UCLA has been doing research which seems to show that if old people start using the Internet every day it can possibly slow down or even reverse the changes that can lead to dementia.
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They were able to use MRI scans to see how the brain works and to examine the functional and structural changes that can end in atrophy and decline in the old.
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The scientists found that the beneficial changes started with the first use of the internet, which showed activity in many areas of the brain which deal with vision and memory, language and reading.
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The second scan showed that even more of the brain was being engaged, areas to do with decision making and working memory.
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This would seem to show that when the old people search the Internet, it stimulates the neural pathways and the brain cells.
The brain becomes far more active.
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The scans show that the act of reading a book uses a very much smaller area of the brain than internet searching does.
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As heightened brain activity requires more nutrients and oxygen, then there is a greater blood flow through the brain.
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If you think that there are approaching a million people with dementia in the UK, a condition where a large part of the brain can die, then it is great that these researchers seem to show a way to prevent or even reverse or delay this.
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They think that as the brain is a muscle, and that it becomes healthier the more it is stretched and used.
If a person has a social life social, and uses the Internet, and reads, then it could stop decline.
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So, it would seen to be a good idea to get your Granny a computer for Christmas, and keep her bright and healthy.
Expensive perhaps, but if the alternative is incarceration in an old peoples’ home, then it is well worth it.
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So, have a fine Monday and don’t get sneezed on!
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JX
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If you want to check it all out, then these are the details.
Gary Small,
Professor of neuroscience and human behaviour,
University of California,
Los Angeles. UCLA.
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The research will be presented in Chicago, at the annual meeting of tha Society for Neuroscience, today.
