Friday, October 15, 2010

I Wasted A Lot Of Time Trying to Remember and Now I Forget Why




A long time ago I started working a crossword puzzle every day because I read that it was supposed to be a good thing to do for our brains to help prevent dementia and memory loss. Now, many years and many crossword puzzles later I am hearing that the only thing working crossword puzzles does for you is make you good at working crossword puzzles. I'm afraid to tell my brain that it did all that work for nothing.

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Another study I heard about recently, or maybe it was the same one that burst my bubble about crossword puzzles-I can't remember, says that walking at least six miles a week is one of the best things we can do for our brain function. I walk a lot, but I have no idea how many miles I walk a week. What if I buy into this and pound the pavement for years and then they find out they were wrong about this too. I don't want to get into the same trouble with my feet that I'm in now with my brain after making it work so hard on all those crossword puzzles.

If it all fails and I forget everything else, I hope I can still remember to laugh.

Did you  Hear about the absent minded professor who fell down the stairs? When he hit the bottom, he picked himself up and said, "I wonder what all that noise was about."
Anonymous

I sometimes worry about my sort attention span, but not for long.
Herb Caen

I'm always fascinated by the way memory diffuses fact.
Diane Sawyer

The man with a clear conscience probably has a poor memory.
Unknown

The existence of forgetting has never been proved: We only know that some things don't come to mind when we want them.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Nothing fixes things so intensly in the memory as the wish to forget it.
Michel de Montaigne

By the time your're eighty years old you've learned everything. You only have to remember it.
Unknown

16 comments:

  1. LOL great Friday post Jeanie...

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  2. I chuckled at all those quotes, because they are so based in fact! I've always had a memory that the family has joked about for decades, but sometimes it's really not so funny. When I left my favorite job, working at a vet's office, to move here near the grandkids, I asked the vet if he had anything he wanted to say about my time there, and he said "if we hadn't loved you so much, and if you hadn't worked so hard, I'd have had to fire you in the beginning because of your memory". And he wasn't kidding or being rude, just stating a fact.

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  3. It's amazing how something so true can be phrased in such a way as to be so funny...

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  4. I had a coworker at school who once told of her theory of lack of the ability to bring up thing quickly. She said our brains were like file cabinets, the older we got the more info we had stuffed into the 'memory files' thus makin' it more difficult to find the needed file. Therefore we can't remember 'cause we are just too darn smart! Heeehehehehe

    I heard that report but I don't necessarily agree with it. Our brains are capable of forming new connections if we change things up and stretch 'em. We need to do things differently just the shake thing up a bit and challenge ourselves with 'new' things. That means a variety of stuff. We can't always just do crossword puzzles or just word searches. Variety baby...It'll keep our brains a'hoppin'!

    Ya'll have a magnificent weekend and go do something you've never done before!!! :o)

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  5. My husband always says, I´m so forgetful that when we go somewhere we haven´t been in a long time, it´s like I see it for the first time. I guess there´s some good in being forgetful too. :)
    But I did those crosswords for the same reason. I like what Nezzy says. I agree. Variety is thing that will keep our minds young.

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  6. Hi there, I bet you are having incredible weather today too; I'm bummed that they are predicting snow next week. Love this and I so know what you mean about trying different things to live a healthier life and then finding out it was for nothing...such as eggs and butter. God ordains our days but we still need to preserve our bodies.
    Have a glorious weekend.
    Hugs, Noreen

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  7. You are a delightful writer and find the funniest things to write about. Your humor shows through.

    Sometimes I think we assume our lack of remembering things are due to "Old" age, when in reality some of it has been there for years..We just blame it on our age, since that's where we are now.

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  8. Love the post. My sister says that I can't remember anything. She is forever telling me to "eat some blueberies". I tell her there are some things that I just don't WANT to remember (I really don't like blueberries anyway). Tee hee.

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  9. Great post, Jeanie! This subject is very close to my heart as there is Alzheimer's in my family, and I am also trying to work my brain in a variety of ways.

    Thank you for sharing your wonderful sense of humor!

    Liz

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  10. This entire post made me smile. Thank you.

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  11. really about the crossword puzzles? I thought that was a sure winner for helping the memory. (not that I do them on a regular basis). I have to say though that the walking is good not only for the brain, but your heart, muscles, prevention of osteoporosis, etc so I think you are covered there.

    loved all the quotes too :)

    I find as I'm aging (gracefully I hope) that I need to write down more things I want to remember, like grocery lists. Way too often I've come home forgetting the very thing I went to the store for :)

    enjoy the weekend

    betty

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  12. My mom is 89 and she has been doing crossword puzzles for 35 years and she does much harder ones than I can do. Keep doing the crossword puzzles. They certainly can't hurt and I personally do think they help keep the brain stimulated.

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  13. been there done that, can't remember. I have heard that stimulating mind games and word games are beneficial! and so is walking hit the pavement!

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  14. "Exercising my brain" is my excuse for doing Sudoku, crossword puzzles and various other online games. I'm certain they are helping.... :-)

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  15. THanks for the chuckle - those quotes are funny! I do believe though that crossword puzzles, sudokus etc. are very beneficial for the brain... Quite a lot of research in Japan has proved this to be true... So - there is hope!

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  16. This is such a fabulous post, Jeanie and truly speaks to me. I've been doing crosswords for the same reason and am still doing it even though research is saying it doesn't help. Genetics is against me so it's scary. I loved all the quotes.

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