“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” ~Betty Friedan
Our team at Aging Wisdom are avid readers. It’s not uncommon for us to routinely share books, ideas that have sprung from reading, or to attend author events for that extra infusion of inspiration.
Reading, discussing, and brainstorming affirms our work as Care Managers and Creative Engagement Specialists. We also discover new ways to support clients in navigating options for living, caring, and aging well.
Over the summer, I found myself drawn to books celebrating aging and longevity; new discoveries about the arts and its positive impact on the brain; and how the power of the mind-body connection and our beliefs, especially about age, shape our lives. Here are my top two.
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
Art has the power to improve our mental and physical health. It enhances learning, builds cognitive skills, and helps us to flourish. Art can serve as a catalyst to building stronger communities and deeper social connections.
Our Creative Engagement Specialists see this transformation daily in their work with clients. Incorporating the arts into client visits opens doors for conversation, discovery, creativity, expression, mindfulness, and joy.
Your Brain on Art offers an amazing journey, guiding readers through discoveries of the new science of neuroaesthetics. It weaves a colorful quilt of stories from people who are using the arts to make an impact on their own well-being and the daily lives of others, breakthrough research, and insights from pioneers in many disciplines.
As an observer, audience member, and participant, I’ve experienced the arts to be affirming and transformative and that is what this book celebrates. Whether I’m playing my cello, making a linocut print, visiting a museum, writing a poem, enjoying live music, or watching a play, each opportunity changes me in some way. It’s a stress-reducer. An emotional release. A connector. An opportunity to express myself. An act of joy and purpose.
The arts are broadly defined — dancing, singing, drawing, performing, painting, improvising, creating, designing, acting – and all are essentials to our lives.
My Creative Engagement colleagues often share beautiful stories of opening doors of conversation and storytelling through visits to local museums, calming anxious clients through hands-on arts projects, singing or listening to a client’s favorite music and reminiscing.
Care partners of our clients routinely comment on the long-lasting benefits of creative engagement. Last month, the daughter of a client said “Visits with a Creative Engagement Specialist are the highlight of my Mom’s week.”
As a member of the Frye Art Museum Creative Aging Committee, I’ve witnessed how time reflecting on art in the museum as well as participating in hands-on arts projects help ease isolation and loneliness, reengages those living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias in meaningful expression and creation, and supports care partners.
The arts are for everyone! Art is transformative. Tap into and embrace your creativity. Immerse yourself in the arts. Your Brain on Art will serve as a catalyst to expand your understanding arts’ power.
Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long & Well You Live by Becca Levy, PhD
The psychology of aging is getting more attention. In Breaking the Age Code, Dr. Becca Levy, a professor of epidemiology and of psychology at Yale, shares insights from her innovative research and encourages us all to rethink aging. Levy also provides a road map to debunk negative age stereotypes and bolster positive age beliefs.
Just as Your Brain on Art affirms our work in creative engagement, Breaking the Age Code affirms our overall, person-centered philosophy, approach, and mission as Care Managers.
Throughout the book Levy demonstrates through scientific discoveries how many health problems formerly associated with the aging process — memory loss, hearing decline, and cardiovascular events — are influenced by negative age beliefs.
For example, results from Levy’s research show:
- Those who are younger and have a positive outlook toward aging live an average of 7.5 years longer.
- Cognition: individuals with an affirmative attitude toward age enjoy better memory function.
- Mental health: lower stress levels are an outcome of seeing aging as a positive experience.
- Physical health: recovery from disability and illness is more likely when a patient has approving attitudes about aging.
- Creativity: it continues and even increases later in life. Older persons are often leaders in innovation and change.
This book is a manifesto, a guidebook to fighting ageism, addressing and overcoming myths about aging, and a call to action to shift our mindset towards the positives of aging.
Curious to learn more about how our team helps clients navigate options for living, caring, and aging well? CLICK HERE to schedule a call with one of our Certified Care Managers to learn more.
A version of this article first appeared in the October 2023 edition of AgeWise King County, the Ezine of Seattle-King County Aging and Disability Services.
