Posted on 11/08/2023 9:38:20 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Despite what ads for wrinkle cream would have us believe, there's no magic reversal for aging. As the years pass, a certain amount of change is inevitable but not, it turns out, inexorable.
Fingers that feel less nimble in doing the normal tasks of life—buttoning a shirt, writing a list—are not doomed to stay that way, new research shows. It also demonstrates that, to some extent, age is just a number.
Researchers worked with more than two dozen study participants ages 60 to 83 to understand whether manual dexterity can improve with time.
Over six sessions, participants completed a pegboard exercise multiple times, and after the sixth session, data showed that the average time it took to complete the pegboard had decreased for all participants.
For the study, Daneshgar and his research colleagues recruited right-handed older adults with no history of neurological disease. After an initial familiarization session and evaluation session, participants completed a grooved pegboard test 25 times in each of six sessions.
The test required participants to fit small, keyhole-shaped metal pegs into 25 holes on a board as quickly as possible. The keyholes had different orientations on the board, so participants not only had to manipulate the pegs with their fingers to get them situated correctly, but then fit them correctly.
For example, one of the study participants was a 67-year-old woman who played the piano in her youth. While the average time to complete the pegboard was between 40 and 50 seconds, she could do it in 36—a time faster than some of the researchers could achieve.
"Manual dexterity can be improved by the brain," Daneshgar says. "It's not just at the level of the fingers."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Push yourself on such physical task. It would appear several hours for each of six sessions, does it.
I can still make it to the refrigerator in a flash..
It’s all the practice I put in....
Thanks!
It would be interesting to see if these practice sessions combined with a supplement that stimulates nerve growth factor — such as Lions Mane — would further improve performance.
Studies related to neuralplasticity in recovering stroke victims no doubt has an abundance of information regarding the optimal nutritional factors.
There’s something called neuroplasticity.
The brain is not set in concrete and can learn new skills and ways of functioning even as we grow older.
Dr Norman Doidge wrote two books that are fascinating. The Brain that Changes Itself and The Brain’s Way of Healing. Both can be checked out of a library if someone wants to read them without buying them.
It appears that brain retraining is of great value for far more than increasing something like manual dexterity.
Of course, those who have good eye hand coordination would do better at the puzzle. Working the same puzzle over a period of time would inevitably improve the score. Don’t know if it really improves over a large spectrum though.
This summer, I decided to try the piano again after so many decades. Ugh, horrible! One cat insists on tickling the ivories and is better than me at times. Right off the bat, my fingers remembered old childhood standards such as Fur Elise but can barely get past a Grade 2 book when there is no finger memory. Being able to see the notes better would help.
Learning most any skill or simply concentrating will get those brain cells working.
Or perhaps into their 9th decade, these seniors had never been asked to perform pegboard exercises before—and it took them a few tries to get the hang of it.
Yeah … but at 72 I can say that there’s one thing that’s like shooting pool
with a rope. And it doesn’t get any better by using pegboards.
Same here. I look at my piano books and see pieces I played for recitals when I was 10 or 12 and they scare me. I can still play them, but more slowly. Arthritis in both ring fingers doesn’t help. Just need to practice more.
Bfl
OK, I try to play guitar. But I've been trying for over 40 years!
Same here on 50 years. Just bought a Marshall JCM 2000 DCL 100 amp with a 1960A cabinet. Told the wife I’m getting the band back together... Got the head shake.
Nothing new here. As we age we tend to conserve energy. Nap time becomes our favorite time of day. But we should resist the urge to do nothing. Stay active. Walking is good. Stretching exercises with resistance (progressive resistance with free weights and machines) is good. Etc.
I’m 73. I practiced and taught martial for twenty-five years but gave it up maybe 15 years ago. I recently took up tai chi, a kind of mobile yoga based on martial arts. My balance has improved remarkably. You don’t have to rust out simply because you’re old.
Thanks for the ping.
LOL! So is my old band! After 41 years, too. Strange how we all gravitated from one part of the country (Texas) to another (Florida) 15 miles apart, without knowing. (didn't get the head shake, tho...)
100 watts, huh. Need the headroom or playing the Fillmore this weekend?
Not the Filmore.. that was a dream years ago.
It’s in our workout room along with 3 other amps and guitars hanging on the wall plus some sound proofing. Anything above “1” and it’ll drive me out but I can say I have one for what thats worth.
I keep telling the wife if we hadn’t got married at 18 I’d have been a dead Rock Star by now.
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