LIFE-LONG LEARNING

By Dr. Marion Somers, Ph. D., Ask Dr. Marion

QUESTION: My dad passed away six years ago, and ever since then my 77-year-old mom has really gone downhill. How can I try to "bring her back" when all she seems to want to do is sit around the house all day? Holly in New York, 42

ANSWER: Your mother has to re-engage with the world around her. Life-long learning is one of the most effective ways for an elderly individual to remain mentally active. This can be done in many ways such as traveling, joining a book club and reading material in unfamiliar genres like politics or biographies or gardening, going to local lectures, and attending an opera or jazz concert when she only liked rock and roll. If academic learning is desired, it's incredible how many top flight universities such as Yale and Harvard now offer some of their course material on-line free of charge. The key is for your mother to go beyond what she already knows to broaden her horizons.

Trying and learning about different things might suddenly spark a new interest for her, and that would be just great. When someone is totally outside their usual base of knowledge, all sorts of wonderful synapses fire away in their brain. Get your mother out of her comfort zone. She might find that she loves the adventure of it all. Get her to try new foods, and to go outside of her ethnic background. This can be incredibly stimulating and should make her feel more alive again.