How often do you get together with old friends, spending time traveling down memory lane remembering those “good old days”: eating chip beef on toast, or a bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread; listening to the Beatles and the Beach Boys on your new transistor radio; or watching the Graduate or Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the drive-in movie theater with the speaker hanging on your car door window?
It’s fun sharing stories that often lead to another, and another, and then another — strengthening relationships by sharing personal experiences.
But it can also be good for your brain!
In the article “Sharing Family Memories and the Benefits of Reminiscence Therapy” on the website BrainHQ, David Merrill, M.D. states that recalling shared memories or thinking about memories of people you care about can have positive effects on your brain.
Sharing memories can be uplifting and calming, and can boost a person’s mood and counteract feeling sick or even depressed. Feeling joyful when reminiscing makes your brain function better because when your mood perks up, so does your brain. The result: You become more aware, alert, and better able to enjoy life.
Dr. Merrill also says reminiscing can help give you a sense of meaning and purpose. It attaches value to your lived experience, such as reminding you of your role in helping to create a family or having a strong network of friends.
Sharing your life stories and memories with others can have a positive impact on your well-being — even if they are embarrassing. “Don’t tell me when you were eight, you really did eat a worm on a dare?” And “When you were a freshman, you sprinted through the University of Oregon campus at midnight — only in your Nike running shoes?!” (That would never happen at OSU!)
This summer, when you gather with old friends or attend your annual family reunion, consider adding time to reminisce about old times. Besides being fun — and sometimes embarrassing, it can help keep your brain sharp. And it would be more enjoyable than everyone sharing their latest medical adventures!
To live well, you need to have access to good, nutritious foods. But the 2015 Columbia Gorge Food Security Assessment found that 1 in 3 households worry about running out of food, and 1 in 5 households actually do run out of food. This data was used in grants that secured more than $25 million for community programs to address this need.
Now, a decade has passed, and it’s time to update the community assessment to fund future initiatives that will address the needs in our communities.
You can participate by going online to beav.es/GorgeFoodSurvey and completing the Gorge Food Access Survey. (Paper copies are available at the Hood River Valley Adult Center.)
This survey will take about 20 minutes to complete, and must be completed by July 18th. Anyone in the Columbia Gorge, in either Washington or Oregon, can take the survey.
As an incentive, twenty people who fill out the survey will be chosen at random to receive a $50 gift card.
If you have any questions, please contact Lauren Kraemer. Email lauren.kraemer@oregonstate.edu or call her at 541-386-3343 extension 38258.
•••
Brain Tease: Memorize a list of 20 random objects and try to recall them in order after 30 minutes. Or you can start with 7 objects, or maybe 5, or you can get down to my level and start with 3 and see if you can recall them after 30 seconds!
•••
The actress whose Hollywood career started in 1932 and has won four Academy Awards for Best Actress, including “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” was Katherine Hepburn. I received correct answers from Doug Nelson, Rhonda Spies, Steven Woolpert, Bruce Johnson, Donna Mollet, Judy Kiser, Shelley Hinatsu, Tina Castanares, Lana Tepfer, Dave Lutgens, Julie Hoffman, Eva Summers, Rose Schulz, David Liberty, Nancy Higgins, and Jim Tindall, this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket.
When I was growing up, I heard of this European-trained doctor who in 1913 established a hospital in what was to become the country of Gabon in Africa. For this week’s “Remember When” question, who was this theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, and physician who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 and whose overarching principle that guided him was “reverence for life”? (And it is not Dr. Livingston as my wife presumed.) Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call or text my cell phone at 541-980-4645, or send it with the film about his life which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1958.
•••
Well, it’s been another week, keeping my fingers crossed. Until we meet again, if it’s not one thing, it’s a dozen others.
•••
“A good memory is one that can remember the day’s blessings and forget the day’s troubles.”
— Unknown
•••
Nutritious home-delivered and in-person meals are available at noon Monday through Friday unless otherwise noted.
Seniors of Mosier Valley (541-980-1157) — Wednesdays with music on second and fourth Wednesdays; Mt. Hood Town Hall (541-308-5997) — Tuesdays; Hood River Valley Adult Center (541-386-2060); Sherman County Senior and Community Center (541-565-3191); The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels (541-298-8333).
For meal sites in Washington, call Klickitat County Senior Services: Goldendale office (509-773-3757) or the White Salmon office (509-493-3068), and in Skamania County call Senior Services (509-427-3990).
Commented