Monday, December 12, 2005
Healthier lifestyles and a demographic wave of new elderly mean we will have more retired Americans than ever in the coming decades. How seniors spend life after work is already changing. Retirees in the "Information Age" are keeping their minds stimulated - at school. Research shows that's one of the healthiest things they can do.
 (Click for larger view.) A volunteer helps at Fairhill Center computer class for seniors
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Realplayer / Windows Media / MP3The future isn't what it used to be. The head of the Center for Applied Gerontology at Cuyahoga Community College, Janice Dziegel, says retired people are looking at new ways to spend their leisure time. .
It's really moved past golfing and fishing and the condo of Florida. People are really looking for meaningful activities and I think educational programming is a part of that formula.
More and more, it's back to school for retirees. . .
Here at the Fairhill Center in Cleveland, older adults take their first tentative steps on a computer. It's a class for seniors, taught by seniors.
Project Director Ron Brown. .
Well, we believe in life-long learning around here. We believe in debunking the myth that we don't learn as well when we get older. And of course, one of the ways to do that is to offer opportunities that people can find out for themselves that's true, that they can continue to learn and that there's a richness to life if you continue to do that.
One person you might see in class is the former director of the Ohio Department of Aging. Just before retiring this summer 75-year-old Joan Lawrence told us she plans on going back to school . . .
Well, I know I can't wait to retire so I can go to Ohio State and take a few credits because they offer it free, but I suppose they'll change that as more and more people.
For now it is free. Ohio requires state colleges to offer classes tuition-free for Ohioans over the age of 60 - as long as seats are available. Tri-C calls it Program 60 and Janice Dziegel says they offer any regularly scheduled credit class.
So, at Tri-C, the way that operates is Program 60 registration is always the third day of the semester. So, by that time, enrollments have been established and they know that there's space in the class for the student. The student pays a small application fee if you will, a registration fee of 15 dollars, and then he's also responsible for any lab materials or books…they have to purchase those out of pocket.
There are also special classes offered just for seniors. 89 year old Dr Michael Foley teaches one of the Senior Scholars courses at Case, but also attends classes himself. .
Once they get into the groove, they love it. And you find they come back year in and year out and take courses. I take courses all the time. I just finished two courses. One on Ulysses with a group of about 20 people, followed by a great party, by the way…it was a great Irish drinking party…
Mark: This is James Joyce's Ulysses?
That's right, James Joyce's Ulysses. And I took a course recently also at the university by a linguist by the name of P.K. Saha on language and levels of consciousness. Had a great time with it, just marvelous.
The socializing, says Dr Foley, is part of the attraction for oldsters. But he and
Janice Dziegel of Tri-C are seeing retirees follow some long-time interests they haven't had the chance to pursue . . .
They'll get involved in all kinds of subjects. What's going on in the world, what's going on outside the world. There's a great emphasis on spirituality for example and things of the spiritual sort. And there are many people of course, who will take to art. It's fascinating to me to see the number of people, who once they have given up their work and their career, take to arts and crafts and do beautiful stuff. It's astonishing to me and a great delight.
I remember once we did a course on opera and we filled it…and a number of people saying you know, I always wanted to know more about opera or study opera and I never had the time or the opportunity before.
Most of the instructors in these special classes are retired professors or high school teachers. And so are the students, making them a pretty demanding group of pupils.
We had a course on the history of World War 2 and a number of students in the class had been there and were really quite challenging to the instructor on the subject and some things that he presented.
A large part of running courses for the elderly is not over lecturing and letting them get involved in the discussion, letting them ask the questions, let them throw in their ruminations and the good teacher who deals with older people does this. If you come in and give a lecture and then leave, they're not likely to come hear you the next night.
The head of Geriatrics at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr Robert Palmer, says aging can be achieved with good nutrition, exercise, but he says it's psychological as well as physical . . .
You also have to be active all throughout your life, both socially and intellectually active. You can't retire your brain when you retire from your job. So the message is, think positively, always think about what's coming up.
Recent studies indicate that working on word puzzles can help maintain brain function. Such mental workouts have been called "Neurobics." The Fairhill Center's Ron Brown believes the mental workouts keep the mind sharp - the use it or lose it axiom. .
We learn differently, sometimes are brains work a little bit slower but that's not because they're wearing out, it's because there's a lot more accumulated knowledge up there and it takes it a little longer to sort it out.
During his medical career, Dr. Foley focused on dementia in the elderly population. He has doubts that intellectual stimulation can hold off Alzheimer's disease but he does believe that exercise one's intellectual functions can keep them in shape to be used. .
For many people, their intellect is an instrument that they've allowed to stay off to one side. And like any instrument that stays off to one side, it doesn't stay sharp. But I don't believe that it prevents dementia. My view is that it doesn't prevent dementia. But it makes life more exciting. People find this. The find that getting together, especially in groups, in classes, in discussion groups and what have you and kicking the intellectual gong around gives them a thrill. When your gonads go, you got to have something left. And maybe the intellect is an inadequate substitute for the gonads, but some of us find it helps a great deal.
Educational programs for the elderly are expected to increase. Not only colleges, but senior centers and health care networks are expected to offer more opportunities for lifelong learning.
Web Resources
Visit our "Aging Boom" homepage for more about this series
Aging and learning Healthy Minds Cuyahoga Community College Program 60 Case Western Reserve University Senior Scholars WKSU Aging Boom Series
Sponsorship for the aging series provided by:
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