Carved in Sand or Beating Depression

Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife

Author: Cathryn Jakobson Ramin

Acclaimed journalist Cathryn Jakobson Ramin takes readers on a lively journey to explain what happens to memory and attention in middle age.

Anyone older than forty knows that forgetfulness can be unnerving, frustrating, and sometimes terrifying. With compassion and humor, Jakobson Ramin sets out to discover what midlife forgetfulness is all about—from the perspectives of physiology, psychology, and sociology. Relentless in her search for answers to questions about her own unreliable memory, she explores the factors that determine how well—or poorly—one's brain will age. She consults experts in the fields of sleep, stress, traumatic brain injury, hormones, genetics, and dementia, as well as specialists in nutrition, cognitive psychology, and the burgeoning field of drug-based cognitive enhancement. The landscape of the midlife brain is not what you might think, and to understand its strengths and weaknesses turns out to be the best way to cope.

A groundbreaking work that represents the best of narrative nonfiction, this is a timely, highly readable, and much-needed book for anyone whose memory is not what it used to be.

Publishers Weekly

Memory loss and other cognitive problems are increasingly the bugaboo of aging baby boomers, as well as many of their elders. In her first book, veteran journalist Ramin turns herself into a guinea pig as she seeks ways to restore her own failing memory and growing inability to concentrate. Looking at a wide variety of genetic, biochemical and environmental factors that slow the connections among the brain's 100 billion neurons, especially in the hippocampus, Ramin undertakes 10 interventions, methods of achieving her cognitive enhancement. She logs the ups and downs of medications such as Adderall and Provigil; she looks at dietary supplements and biofeedback. She ends with discussions with experts, such as Nobelist Eric Kandel, about what keeps some people mentally young into old age; the key seems to be having the "mental reserves" gained from challenging one's mind with new kinds of learning—such as learning a new language or studying art—that use different parts of the brain; the right diet and exercise also help. Overall, the variety of perspectives and the wealth of scientific information Ramin provides, as well as her warm personal style, will reward readers and may well help them stay mentally sharp. (Apr. 1)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Table of Contents:

Preface: Most Precious Possession     xi
Your Unreliable Brain: Midlife Forgetfulness Is Embarrassing and Frustrating, but What Does It Mean for the Future?     1
Glitches, Gaps and Gaffes: The Memory-Hungry Crowd Speaks Candidly About Screwing Up     11
Frontal-Lobe Overload: "Too Much Information" Is Just One of the Reasons You Feel Like You're Drowning     23
Blocking, Blanking and Begging for Mercy: Why Words and Thoughts Flee Without Warning     36
Into the Doughnut Hole: What a Brain Scan Can (and Cannot) Tell You About What's Going on Upstairs     45
Swallow This: The Feeding of a Midlife Brain: Essential Fatty Acids, Vitamins, Supplements and Plenty of Glucose     58
Mental Aerobics: From Tedious to Addictive: Options for Exercising Your Neurons     72
Bathing in Battery Acid: Elevated Cortisol Associated with Chronic Stress Is No Friend to Your Hippocampus     85
Yearning for Estrogen: Rejecting Hormone Therapy Could Leave Your Neurons in the Lurch     98
The Vulnerable Brain: The Repercussions of Concussions You Never Knew You Had     109
Cosmetic Neurology: The Potential for Pharmaceutical Cognitive Enhancement Is Vast and Possibly Irresistible     123
Meditation and Neurofeedback: Going in for a Tune-up: Why Tinkering with Brain Waves Can Improve Attention     139
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: Sacrifice Your Slumber andYou'll Perform as Well as if You've Had a Few Stiff Drinks     151
Recreational Drugs, Alcohol and Other Neurotoxins: The Cognitive Consequences of What You Smoke, Drink, Eat and Breathe     165
What Your Doctor Forgot to Tell You: Prescription Drugs and "Safe" Over-the-Counter Meds May Account for Your Fogginess     177
The Last Place You Look: Thyroid Low? Blood Pressure High? A Host of Common Midlife Disorders Pack a Cognitive Wallop     189
Staring into the Eye of the Tiger: Deep in the Grip of Alzheimer's Disease at the Age of Sixty, Joanna Graciously Invites Us into Her World     204
Do You Really Want to Know?: As Opportunities for Early Assessment and Intervention Become Available, Will You Embrace Them?     217
Emerging Triumphant: How to Stockpile Neurons: The Habits of the Cognitively Well-Endowed     228
Conclusion     253
Acknowledgments     259
Resources     267
Notes     269
Selected Bibliography     297
Index     301

Go to: Philanthrocapitalism or Toyota Culture

Beating Depression: The Journey to Hope

Author: Maga Jackson Trich

Offers new hope to the more than 17 million Americans who suffer from depression

Written by nationally recognized experts in the field, Beating Depression arms sufferers and their families with the knowledge and tools they need to recognize depression and make informed choices about its treatment and management. The authors explore the latest findings on the causes of depression and the treatments currently available, including medications and psychotherapeutic approaches. Readers get checklists, quizzes, and other powerful self-assessment tools to help determine if they are actually suffering from depression and to what clinical degree. And they get expert guidance on how to find help and work with physicians and mental health professionals to develop a treatment plan and to cope with problems that can arise during treatment.

Maga E. Jackson-Triche, M.D., M.P.H., is on the faculty of the UCLA School of Medicine. She is also a member of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute's Health Services Research Center. Dr. Jackson-Triche and her coauthors participated in a landmark depression treatment study funded by the prestigious RAND Institute.

Kenneth B. Wells, M.D., M.P.H., is a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine, director of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute's Health Services Research Center, and a senior scientist at RAND.

Katherine Minnium is a research manager and public relations director for the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute's Health Services Research Center.