EDITOR’S NOTE: The Richland Source Gray Matters team traveled to New York City on Oct. 24 for The New Old Age summit sponsored by The Atlantic. This was one of the topics covered at that convention. Previous stories from this series included: Futurist shares vision for valuing age in the workplace; and The ‘Senior Intern’ and the intergenerational workplace.

Every single time you move your body, the action stimulates growth factors that promote the growth of new brain cells, said Wendy Suzuki.

“The news gets even better,” said Suzuki, a neuroscientist and professor at New York University who sat on an AARP-sponsored panel at The Atlantic’s “The New Old Age” summit. “Those new brain cells are stimulated in the key part of the brain that is critical for longterm memory.

“It’s called the hippocampus, and that is the structure that is attacked first both in aging and in Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

Physical activity can’t cure Alzheimer’s, but it does make the brain bigger and stronger, lessening and delaying the effects of neurodegenerative disease.

Similarly, keeping the brain active by staying engaged in social activities and projects helps with its ability to make new connections and stay healthy.

An example of the power of a having growth mindset rather than a fixed one came later in the day from Tom Kamber, founder and executive director of Older Adults Technology Services.

There’s a stereotype that seniors can’t, or don’t want to, learn new technologies.

But when older adults come into Kamber’s Senior Planet Exploration Center fired up about a goal or a project, they’re ready to learn anything from Facebook to JavaScript.

“They’ve got a book to write, a movie they want to produce, a memoir they’re connecting with or a group they want to organize for some social purpose, and they’re looking for technology for a purpose,” Kamber said. “Those conversations are amazing.”

The purpose-driven learner often cuts down on the tutorial time and moves quickly to application, Kamber said.

Keep your body and your mind moving, and you will be happier, healthier and more productive.