JB School

Tomorrow is my final lab practical for A&P, so I'm studying like crazy and don't really have time for an extensive post. That said, I just finished up writing my final literature review, and the subject article I used is just absolutely fascinating to me. I thought maybe you folks would appreciate it as well.

Click here for the online version of the article.

Here's the close on my review, and my honest thoughts on the subject.

"There are many possible connections that I could make between this subject matter and our own studies, but I think that the most poignant I can offer would be that this is an article that offers me hope. To clarify, I’ve had extensive problems with memory since my first wife passed away in 2001. I’ve often attributed this to the trauma associated with that event, but after reading this article I have doubts about this. It seems to me that my memory and cognitive degeneration might as easily be attributed to the near fugue state I adopted for several months after, followed by a number of IT jobs that demanded very little of me in the way of new learning. In effect, by avoiding the mental exercise of continuing to learn new skills, I may have contributed to degeneration that in turn makes it immensely harder for me to acquire new information. Following the lines of reasoning within the article, it may eventually be possible for me to increase my capacity for learning by continually adding new skills. In addition, the article mentions continual mental exercise as a means of delaying the onset of degenerative mental diseases, especially Alzheimer’s. Given that my maternal grandfather has been affected profoundly by this disease, it gives me hope that even if I am to follow in his genetic footsteps in the decades to come, I may be able to stave off the onset. "