Dying Well, like Living Well, calls for companionship for the whole journey

Staying Sharp

Review by Garnette Arledge

Staying Sharp was never one of my goals: kindness, compassion, creativity, integrity, saying yes to life are. I can right off the top of my head imagine twenty, at least, attributes I hope to stay with me all my life. What appealed instantly in this book is it’s tag line: 9 Keys for a Youthful brain through modern science and ageless wisdom.

Wisdom. Ah, most definitely yes. So I forgave the writers, Henry Emmons, MD, and David Alter, PhD, for the chilly title. Who wants to be like a knife or an axe, or even a spear? And yes I do recommend this for its seeming goal: to calm fears of Alzheimer’s with a non-toxic mix of science and wisdom. Each chapter highly recommends meditation for example. For calming the mind, emotions and definitely the body. Further I was interested in the varied medical research cited. Like:

“Many scientists have come to believe that while we sleep the space between our neurons expands, allowing a cranial sewage network—the glymphatic system—to flush the brain of waste products that might otherwise not only prevent memory formation but muck up our mental machinery and perhaps eventually lead to Alzheimer’s. Failing to get enough sleep is like throwing a party and then firing the cleanup crew.”

I did learn this in hatha yoga that a good night’s sleep is vital to brain health. May I add, vital to the mind's health as well. Let’s remember the mind is not us but a function that we can heal, caress and support through practice. Yoga is not only physical - but you know that. Qigong and Tai Chi, which the authors also recommend, smoothes out the mind’s brain waves as well of physical energy. Still there comes a time when the physical mind falters perhaps. Then with meditation practices, the Big Mind, the intuitive, soul friend, the observer may step forward. So practicing Qi cultivation, breathing consciously and going beyond the mechanical mind is encouraged. I’m relieved to see this teaching in a pop-medical self-help book. So I recommend it for a quick read.

That’s why as a companion/doula with the aging, I sign up for the whole journey until the last breath. Because I know that even when the mind has faltered, the whole person is still intact and worthy of companionship. As do you.