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On April 1, 2008, Jessie Jones, PhD, gave an interview on the television talk show “Heart to Heart” on Arirang TV, a South Korean global television station. The show hosts domestic and international guests from business, academics, and government and discusses their professional and personal lives.
Dr. Jones is a professor of gerokinesiology and health science and co-director of the Center for Successful Aging at California State University, Fullerton. She coauthored a book with Ilchi Lee, In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging, which was released in March 2008.
Dr. Jones gave the interview during her trip to Korea for a seminar hosted by the Korea Institute of Brain Science called Brain Education and Health in the Era of the 100-year Life Span. The talk show also covered the theme of how to live with health and vitality throughout your life. Dr. Jones has been studying this subject for over thirty years. To demonstrate the relevancy of the topic in all our lives, Dr. Jones told the audience that in the next ten years at least 20% of the world’s population will be over sixty-five years old.
She also explained that although people are living longer, on average approximately 12 of their later years are spent with disease and/or disability. Her focus is to reduce this number of years by advocating for lifestyle changes. In fact, she said that “genetics impacts brain function somewhere between 10 and 20 %.” The functionality of our brain “actually has a lot to do with what we’re eating, whether we exercise or not, and the stimulation that we give our brain. There are environmental experiences and our thoughts” also affect brain function. During her career she has studied physical and cognitive exercises that help keep people mobile, creative, and joyful.
Dr. Jones said, “Exercise is one of the main keys. Physical activity impacts every body system, including the brain. Exercise not only reduces various lifestyle diseases, but it improves brain function, enhances our overall sense of well-being, and adds vitality to our lives. [This is] because I think probably the best kind of physical activity is one we engage in with other people, [something] that brings our hearts joy.” She recommends performing a combination of exercises to improve aerobic functioning, strength, agility, balance, and coordination.
“The best exercise is the exercise you will actually do,” she advised wryly. This is different for everyone, depending on their ability and physical condition. Generally it is best to exercise for one hour most days a week. Her favorite exercise is anything rhythmic you can do with music such as dancing or Brain Wave Vibration. In fact, Dr. Jones demonstrated Brain Wave Vibration for the audience. She also regularly engages in yoga, meditation and tai chi at her local Dahn Yoga center.
Dr. Jones reminded her audience that exercise does not necessarily mean walking on a treadmill if you find that boring. You can incorporate exercise into your everyday life by changing things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator and parking further away from your destination. In fact, she noted that the effect on the mind is different when you enjoy your physical activity, rather than feeling bored.
When asked when to start changing one’s lifestyle in order to prevent age- and disease-related decline, Dr. Jones responded that it’s “never too early or too late to start.” The longer one does it, the more benefit is reaped, but it is possible to start seeing a difference even from a shorter period of time. The brain never stops making new neurons and neuronal connections, and therefore can always be enhanced.
One of Dr. Jones’s achievements is co-developing the Senior Fitness Test with Roberta Rickley. The items on this test are meant to determine someone’s functional age. Functional age describes not just how physically fit a person is, but how well they are able to perform everyday tasks and movements including standing up from a chair or reaching to put on a seatbelt.
Stress is one of the culprits that reduces brain function and increases our functional age. One way it does this is by stimulating the increased release of corticosteroid hormones. According to Dr. Jones, these hormones actually “eat away” at our brains by killing brain cells.
She explained to the audience how Brain Education exercises “integrate all levels and hemispheres of the brain,” not just the various cortexes. As a result it allows practitioners to become “master of their brain and control their thoughts.” Brain Education exercises are often used to help manage stress more effectively.
An experience when she was younger inspired Dr. Jones to study exercise and aging. In the interview she explained, “I worked in a nursing home and I saw a lot of older adults that were in wheelchairs and [had] broken spirits because they’d lost their independence. And I had always wanted to help people. So this was when I was real young and I started just working with people, trying to get them to be more physically active, exercising, and it was so surprising. Back then, […] people just thought you’re just old, you can’t do anything about it, you’re going downhill. And I always had this inner voice telling me, if you can get people to start working on their body, […] they can get out of their chairs and stay independent.”
As her final advice, when asked for general lifestyle tips for successful aging, Dr. Jones offered three “G’s”:
• Grit: Developing a strong mind to be in control of your thoughts and manage your stress
• Gratitude: Having a feeling of gratitude because a strong mind alone does not age in a healthy way by itself.
• Grace: Having love and compassion for oneself and others.
These principles sum up her belief in successful aging encompassing body, mind, and spirit.
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