A Bridge to Adult Development

My colleague Elle, wrote a great post about keeping up cognitive engagement in later years to keep mentally active longer in live. Her post provides a wonderful view into a connection between our class and your everyday life. 

Although I don't have a story that is as uniquely and directly related, but I did underline a portion of the reading that dealt with keeping cognitively engaged through adult life. Specifically, I underlined the passage that stated: 

"We now understand that postie psychosocial attributes, favorable attitudes and motivation, a belief in personal agency, and enriched complex environments have dramatic, salutary effects on health and adaptive abilities." 

I think of my wife who loves to complete crossword puzzles or my mother who is an avid reader, or myself who tries to keep up and improve at the piano. But my mind goes mostly to my grandmother who had to go to her weekly bridge game. 

She would play with her friends religiously every Wednesday and play for pennies. As the "big weekly winner" she might come away with a whole "seven dollars" of winnings. But it was the cognitive engagement that made her and her friends the real winners. I played with her a few times. I've mastered Hearts, Spades, Hell, Speed, Gin, Poker, but Bridge takes them all.  You have to play as an individual and as a partner. You have to communicate both surreptitiously and upfront, you have to plan and maneuver. She died at 96. I feel that her being alert, aware, and sharp even in her last year was due in large part to her playing bridge and staying cognitively active. 

I got to play with my grandmother a few times when she was in her prime. It is CHALLENGING. I had one hand that beat them all. Every face card and Ace ended up in my hand. A seven no trump was my bid and my grandmother, who was playing as my partner told me I was crazy. She came over to check my hand and immediately said, "he's got the winning hand, everyone just lay down your cards. It's a grand slam." Most fun I've ever had playing a card game.

I am already working hard to find my own source of cognitive engagement like my grandmother had with Bridge. I just hope that the grand prize is a bit more than 7 bucks!