Staying Sharp While Aging: It Has a Price

Fighting the aging process is more about hard work than anti-wrinkle cream and hair dye, Jonah Lehrer writes in the Washington Post. The issue for most of us is not to dance like Madonna or swim like US Olympian Dara Torres; it's to remember names and places and find the car keys. And that requires exercise—for the brain. "The brain is a learning machine, and like all machines it needs to be continually maintained," one professor told Lehrer.

Weakened brain communication hampers memory as we age, but one memory-based software program turned back the cognitive effects of aging in 93% of subjects. Studies also show that the extra tissue of active brains slows the death of much-needed cells. "If we put in the effort—and it takes lots of effort—our cells will find a way to stay fit," Lehrer writes. "Nobody ever said aging gracefully was easy." (More aging stories.)