It is necessary to maintain healthy and productive responses to the stresses and declines associated with aging. A key factor is the choice of attitude. It is critical to see opportunities for growth in aging – they are there to be had. Aging is accompanied by declines in the speed of learning, working memory, and memory capacity. These declines are not caused by disease and are nearly universal. Devoting memory resources to what is important, and ignoring things that are not important is an excellent strategy. The best way to avoid negative emotions caused by events and experiences in the past is to be actively involved in the present moment and planning for the future. Meditation is a valuable method to practice letting go and enhancing your awareness of the opportunities that are available now. Aging also presents an opportunity to demonstrate self-compassion. Frequently, persons express compassion to others throughout their lives with loving devotion and selfless actions, without realizing that that are worthy of compassion themselves. Psychological reserve can be enhanced by attention to the development of self-compassion and appreciation of what give your life meaning.

A life filled with learning is advisable. Tasks involving some degree of cognitive complexity is desirable, but there is no reason to believe that certain forms of learning are better than others. What is critical is that the activity needs to be consistent and persistent. Involvement of cognitive activity at work is important and jobs that involve high stress, passive participation, and lack of complexity are associated with higher levels of cognitive impairment in later life. There is also no reason to believe that mental activities must be limited to the early years of life. People are able to learn at all ages and participation in learning is valuable for the brain throughout life. The concept of diversity refers as well to learning and mental activities. It is good to learn new things! Participation in cognitive activities throughout the lifespan both at home and at work and avoiding multi-tasking can help build cognitive reserve capacity. Cognitive activities directly impair disease processes. Being cognitively active and paying attention to the world helps to protect the brain from free radicals and toxins. Cognitive activities also assists in the management of stress.

Memory and cognition are critical parts of who we are. Our capacity for recall allows us to use past experience to guide our actions. Our cognitive abilities allow us to monitor events and evaluate plans for action. In aging there are varying degrees of decline in cognitive function which begin in the 30s and are quite common. They are not a disease and are accompanied by the growth of wisdom which can negate the influence of age-related memory changes. Memory losses with aging can be avoided with consideration of the importance of attention for memory. The role of forgetting as a normal activity of the brain is critical. It is necessary to realize that the influences of aging and age-related disease (such as Alzheimer’s) on brain function are not determined only on the processes of aging and disease -- the effect of these processes on our performance abilities depends upon our cognitive, physical, psychological, and social reserves. We all need to enhance these reserve capacities to decrease the influence of the aging process and developing brain disease on our function. This chapter reviews the functions of memory and how losses that accompany aging can best be managed.