Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

What’s next for America’s Baby Boom generation, and those to follow? Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III explores the question with Gene Cohen, expert on “creative aging.”

Cohen talks about the use of the left and right brain. “The new science is absolutely extraordinary,” he says. In middle age, people “begin to use both sides of the brain together, and I refer to that as all-wheel drive.” Scientists have found a remarkable built-in reserve and resiliency.

In attempting to debunk myths about older adults, Cohen points out a difference in perceptions. If an older person forgets someone’s name, this is frequently called a senior moment. However, if a parent asks a teenager to go to the grocery store, the teenager might forget to do the entire errand, not just an item or two; yet this is not called a “teenage moment.”

Cohen illustrates the “new senior moment” with a story about his in-laws, in the days before cell phones. Stranded on a snowy day, with no cabs in sight, they spied a pizza delivery store. Cohen’s father-in-law ordered a pizza for delivery to the home where they were staying. “I would like you to deliver us with it,” he stipulated.

The anecdote illustrates psychological growth in the second half of life. A “liberation phase” kicks in during the fifties and gains strength. “It’s as if we’re hearing these friendly inner metaphorical voices that are saying, ‘If not now, when? Why not? What can they do to me?’” The brain at this stage allows people to think about situations in new ways. Changes in spirituality often occur during this long phase.

Life experience, social intelligence, and more mature ways of thinking come with time. With age, these capacities merge into wisdom.

A “summing-up phase” follows around the late sixties: a time of reconnecting, philanthropy, and voluntarism. Genealogy and writing autobiographies become popular during this phase of life. Old age adds even as it takes away.

And then an “encore phase” occurs, meaning “still, continuing.” This is characterized by reunions and other efforts to bring people together. Cohen tells of George Burns, who developed back pain during his nineties. Burns was reluctant to sit down to do his comedy routine: after all, he had been a stand-up comic all his life. But he did begin to sit during his routine. He later told Cohen, “If necessary, I’m going to become a lie-down comic.”

“There’s no denying the problems that are associated with aging,” Cohen allows. “But what has been denied is the potential. And even in the face of loss, there’s this ongoing capacity for creative expression.”

Every time you challenge your mind, connections within the brain are strengthened and enhanced. Leisure activities such as dance, music, reading, writing, and doing crossword puzzles might preserve the brain. Cohen emphasizes, though, that people need to challenge themselves: the physicist might be most challenged by learning to crochet. He recommends mental activities that feel like they cause mental “sweating.”

Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., is the first director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University, where he also holds the positions of professor of health care sciences and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. In addition, he is the founding director of the Center On Aging, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. His books include The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life and The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain.

About Gene Cohen

Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., is the first director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University, where he also holds the positions of professor of health care sciences and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. In addition, he is the founding director of the Center On Aging, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. His books include The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life and The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain.