Brain exercise

My mailboxes (snail and e-mail and Twitter) are swamped with different ways to exercise my brain, to calm it down, to change it up and switch it out.  Brain exercise seems to be the latest thing to take control of aging, and face it: more of us are living longer and longer.  The baby boomers (including myself) are a large group.  My namesake aunt who died at 92 did the NY Times crossword most days.  She is my anecdotal example of reasonable aging.  She was also an editor for years at the University of Chicago Press and was one of the authors of the Chicago Manual of Style during her time there.  An impressive accomplishment.
The last couple weeks have shown me once again that some of us still die far too young.  Whatever we can do to forestall death in all of its forms seems worthwhile.  The latest thing seems to be brain exercise.

The latest thing

Is brain exercise.

The latest thing

Is that Alzheimers

May be forestalled,

Even prevented,

By exercising one*s brain

With crosswords and Sudoku,

Finding different routes

To take to work,

Different places

To park the car.

The latest thing

Is to find new paths

Through the forest

Of getting older.

More and more of us

Are getting older,

Living longer.

Some of us,

As always,

Die far too young.

The latest thing

Is brain exercise.

If only

If only

We exercise our brains enough

Then everything

Will come out right.