Elizabeth Goldberg, MD agreed to talk to me about very interesting aspect of aging and brain/sensory related changes in nervous system that may cause falls. As a rheumatologist I vividly see how drastic life of my patients changes after falls. Aging skeleton is one of factors that predisposes to falls, but it really is multitude cognitive and other components that we have power to change, or at least understand and adjust, to prevent the unfortunate events of falls.

In part one and two I introduced and expanded on the concept of brain health, the importance of stress reduction and weapons we all can use to prevent brain decay - exercise and its biology. Today I will keep explaining additional brain benefits of exercise. I will also tackle a few ideas how stress hormones can contribute to brain damage and what to do to prevent that.

Winter season is particularly likely to get me to knit - in summer wool feels heavy and I spend as much time away from couch as possible. When fall comes and temperatures drop I love the feel of warm wool on my fingers. I like how I can design, draw and then execute a project. Fingers are moving in rhythmical and synchronized fashion - almost like repeated prayer or steady beat. With that I feel that I can take a brake from all what surrounds me, the noise and pressure. You can watch a movie or participate in conversation while knitting, but for me it is more of a solitary sport where I can spend time with the project I am making, and when small pieces come to life to create something bigger, easily utilitarian and with lasting quality to it [Bernie Sanderns mittens anyone?].