November 2007

NCLB Matters to Us

The article “Bring Back the Ah-ha Moments” (Message from the President, May 2007) struck a cord with readers. We received a number of heart-felt responses from retired educators and others lamenting how the No Child Left Behind environment has taken freedom away from teachers and leeched spontaneity out of the classroom experience. As this issue goes to press, Congress was headed for a showdown on renewing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the so-called No Child Left Behind law. Watch the NEA Web site for the latest developments, and make sure to tell your members of Congress where you stand:www.nea.org/esea/ .

Here’s a sampling of what you had to say:

Don Morgan, Virginia : After earning an engineering degree and spending 20 years in the Air Force, I taught algebra to eighth-graders for 20 years in Manassas, Virginia. In the era before all these mandated tests, I was able to teach some astronomy, simple engineering concepts, Einstein’s speed of light and time relationship, the measurements used in the Great Survey of India, and even the correct international phonetic alphabet. The kids enjoyed the occasional break from grind-it-out algebra lessons as much as I enjoyed giving them different views of the world of mathematics.

However, when the Age of Testing began in my 17th year of teaching, I had to cover the test material and the fun parts of my curriculum faded from my lessons. I was saddened and felt powerless to change what was happening because my kids had to do well on the standardized tests. My problem with such tests is that instead of teaching concepts and ideas that should be carried through life as an educated person, the tests seem to reflect somebody’s idea of a midterm exam with all the little nuances of the subject incorporated.

DON Heinrichs, Oklahoma : I retired in 1995 after 38 years in the classroom at USD 457, Garden City, Kansas. It was a great place to teach. I was encouraged to forge ahead and use my ability to stimulate thinking and informed expression. This was before NCLB. Everything I hear and read about NCLB may have driven me from the classroom.

M. Burton Hopkins, Jr., Delaware : I believe we retirees are in a unique position to change education in America. It is simply not enough to go to the NEA Web site and send letters to our congresspeople demanding common-sense changes to the  Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

We, the retired teachers, ought to be at the forefront, speaking up and out at local school board meetings, running for seats on those boards, and letting today’s classroom teachers know that they are in charge, that when good things happen in classrooms, they have made them happen, that when teachable moments come along, they must seize them and bring a richness to their students that no high-stakes test can approach.

Isobel White on behalf of the Coalition of Essential Schools: When I read the column on bringing back the “ah-ha moments,” I have to tell you that I got choked up! I work with the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), which promotes exhibits as a better way of assessing student learning. If you get what you test for, how much better to test for the ability to research deeply and think critically!

For more on CES and National Exhibition Month, see www.nea.org/esea/exhibitmonth07.html . Thanks again for your inspiration.

Gayle Hurt, California : It breaks my heart that teachers these days cannot use their creativity to teach, but must use scripted texts. How insulting! Teachers today have little or no time for music, art, social studies, science, health, or P.E., but spend most of the day teaching reading and math and practicing for tests. I have heard from several teachers in our district that their Gifted and Talented Education students have fallen to “Proficient” because of their boredom with the scripted teaching and test practice. As a staff development specialist, I encouraged teachers to teach to the higher level and make sure that their underperforming students knew that they expected them to reach that level and believed that they could—and they did!

November 2007

Celebrating Local Diversity

In her 30 years as a high school English teacher in Clearwater, Florida, Sandra Rooks found students weren’t learning enough about the rich African-American culture of their city and county.

“I taught thousands of kids from all ethnic backgrounds,” says Rooks. “When they looked in their textbooks or went on field trips to local historic sites and exhibits, too often they saw images of people who did not resemble them. To me, that wasn’t right.”

Rooks set out to paint a fuller cultural picture of Gulf-coastal Pinellas County. She teamed up with fellow teacher Randolph Lightfoot to offer a course on 125 years of the county’s Black history, a period that saw hundreds of families settle in the area to work in industries ranging from citrus-growing to sponge-diving. As interest grew, Rooks and Lightfoot expanded their venture beyond the classroom. The result was the grand opening, in 2002, of the Pinellas County African American History Museum.

“The response from the community was tremendous, even before we officially opened any of our exhibits.” says Rooks, who serves as executive director of the museum. In partnership with other cultural organizations, the museum launched an annual statewide African American Heritage Celebration in Clearwater that now draws up to 10,000 visitors each year.

Rooks retired from teaching in 2002 to devote herself to the museum, and has authored three books on Pinellas County African-American history. Last year, she received NEA’s H. Councill Trenholm Memorial Award for human and civil rights in recognition of her accomplishments.

“I was so excited and honored by that award,” says Rooks. “We all feel that this museum is the achievement of a lifetime.”

—Matt Simon

Helping Out around the World

For Jane Duncan, retirement meant running off to join the Peace Corps.

After teaching seventh- and eighth-grade English and social studies for 35 years at Washington Middle School in Missoula, Montana, Duncan retired in January 2004. Later that year she was on her Peace Corps assignment in Aranos, Namibia, near the Kalahari Desert, at J.R. Camm Senior Primary School.

“I ended up putting a library in a fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-grade school,” she says. To do so, she asked friends and family for donations, hoping to collect 50 to100 books. But her daughter drummed up more support through an Amazon.com wish list and a Web site, and within three months, Duncan had received 300 books and $1,200 in donations.

The kindness did not diminish over time. Over the year she received more than 2,000 books, $1,500, and two sets of encyclopedias. The library opened in spring 2005.

Her two-year Peace Corps commitment ended, but Duncan continued her social justice work. In 2006 she went to Haiti for two weeks and helped out at a clinic for the poor. Currently, Duncan works at the YMCA's Battered Women’s program answering the crisis line and speaking about her travels at local schools.

—Nadine Simpson

November 2007

Play it Smart: Stay in Shape

We talk a lot in this magazine about the contributions we can make as retired educators fighting for public education. But first we must take good care of ourselves, mind and body. Every year there are new studies confirming the link between physical health, mental well-being, and cognitive acuity. While some of us have specific health issues to attend to, we should all strive to maintain a good diet and regular exercise, find spiritual fulfillment, socialize plenty, and challenge ourselves with mental exercises.

In this issue’s cover story, you’ll hear from medical experts on the kinds of activities that promote brain health. First, there’s diet and exercise. No one’s suggesting you need to go to the gym and pump iron—even little routines can make a difference, like parking your car at the far end of the lot or choosing to take the stairs once in a while. Yoga or Tai Chi or walking are wonderful, especially when you engage in them on a regular basis.

And don’t forget dancing. Not only does “cutting the rug” give you a solid workout, it can be highly social (just look at the square-dancing members featured in this month’s Health & Fitness).

And there are “mental workouts” shown to keep our brains firing on all cylinders. Word games, Sudoku, studying a new language, learning to play a musical instrument—any of these activities will help keep you sharp. You can make these social activities, too, by signing up for a class at your local recreation center or community college.

This issue also contains the announcement of this year’s NEA-Retired regional meetings, in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. All NEA-Retired members are invited to attend and participate. We truly are in a unique position to make positive change for public education. Let’s all keep sharp and fit so we can continue to make our mark well into the future.

—Barbara Matteson
matteson@dakotacom.net

November 2007

Rachel Stafford

Background
I’ve taught high school advanced placement English for 11 years in Mesa, Arizona. I’ve served as treasurer and membership chair of my local Association, and have been an AEA delegate and a delegate to NEA’s Representative Assembly.

Why did you join NEA Pre-Retired SO EARLY?
I know that “Pre-Retired” is an unusual title because I’m 35 and will be teaching for a long time to come. But I believe that educators should be committed to their professions, first and foremost, and NEA-Retired plays a major role in everything the Association does. Here in Arizona, we’re fighting school vouchers, which were recently introduced. School employees really need to make a lifelong commitment, for the sake of kids and schools and to ensure their own retirement security. Becoming a Pre-Retired member is one of the important ways I can show my commitment. And I try to spread the message to other school employees that they should get involved as early as possible.

Dorothy Wilson

Background
I was a first grade teacher and middle school reading specialist in Columbus, Ohio, for 35 years. I’ve been a local Association board member, district president, Ohio Education Association board member, and NEA board member. I’m now on the OEA-Retired state board.

HOW’S retirement SO FAR?
I just retired last year, and it’s great. Over the summer, I was an NEA representative at the Education International Congress in Berlin, and that was a wonderful trip. I continue to devote a lot of time to OEA and NEA because I don’t think my work is done. The Association can’t work without grassroots involvement, so I stay involved. As a kid I was taught to always bring someone along with me. That’s still my philosophy, so I want to keep getting more people turned on to Association work.

Tom Black

Background
I taught high school social studies in West Point, Nebraska, for 36 years. I was a local Association president, Nebraska State Education Association vice president and board member, and an NEA board member. I’ve been vice president of NSEA-Retired, and am currently a board member.

What's best about retirement?
My family and my volunteer work. My wife and I have four children and seven grandchildren. I always say that the two greatest moments in life are when you first have a child, and your baby reaches and squeezes your finger, and then, years later, when you first have a grandchild run into your arms. It doesn’t get any better. I stay active in the Association because that’s my fun. I helped start the mentoring program between NSEA-Retired and our state student program, and this year we’ll have Nebraska  ’s first Outreach To Teach event. I’ve been retired since 1996, and I may have to stop and rest eventually—but not for now, because my next term on the board won’t be finished until 2011.

November 2007

Square Dancing: Give it a whirl!

If you think square dancing is just for energetic young folks who work on farms in Oklahoma, think again. Western square dancing is becoming more and more mainstream, and many seniors are learning how to swing their pardners and do-si-do.

And with the Alzheimer’s Association listing square dancing among the activities that helps ward off the disease by engaging both the mind and the body, it’s no wonder that seniors are lining up to square off. It’s the combination of physical and mental exercise, plus social activity can’t be beat. (See the cover story on page 6 for more on brain health.)

According to Jewel Biggs (pictured left) of Atlanta, a 71-year-old retired NEA member who taught English and writing in Georgia for 32 years, square dancing keeps her fit, allows her to have fun, and fulfills a dream she’s had for years.

“I always wanted to learn to square dance because when I went to the NEA conventions, they would play the country music and I would get up there and do it, but I didn’t really know what I was doing,” she says.

Biggs says she finally decided to get serious about it five years ago when some friends started taking classes at a local senior center.

Jean Gruntals (pictured above) of Mendham, New Jersey, who taught third grade during most of her 32 years as a teacher, is another big believer in the mental workout the hobby provides. “When you dance, you never know what movement the caller will call next,” says the 68-year-old retired NEA member who has been square dancing for 20 years. “You have to be ready to respond instantly. So square dancing is good exercise for both the body and mind.”

In addition, dancers need to remember complicated calls that are rattled off all at once. If a dancer can’t keep things straight, the square breaks down. Still, that’s no reason for beginners to be intimidated. Both Biggs and Gruntals stress that no experience is necessary if someone decides to take up square dancing.

“Those of us who know how to dance, we become a big sister or big brother for those who would like to,” Biggs says. “We go with them to the classes to get them started and to encourage them. The classes assume that you know nothing about square dancing and start you just from the basics.”

While square dancing is undoubtedly a great way to get the blood pumping and to tone the muscles, Biggs points out that it’s only as strenuous as you want it to be. “You can move at your own pace,” she says. “It gets fast at times, but you can just sit that one out. There’s no snatching, it’s just a smooth movement. You’re sailing around like a ballerina or something.”

Gruntals says she also appreciates the social aspect of the clubs. “When you square dance, you have the opportunity to meet new acquaintances and to develop friendships,” she says. “If seniors are looking for a way to meet new people, square dancing should be top on their list. What a great combination—lively music, dancing, and friends!”

In addition, Biggs marvels at how many retired teachers are interested in the hobby. She says that in her group, about two-thirds of them are retired educators. “And that’s just coincidence, I guess,” she says. “It’s really good for camaraderie and networking.”

—Rina Rapuano

Quick Tips

Getting Started:
Jean Gruntals, who has been square dancing for 20 years, has these words of wisdom for seniors who are ready to give it a try:

• “Run a Google search on ‘square dancing in (your state).’ Call a club in your area to see when lessons will be offered, or if they’ll be having any ‘barn dances’ or ‘friendship dances.’ These are dances to get people interested in dancing, and no experience is needed. If you don’t Google, keep an eye out for information about lessons in your local papers. Many clubs start lessons in the fall and do advertise in local papers.
• There are videos sold by callers to reinforce the moves of square dancing, but I recommend starting with lessons.
• Clothing can be casual, with long-sleeved shirts for men and skirts for women. If people really get into it, there are stores that sell square-dance outfits.

November 2007

Online Shopping

Online sales in 2006 exceeded the $100 billion mark, according to online traffic tabulator comScore Networks. Clearly, there are benefits to shopping online. To begin with, the Internet is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and there are great bargains to be had. But what about safety? If you take the right steps, shopping on the Internet can be just as safe as in brick-and-mortar stores or by mail order. The Federal Citizen Information Center offers the following tips to keep you safe as you shop in cyberspace.

Use a secure browser. Make sure your browser—the software you use to navigate the Internet, which probably came installed on your computer—complies with industry security standards, such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Secure Electronic Transaction (SET). These standards encrypt or scramble the purchase information you send over the Internet, ensuring the security of your transaction.

Secure browsers often display a symbol such as a broken key that becomes whole or a lock that closes, typically at the bottom of the computer screen. Your browser software or manual’s “Help” section should describe online security features. Contact the software company if the “Help” section does not allay your fears. You may have to update your browser to the latest version if a security detection feature is missing.

Shop with companies you know. Anyone can set up shop online under almost any name. If you’re not familiar with a merchant, ask for a paper catalogue or brochure to get a better idea of their merchandise and services. Determine the company’s refund and return policies before you place your order. Also, read their online privacy policy about how your information is kept and shared.

Keep your password(s) private. Be creative when you establish a password and never give it to anyone. Avoid using a telephone number, birth date, or a portion of your Social Security number. Instead, use a combination of numbers, letters, and symbols.

Pay by credit or charge card. If you pay by credit or charge card online, your transaction will be protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act. Under this law, consumers have the right to dispute charges under certain circumstances and temporarily withhold payment while the creditor is investigating them. In the case of unauthorized use of a consumer’s credit or charge card, consumers are generally held liable only for the first $50 in charges. Some cards may provide additional warranty or purchase protection benefits.

Keep a record. Be sure to print a copy of your purchase order and confirmation number for your records. Also, you should know that the federal Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule covers orders made via the Internet. This means that unless stated otherwise, merchandise must be delivered within 30 days, and if there are delays, the company must notify you.

—Doug Terwilliger

It’s New: NEA Click & Save

For many years NEA Member Benefits has offered members valuable discount programs. Now, NEA Click & Save provides online shopping discounts at a number of local and national retailers for NEA members and their families. Unlike other discount aggregate providers, NEA Click & Save sends e-mail reminders that are tailored specifically to each member (based on the user’s online profile). NEA members save time and money, receiving offers only from companies they are interested in.

Go to www.neamb.com/clickandsave to start saving!

November 2007

By Aaron Dalton

As a junior high school student, I once had to report on the evils of alcohol. The book I read warned that we are born with a fixed number of brain cells and that alcohol hastens the demise of those cells.

I went about repeating this fact to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, I was spreading false information; that book had it all wrong. It turns out that alcohol—specifically wine and beer in moderate amounts (5 ounces per day)—may actually be good for your brain. Dietician Lauren Dorgant says compounds called phytochemicals, present in red wine, may actually stimulate an enzyme that regulates the longevity of those cells. Other phytochemicals in beer and red wine serve as antioxidants, which prevent damage to brain cells.

More important—for both tipplers and teetotalers alike—current medical wisdom holds that the number of brain cells is not fixed at birth. The downhill slope metaphor doesn’t hold when it comes to brain health—we don’t begin life on top of the mountain with a full complement of cells and travel always downward, losing cells along the way until we end in oblivion at the ski lodge.

Instead, imagine brain health as a series of trails, full of ups and downs. No two paths are alike. We all start at different levels with potential pitfalls lurking in our future, but the level of mental and physical activity in which we engage, the foods we eat, and the groups we form are all factors that have a significant influence on the ease with which we will trod our path, the heights to which we will climb, and the extent to which we will enjoy the view.

“Prior to the mid-1970s, virtually everyone had a nihilistic view of aging,” says Gene Cohen, director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University. “People thought that negative change was our inevitable and unalterable destiny.”

Researchers came to realize that the problems associated with age were not intrinsic to aging, but rather due to certain diseases like Alzheimer’s. The field of geriatric medicine was born as the medical profession sought ways to treat and prevent such deteriorative diseases.

The next big change occurred decades later. “In 1998, we learned that the human brain has the ability to generate new brain cells,” says Dr. Paul Nussbaum, clinical neuropsychologist and adjunct associate professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The implications of this finding were tremendous. People no longer had to passively accept that aging involved a loss of brain function. Instead, we can take proactive steps to strengthen our brains and maintain or even improve our cognitive abilities throughout life. “When we challenge our brain, the brain changes,” says Cohen. “Brain cells form new connections between one another, enhancing communications.”

In the decade since the landmark finding on the human ability to grow new brain cells, a broad consensus has emerged about activities that can promote brain health. In his new book, Your Brain Health Lifestyle, Nussbaum organizes these activities into five buckets—physical activity, mental stimulation, spirituality, nutrition, and socialization.

I spoke to a number of NEA-Retired members who are working to stay mentally young and fit. Here are some of their strategies.

A Puzzle (or Three) a Day

Completing one puzzle each day might give some people satisfaction, but Amy Jackson regularly polishes off three Sudoku puzzles daily. And she often has time for a couple of crosswords and a word jumble, which she happily admits is easier to solve now at age 55 than when she first attempted jumbles in the early 1980s.

Jackson, a former teacher, teaching assistant, and member of the Illinois Education Association Board of Directors, didn’t want to lose her mental edge when she retired. “You worry about people who retire and slowly deteriorate. I didn’t want that to happen to us since we are much too young and have way too much to look forward to,” emphasizes Jackson.

So she decided to keep her mind nimble with number puzzles. She asked her husband to explain the basics of Sudoku, a game he had discovered to be an effective stress-reliever when he was a school administrator. After breezing past the easy level games, Jackson now regularly solves puzzles of intermediate difficulty and, on occasion, tackles the ones rated most difficult.

Jackson  is not just a numbers gal. She and her husband like to play another brain-engaging game called Upwords, which could be described as a three-dimensional version of Scrabble.

According to what the brain experts told us, Jackson has taken several smart steps. First, doing puzzles and word games has been shown to lower the risk of dementia, says Nussbaum.

By engaging in both number and word games, Jackson is exercising both the quantitative and verbal parts of the brain, a practice that Cohen applauds. “You want to diversify your activities,” says Cohen, “so that you can continue to challenge the strengths and capacities of your brain.”

Jackson  is also a dedicated puzzler, which is key. “Developing a sense of mastery or control has been found to have positive health effects on individuals,” says Cohen. “These repeated feelings of mastery induce the immune system to produce more cells that ward off infection and fight disease.”

So try lots of different games and puzzles for variety, but also try to master one or more. That’s covering your bases when it comes to brain health.

He’s Got Music…and Dance…and Geography

Norman Victorson was a geography major in college, but after he graduated in 1965, geography became a little more complicated. As the old European empires started breaking up, dozens of new countries appeared on the scene, particularly in Africa. That’s when Victorson embarked on his project to memorize all the countries in Africa. When he had fixed the countries firmly in his mind, he moved on to memorize their capitals.

Victorson is not a man to do things halfway. Once he had learned Africa, he moved on to the other continents. Even today, he is still determinedly plugging away at committing the island nations of the Pacific to memory.

This can-do spirit has served the former high school science teacher well during his 15 years of retirement. When he spoke to This Active Life, Victorson had just returned from another brain sharpening activity: his weekly piano lesson. “There’s an activity that requires a lot of brainwork!” he exclaims.

And piano isn’t Victorson’s only performance outlet. He has been taking hour-long tap dance classes since he retired. He says that tap dance requires much more mental focus than the jitterbug he learned decades ago. “With jitterbug, you pretty much do the same steps all the time,” says Victorson. “But with tap dance, if your head doesn’t work, your feet won’t work.”

Victorson’s menu of activities includes many that promote brain health. Tap dancing certainly gets the heart pumping, which is good, Nussbaum points out, since 25 percent of the blood flow from each heartbeat goes to the brain.

Dr. Arthur Kramer, director of the Biomedical Imaging Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, recently completed a study of older adults who participated in 45-60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise per day, three days a week for six months. “We found increases in the volume of both gray matter [neurons] and white matter [the connections among neurons],” Kramer says. “We also found more efficient neural networks that support improvements in attention, memory, and decision-making.”

In short: put on your dancing shoes…or your tennis shoes, or your walking shoes, or even your swimsuit. Getting your heart beating turns out to be a smart move for your brain.

A Recipe for Brain Health

Every morning, Natalie Godin rises at 6:30 a.m. to have a hearty breakfast and head over to the clubhouse at King’s Point in Taramac, the adult community just north of Miami Beach, Florida, where she makes her home.

At the clubhouse, she participates in three morning exercise classes—aerobics, water exercises, light weight training—whichever happens to be offered that morning. “Whatever they are doing to get the heart going, that’s what I like doing,” says Godin, who at age 75 isn’t on any medications and credits her good health to exercise and good genes.

After exercising and socializing with friends between classes, Godin heads home around 11:30 a.m. to make her regular lunch—a mandarin orange chicken salad. Godin used to buy a similar salad at Wendy’s, but she discovered that she could save some money by making the dressing at home with a simple list of ingredients—lettuce, chicken, almonds, mandarin oranges, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and seasonings. “I’ve been eating it every day for lunch and I haven’t gotten sick of it yet,” says Godin. “When I’m on a cruise, I don’t even enjoy eating the food because I miss my salad!”

Some folks might like a bit more dietary variety, but everyone can learn from how Godin combines exercise and a healthy diet. Citrus fruits like the oranges Godin uses in her daily lunch recipe contain organic compounds called flavonoids that protect the brain from the cell-damaging reactive atoms called free radicals.

Though many people obsess about keeping their bodies thin, having a fat-free brain would be disastrous. Nussbaum says that our brains are actually 60 percent fat, which is essential for the efficient flow of information. To ensure the healthy function of brain cells, doctors like Nussbaum recommend that we add foods containing omega-3 fatty acids to our diets. Certain kinds of fish, including salmon, herring, albacore tuna, mackerel, and sardines are exceptionally rich in these fatty acids. In September 2006, New Scientist magazine cited medical studies indicating that omega-3 fatty acids could promote neuronal growth and allow the brain to repair damages.

That is not to say that you should eat mackerel morning, noon, and night. As in many areas of health, moderation is a key to well-being. “As cavemen, we ate one good fat for each bad fat. Today, we eat 16 times as much bad fat as good fat,” says Nussbaum. Fast foods and junk food make up much of this unhealthy imbalance. Bringing a variety of fruits and vegetables back to our tables—making our plates look like a rainbow, as Nussbaum puts it—could go a long way toward rebalancing our diets for the benefits of our hearts and our brains.

What’s more, Nussbaum says eating can be a great brain health activity to the extent that it is a social time. He encourages people to eat with friends and family—or even strangers. Talking and telling stories encourages brain activity while simultaneously creating the space for a pleasurable, stress-free time.

Though Godin retired from teaching elementary school nine years ago, she still meets up with a group of her former colleagues, to watch movies and chat over food. “My whole thrust is to enjoy whatever I do,” says Godin. “A lot of people come over to my house because they know that I enjoy cooking and entertaining.”

Enjoying what you do—it’s a trait that Godin, Victorson, and Jackson all seem to have in common. As they continue to explore the possibilities and freedoms of retirement, all three have found activities, groups, and hobbies that promise to keep them physically fit and mentally sharp for many years to come.

Brain Health Tip #1

Study a Language? Oui!
The educational, physical, and sensory aspects of traveling can be beneficial to your brain. And you can get a great mental workout if you prepare by studying the language spoken at your destination. In preparation for a 2005 trip to Paris with her sister, Anne McEvoy Carmouche (a retired elementary teacher living in St. Paul, Minnesota ) polished up the French she had studied in high school and college. She developed enough competence to wow her sister with her ability to order food in restaurants and ask for directions.

Brain Health Tip #2

Left? Right? Both!
Each hemisphere of our brain controls the opposite side of our body (the left hemisphere controls the right side, and vice-versa). To make sure we are stimulating our entire brains, Dr. Paul Nussbaum says we should strive to engage in activities like knitting, dancing, gardening, or playing a musical instrument that involve both hands and thus both sides of the brain. “We should aspire to having an ambidextrous brain,” he advises.