Faster, Faster, Faster

Brain researchers know that exercise, aerobic exercise specifically, increases cognitive abilities in all ages of people. It makes sense: when we were still living on the Serengeti, we had to keep moving in order to keep living, so that we were making evolutionary decisions on the run. Now we make decisions sitting in front of a computer terminal, and it's not the best way to get our brains running at full speed. I just started John Medina's Brain Rules, and it's fun, multi-media, and gives some pretty powerful arguments for life style changes that diminish the probabilities of spending our older years with diminished capacities.

Last week's The New Yorker also deals with how our brains work, focusing on neuro-enhancing drugs: how they work, do they work, and what are the ethics of having them available at the workplace and in classrooms. Margaret Talbot's "Brain Gain" is also worth the time to read.

We know that some stress is stimulating, but there are limits, and we appear to be walking through another of those evolutionary gates when intentional decision making is required. The pharmaceutical companies and the global workplace should not be the determinants of whether we start taking medication to make us all into more productive workers. Already, according to Talbot, there are cultures in some workplaces that encourage such competition among workers that these neuro-enhancing drugs are commonplace. At my daughter's women's college, they are, too: Adderall, Provigil, Ritalin. These drugs and their availability once again exacerbate the class, and consequently, racial divide. Who can afford these prescription drugs?

Sometimes I think that if we redistributed work among all of us, there would be no unemployment and we might have a moment to sit in our gardens and watch the tulips bloom.