Latest news with #AntheaRowan
South China Morning Post
23-06-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Why swimming is great for brain health as well as the body, especially as we get older
This is the 65th instalment in a series on dementia , including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope. Advertisement My mother taught me to swim in a pool that was going green with algae. My memory of the day is much clearer than the water was. She urged me to leap from the side into her arms – and I did. She thought I ought to know how to swim, even though she herself hated it. I – like my maternal grandmother, who swam regularly into her eighties – grew to love it. Ever since I learned how, I have sought out places in which to swim, from pools to lakes and the sea. The writer as a child in a swimming pool with her maternal grandmother, who still swam regularly into her eighties. Photo: Anthea Rowan People often ask why I love swimming. 'You just go up and down,' they say as I swim 50 lengths of a pool. Or, 'Isn't it cold?' Advertisement It often is, but I keep swimming, and not just for the exhilaration that comes with exercise or just to keep physically fit. Swimming always seems to help me sort out my thoughts. My best ideas come while I swim.
South China Morning Post
26-05-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Can curiosity prevent Alzheimer's? What the research shows, and lessons from a grandmother
This is the 63rd instalment in a series on dementia , including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope. My grandmother, who died in her eighties, struggled with a number of significant handicaps. She had macular degeneration – an eye disease – and was almost totally blind at the end of her life; she could not read or watch television. Her mobility was compromised as a result of bad knees, one of which resulted from poor knee surgery. She relied on a walking frame inside the house, and a wheelchair and someone to push her in it outside. Despite these difficulties – and risks for dementia – her cognition remained sharp until she died, and all her memories intact. I have a vivid recollection of her sitting at the kitchen table with a cassette player, recording stories of her early adult life in India in startling detail. The writer's late grandmother, pictured in her late 70s. Photo: Anthea Rowan I have often wondered what protected my grandmother's brain, since my mother's was ravaged by Alzheimer's . Of course, there could have been many things – luck may even have played a hand. No matter how well you live your life, you may still be unfortunate enough to get dementia at the end of it.
