Episode 8:9 Jeanette Leardi Talks about the Benefits of an Older Brain

The founder of the Ageful Living blog and a passionate advocate for the positive aging movement shares her opinions on empowered aging, caregiver support, and the tipping point of public awareness on ageism.

About Jeanette

Jeanette Leardi is a social gerontologist, community educator, writer, editor, public speaker, and aging wellness leader who has a passion for older adult empowerment. She finds special personal fulfillment in helping Boomers and older generations share their wisdom.

Leardi’s decades of experience as the primary caregiver to both of her parents changed her perception about the aging process and inspired her encore career. She wanted to help people appreciate elders’ inherent dignity, wisdom, and unique value as mentors and catalysts for social change. She accomplishes this through her publications, presentations and classes in journaling, spiritual writing, memoir writing, brain fitness, health literacy, ageism, intergenerational communication, creativity, and caregiver support.

Key Takeaways

• The fundamental issue concerning older adults is ageism. Solutions that don’t address ageism are Band-Aids.
• The brains of the older adults process faster and more accurately because they use both sides of the brain simultaneously. The corpus callosum between the two hemispheres of the brain gets thicker as we age and fully matures only in our 50’s.
• In a senior living community, systemic ageism occurs when the institution takes precedence over the individual residents. An ageist atmosphere reduces the bottom line, census, and employee satisfaction.