One of my most valued resources for insight on health, the environment and aging is The Myth Of Alzheimer's, and I strongly recommend anyone reading this post subscribe to their e-mail updates and read that site regularly - it updates nearly daily.

The Myth Of Alzheimer's is absolutely about you, your family, your friends, and all our futures, as we all age together on this human-changing world until we die.

A REALLY expert-based portal, launched to expand upon a book by the same name, the Myth Of Alzheimer's is the most insightful guide to healthy aging and the mind in print and on the WWW... and it is produced right here in real NEO, by paradigm-breaking thought-leaders on aging Peter Whitehouse and Danny George.

I recommend this to everyone in the virtual world, as you will appreciate that Peter and Danny are high value technology visionaries, who appreciate the potential technology innovation has to make aging as healthy as possible for each individual, starting from early childhood. You may age better, through better use of technology.

And, using technology well, Peter and Danny have done an admirable job of expanding the value of their exceptional print book into a globally important internet knowledge-based portal on leading edge insight related to aging and the mind - not a small accomplishment.

Of technology and REALNEO-related interest, from The Myth Of Alzheimer's today, is a fascinating article on an opportunity to use technology and music to address dementia, leveraging practices that we can all understand, and that have shown value in Peter and Danny's intergenerational work with music therapy - "How iPods can play a role in innovative dementia care".

From Danny's article:

...music is an art form enjoyed by human beings across the lifespan, even deep into the throes of dementia, and those of us who work with persons affected by dementia all have stories about how the simple melodies from one’s youth can trigger a wellspring of memories, emotions, and amiable sentiments...

I caught an interesting Wall Street Journal article about a new program from the Institute for Music and Neurological Function that is aiming to provide iPods loaded with customized playlists to help spread the benefits of music therapy to persons with dementia.  The Institute loads music onto old ipods based on what an individual’s interests were in their youth, and encourages caregivers to start a playlist and then use the listening experience as a prompt for narrative reminiscence.

The article veers into some overly simplistic claims about the neurological basis of “Alzheimer’s disease”, and does not discuss how live music can, in many cases, be even more engaging than mp3s.  However, it does well in making the ultimate point that while music cannot reverse or cure neurological conditions such as dementia, the act of playing familiar music from one’s youth frequently can significantly improve a patient’s mood, alertness, behaviors, agitation, anxiety, and quality of life.

I certainly do not see the future of aging being improved by I-Pods, the proprietary Apple technology, but I do see the opportunity for people to use interactions with optimal technologies like portable media devices to improve brain function and health throughout life, to the end.

I believe Danny and Peter understand that human interactions with technology may significantly impact the brain and aging, for good and bad - extensive television watching in early childhood (and adulthood) may cause harm - well engaged, technologically-active minds may age better.

While we all age differently, the resources we have freely available through social media and other information technologies offer a new paradigm in knowledge-expansion, and personal knowledge management - lifelong story telling - which have shifted brain function scales and opportunities in favor of the technologically engaged, as humans learn to use information technologies better.

REALNEO is designed to assist humans to use information technologies best, as our purpose includes to preserve all types of content for individuals, giving you control of your content for your entire life, to tailor to your life needs and interests, as you age.

With REALNEO, members and their families and caregivers will not need to imagine or search for prompts for narrative reminiscences, as members' lives are in so many ways preserved for us in real time, here.

After only five years, I find it fascinating to go through my REALNEO content, back to 2004, and I look forward to viewing 40 years of content, in 2044... and viewing that in more functional ways, as we improve our interface and use our data and technologies better.

Peter Whitehouse is one of the experts I have consulted, over the years, on the development of REALNEO, and he should be an expert in our development of enhancements in the future.

As we continuously upgrade our REALNEO home away from home, the user experience will become far richer, and far easier to manage and enjoy.

Imagine what technology will offer us in 2044.

REALNEO will still be at the bleeding edge.

You will enjoy and benefit from REALNEO for the rest of your life, and share it with your friends and family until you die, and that will make your life better, until the end, in ways you may never have really imagined, but will appreciate with age.

As Danny concluded, in his posting about music therapy: "This is the type of imaginative person-centered care we need in a rapidly aging world."

REALNEO helps your brain age better.

If you doubt me, ask the experts at The Myth Of Alzheimer's.