The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life

In a single generation, the view of life after fifty has changed dramatically. Today's society is shaped by unprecedented growth in the number of people living in their "golden years", shifting patterns of work and home life, and advances in health care that offer the promise of longer, more active lives. In this fascinating, life-affirming book, Dr. Gene Cohen debunks harmful myths about aging and illuminates the biological and emotional foundations of creativity. He shoes how the unique combination of age, experience, and creativity can produce exciting inner growth and infinite potential for everyone. Interweaving history, scientific research, inspiring true-life stories, and his own fresh insights, Dr. Cohen takes us into the previously uncharted territory of human potential in the "second half" of life.

Discover the owners of the Creative Age:

• We can actually increase the number of essential connections among brain cells including those for memory and response.
• Many sleep and mood disorders can be eliminated by stimulating the brain; sleep problems are not an inevitable part of aging or decline in brain function
• Vocabulary expands well into the eighties among people who continue to challenge themselves intellectually through reading, writing, and word games -- having difficulty finding the right word is not inevitable
• Capitalizing on our creativity, and having a positive outlook and sense of well-being, boosts our immune systems.

Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., is Director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University, where he holds the positions of Professor of Health Care Sciences and Professor of Psychiatry. He is founding director of the Washington, D.C., Center on Aging and past president of the Gerontological Society of America. He has appeared on Nightline, The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, and the CBS Nightly News, and has appeared in a series of public service messages on aging with George Burns and Steve Allen. He invented an intergenerational board game (sort of a cross between chess and Scrabble) that was selected by an international art jury for a three-year museum tour.