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. The more productive I am, quite literally, the more I earn.
I don't have a problem sustaining my concentration through most of the day, but I'm not entirely happy with my mental performance. Jumping frequently between jobs and tasks, I sometimes let important things fall between the cracks. At 53 years old, I've begun wondering if my short-term memory is deteriorating. If a modest investment in time and money could boost my mental acuity and improve my work performance, I definitely want to know about it.
know about kSero because I serve on the board of directors. President Susan Hardwicke had been telling me about the company's products and services for more than a year now, but there is no substitute for experiencing first-hand what the company does. When Susan suggested that I go through the Executive Program myself, I jumped at the opportunity.
Here's the deal we struck. The program runs for about one month. I will report my encounters with the program each week. I have no idea of what to expect, and I have no idea whether the program will work for me. My commitment to VA Newswire readers is "to tell it like it is." I'm certainly hoping to enjoy tangible benefits, which I'll happily broadcast to the world. But if nothing happens, if the Executive Program is a waste of time, I'm not going to sugar-coat it.
I checked into the kSero offices in Innsbrook at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. After filling out some forms providing background information, I was greeted by Dr. Hardwicke, a tall, lean woman with short-cropped, blonde hair who is living proof that it is possible, even in one's 50s, to sustain a high level of mental intensity throughout all hours of the morning, day and into the night. We sat down at a conference room table with a pleasant view of the pond outside. She took out a legal pad and commenced the preliminary assessment.
Hardwicke espouses a holistic approach to cognitive training. The brain is a human organ, and its functioning cannot be understood in isolation from the body. She broached a wide range of issues related to my personal health that might affect my brain's functioning.
First, a data dump about my diet: How much junk food do you eat? How much processed food do you consume? Are you loading up your body with sugars, caffeine and other stimulants that give you a brief rush of energy only to be followed by an energy deficit? Are you ingesting antioxidants and Omega-3 fatty acids that are critical to the efficient functioning and growth of your neurons?
I pride myself on eating fairly healthy foods -- for the most part, I lay off the pizzas, Big Macs, sodas and ice cream. But Hardwicke set me straight: McDonalds isn't the only place that peddles junk food. Processed cereal -- even "Smart Start" that touts itself as "heart healthy" -- is a no-no. As for the bagel sandwiches with deli meat that I make myself at lunch... well, she said, we'll deal with that at a later meeting.
Hardwicke recommended some dietary supplements. I evinced skepticism. Vitamins sound so... so California... So New Age... So touchy-feely. ... There's good science to back them up, she insisted. Try the supplements and see for yourself, she said. ... OK, I'll give it a try. Who knows, maybe all that healthy eating will help me lose a few pounds, too.
We moved on to sleep habits. I generally get seven to eight hours of shut-eye every night. The quantity isn't a problem. But the quality could be better. How long does it take you to get to sleep, she asked. ... Not too long. ... Are you restless? Yes, I thrash around a lot. ... Do you ever suffer from insomnia? ... Sometimes.
Hmmm. Turns out there's a supplement for insomnia, too.
Moving on, how about exercise? ... Too bad there aren't any supplements for that! I used to work out a lot but don't much any more. A half hour on the elliptical machine a couple times a week. Sporadic push ups, pull ups and crunches. Does mowing the grass count? ... Sort of. But there's no easy out, Hardwicke told me: I need to exercise more -- at least three or four times a week.
Exercise is critical to brain function, she explained. It helps boost mental energy and it stimulates the formation of stem cells and new neurons. Don't believe all the bunkum you've heard about old people inevitably losing their brain cells. It is possible, even as you age, to grow new brain cells and increase your processing power.
In the middle of the interview, it was time for some testing. Hardwicke sat me in front of a PC and summoned up a short-term memory exercise. At regular intervals, the program called up a series of digits and images, which I had to remember and write down. The test started with simple series of four or five items, and worked up to nine or 10.
I enjoy cognitive tests, and this was no exception. I felt as if I did pretty well. The good news, Hardwicke informed me after surveying the results, is that I don't have a short-term memory problem. I could recall nine out of 10 digits accurately: the "high end of normal."
The bad news: I had difficulty with the images. The brain spends time interpreting or "coding" an image -- toaster, cow, lighthouse -- before committing it to a mental filing cabinet in short-term memory. The encoding process takes time, and I couldn't nail down more than five or six images in the time allotted. That's not bad, Hardwicke said, but there is definitely room for improvement. We'll delve deeper in a future test.
Back in the conference room, Hardwicke prepared a proprietary concoction of supplements mixed with organic chocolate syrup that are supposed to give a boost to mental focus. It was quite tasty. After an hour to digest, I would do the memory test again.
Resuming the interview, we switched to the topic of domestic living arrangements -- in particular, the level of "electronic stimulation" in the house. Hardwicke is not a fan of television programming or computer games.
Well, I said, I like to watch occasional DVD movies on my big screen TV. It's my escape. Otherwise, except for the news, I avoid most TV programming -- I find it distracting. I'd rather read or talk. But in our house, there is a TV turned on all the time. Sometimes two. My son likes watching the Disney Channel, and my wife must get her dose of The Today Show in the morning and channel surfing in the evening. ... TV is very bad for cognitive development, tutted Hardwicke disapprovingly. Even the news? She nodded in the affirmative. Yes, even the news.
Most American families are subject to electronic overload, Hardwicke explained. Televisions. E-mail. Cell phones, iPods. There's no escaping the digital bombardment. People are developing shorter and shorter attention spans. And even if they think they can juggle multiple trains of thought through "multi-tasking," studies have shown that mental performance diminishes significantly.
I related to what she told me: On any typical morning, I eat my unhealthy, processed-food cereal in the morning and read the Wall Street Journal (that's OK), and my attention jumps back and forth between the newspaper, the television (sometimes two, if you include the one on the sun porch), and conversations with my wife and son. ... Each shift of attention requires a "reorienting response," shifting the mental framework from one topic to another. "Your brain is like a battery," Hardwicke explained. "That's an enormous drain."
Often the wife will interrupt my reading with a recitation of the honey-do list for the day. I hear what she says, but I typically don't start processing the information until halfway through the conversation. I end up forgetting stuff, the wife gets frustrated and I get in trouble. That's common, says Hardwicke. Her advice: First, keep the TV off. Second, when the wife wants to talk, allow a few moments to engage in the "reorienting response" so I can focus on what she says. The wife will be a lot happier, Hardwicke promised.
Jeez, I knew the kSero approach was holistic, but I never imagined that it would encompass marital counseling, too!
With the interview concluded, we headed back to the PC for another round of short-term memory tests. In theory, the supplements Hardwicke gave me were supposed to boost my performance. But, whoops! No such luck. I did worse the second time around than the first. I regressed!
Hardwicke was surprised, but not nonplussed. There could have been extenuating circumstances. The second test was later in the morning, people were coming in and out of the office, and there was more ambient conversation. In other words, there were more distractions. Definitely worth looking into, she said. Maybe we'll need another test.
As we wrapped up the two-hour session, Hardwicke recommended a list of dietary supplements, most of which I could find at a vitamin store. They included:
Holy, moly! I feel like one of those senior citizens who carry around trays full of pharmaceuticals. Good thing my memory is OK, or I'd never remember to take all this stuff every day.
Hardwicke prepared an action plan that enumerated the various recommendations raised in the interview. I have no obvious dysfunction, so I'm not expecting dramatic results. I'll be very happy if I can boost my mental energy and powers of concentration enough to squeeze out a productivity gain of 10 percent or so.
Action plan in hand, I left the kSero office and stopped at a nearby vitamin store to load up on supplements. Debbie the store manager had everything I needed. One-stop shopping! Very convenient -- but expensive. It looks like this regimen will cost me about $100 a month. I have a lot of Scottish blood in me and, I must confess, the ethnic stereotype of excessive parsimony fits me like a glove. So, trust me when I say, I'm not sticking with this program unless it really bolsters my mental performance.
I've got more cognitive tests lined up next week, and I'll have a feel for how the supplements are working. Stay tuned.
-- June 7, 2006
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