How do we keep our morse code brain in good health?

Morse Code, ageing, and cognitive health/recovery

Many of us (well, most of us) will hopefully have the privilege of growing old. However, as we can all attest, as we age things begin to ache. Getting out of a chair is sometime accompanied by a groan, and, if we’re honest, our mental capacity and cognitive health begin to decline as well.

But just like taking care of our bodies with exercise and a good diet, we can do things to maintain good brain health. This also applies to recovering from brain trauma, such as a stroke.

A friend of mine (and my mathematics teacher at high school) is also an amateur. Steve, VK3CAX wrote to me recently with the news that he was recovering from two strokes last year. He asked me to share this story with other amateurs as a bit of a “good news story”. 

“I think I told you I had 2 strokes last year while I was in Germany. 
Lost use of my right hand and the ability to walk. After intense physio
etc, I’m virtually back to normal.  However, one thing I learned was
that to recover lost abilities, I needed to practice the skill intensely
until it returned.  I was advised that I had about 6 months to do this. 
Of course, you don’t always know what you’ve lost. I got back to
Melbourne about 2 months after the strokes, able to walk and write
again.  Then I discovered I couldn’t send CW! After about 10 days and 30
mins practice per day, it was back. Your discussion of muscle memory
resonated with me.

In an ageing amateur population, my experience of losing my morse must
be happening quite frequently.  My advice is to immediately get on the
key and start re-learning …. not the intellectual component, but the
muscular one!”   Maybe you could pass on this advice via QTC”.

In a related story, Terry Jackson, WB0JRH revealed in an interview with Bruce Pea on the podcast, Dit Dit FM, that he was suffering from dementia. Terry was quite candid about his condition and relayed the story that his daily morse code practice was almost certainly delaying some of the symptoms and progression of his disease. Discussions with a neuropsychologist confirm that activities like morse code can aid in building and retaining mental acuity.

I wrote to Terry asking him for an update and received the following:

“Thanks for your email and wonderful info on muscle memory.  I believe sending and copying CW has slowed down my memory impairment.  The major impact for me is very short memory loss.  I can copy words at 40 WPM, although I usually forget the first word by the time another passes.  I am working on improving this.  I am optimistic that this will get better.  The real upside is that working with CW has improved my expected memory loss.”

It’s great to read both these stories and have confidence that even if we think we are too old, or simply not able to learn the code, there is still hope. Regular practice coupled with a proven technique will greatly enhance your chances of success.

And of course, it’s great to hear two positive experiences from Steve and Terry and I really appreciate their willingness to share their personal stories.