A recent study at Tel Aviv University in Israel, tested 60 volunteers using a brain exercising computer program, MindFit, for 30 minutes, three times a week, and compared them with another 60 playing sophisticated computer games.

The results showed that although all benefited from playing on the computer, those on MindFit had better improvement in short-term learning, visual and spatial learning and focused attention.

These findings are especially relevant to those of a certain age and show that exercise can stave off the reduction of mental faculties. It seems that very few golden agers realize that giving the brain a workout is just as important as physical exercise.

Susan Greenfield, a neurologist and Director of the Royal Institution, is supporting the use of computer brain games to tackle mental decline.

She believes that with no cure for Alzheimer’s disease on the horizon, these exercises are a good way of staving off dementia and keeping the mind alert.

Baronness Greenfield will launch MindFit in the House of Lords in October. She says, “There is now good scientific evidence to show that exercising the brain can slow, delay and protect against age related decline”.

Nintendo, the computer console company, is behind another product, the Brain Training computer game. The Brain-Master keeps the mind agile by testing logical analysis, memory retention, coordination and concentration.

The developer of the software, Professor Ryuta Hawashima of Japan’s Tohonu University, said the games increase the delivery of oxygen, blood and amino acids to the brain, leading to the creation of connections between brain cells.

MindFit is a new rival, developed in Israel and already available in the U.S. Baroness Greenfield is involved with the company producing the software and her name will be used to promote it in Britain, where it will cost £70 ($140).

The software claims to improve short-term memory by 18 percent, eye-hand co-ordination by 16.5 percent, memory recall by 14 percent and reaction time by 12.5 percent.

There is a whole industry in rejuvenating products and services. Mostly they prove less than workable over time. But some still claim amazing results.

One such product, newly on the market, is Col-Pure Rejuvenation Face Mask. As we don’t test products on this website, or endorse them, we’ll merely quote from the press release recently sent to us.

Col-Pure’s Rejuvenating Face Mask is described as “incredibly refreshing” and said to visibly reduces fine lines and wrinkles, while plumping and nourishing the skin.

“Its formula of bio-active ingredients quickly absorb into skin’s underlying tissue, immediately plumping the skin to reduce the look of wrinkles, while improving the tone and texture of your skin for an overall radiant complexion and also boosts collagen production and improves circulation.”

Here’s the quick and easy secret: The face mask contains Decorinyl, a tetrapeptide shown to help control collagen fibril growth, improving firmness and elasticity of the skin. A recent study showed an increase in skin’s elasticity after just 28 days of use. Green Tea is a soothing anti-oxidant that helps skin fight off damaging free-radical cells and is one of the main ingredients. Finally, Tripeptide-3, an advanced anti-aging ingredient, mimics the body’s own mechanism to help produce collagen giving skin a more youthful appearance.

Aging skin can always do with a little help. Let’s hope this product can live up to its publicity.

Many elderly people believe they are no longer taken seriously as they get older. At times it feels as if they are being treated like children. When that person is the 81 year-old Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, it’s not so easy to patronize her.

ITN is reporting today that the Queen abruptly left a photoshoot at Buckingham Palace when a commissioned photographer, American Annie Leibovitz, asked her to remove her “crown”.

This minor moment of exasperation is now a big story across the media after the BBC released the footage to advertise its autumn schedules.

In the footage, the Queen walks into a room wearing a tiara — not a crown — and the very heavy Order of the Garter robes. Leibovitz then demands, “I think it will look better without the crown because the garter robe is so dressy.”

The astonished Queen icily replied, “Less dressy, what do you think this is?”.

TV cameras apparently follow the Queen leaving the room with an official lifting the enormous train of her blue velvet cape off the floor. The Queen then tells her lady-in-waiting, “I’m not changing anything. I’ve had enough dressing like this thank you very much.”

Leibovitz is famous for taking bizarre pictures of her subjects. She once had Kate Winslet repeatedly dunked in a tank of water, and photographed Clint Eastwood after he had been tied up with ropes.

One hardly dares to imagine what Her Majesty would have replied to either of those requests.

Annie Liebovitz said “She entered the room at a surprisingly fast pace, as fast as the regalia would allow her. “She muttered, ‘Why am I wearing these heavy robes in the middle of the day?’

“She doesn’t really want to get dressed up any more. She just couldn’t be bothered and I admire her for that. When you get to that age you have a right to have those kinds of feelings.”

The Queen was quite right to refuse being “uncrowned” by a photographer, but … oops … the BBC got it totally wrong.

The shot apparently showing the Queen “storming out” was really a shot of her coming in. The storming never happened.

The BBC has since apologized to the Queen. However, the true story is how an elderly lady was treated more like a child than the Monarch she is.

Varicose veins are rarely absent from older legs.

Conventional surgical treatment is painful and intrusive, requiring an incision into the groin, plus multiple incisions in the legs.

However, a new laser procedure means only a tiny incision is needed. EndoVenous Laser Treatment (EVLT) is carried out under local anaesthetic and takes only two hours in hospital.

A woman who underwent the treatment, writes :

First, they measured me for the stocking they were going to put on my leg afterwards, which would minimise any bruising.

Once in theater, another ultrasound scan was done of my leg to find the best place to enter the vein. [The surgeon] marked the point with a surgical marker pen and I was given a local anaesthetic, so I couldn’t feel anything. Then I was placed on my side. [He] made a small incision, level with my knee, and threaded a guide wire and then the laser through my vein.

I couldn’t see what was happening as I had drapes over me. I was given a pair of goggles to protect my eyes from the laser, then the lights were switched off and the laser switched on. The procedure took just a few minutes. Then, when the vein was sealed, [the surgeon] switched the laser off. Lastly, he removed the wire containing the laser and put a sticky skin fastener over the incision.

I then got off the operating table and walked to the recovery bay. I’d arrived at 12.30pm and was ready to leave two hours later. Initially, my leg was numb, but feeling in it returned after an hour or so.

It’s easy to imagine a lot of demand for this new treatment.