TEN TIPS FOR MAINTAINING BRAIN HEALTH AVAILABLE FREE TO THE PUBLIC FROM THE METLIFE MATURE MARKET INSTITUTE RESEARCH SHOWS IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON BRAIN FUNCTION

(Westport, CT – November XX, 2005) – The MetLife Mature Market Institute® (MMI) is making its publication, Ten Tips for Maintaining Brain Health, available free to the public.

The leaflet is based on information from Dr. Paul Nussbaum, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist who specializes in brain health across the lifespan and aging, author of the MMI’s newly published book, Love Your Brain. The publications are part of MetLife’s ongoing commitment to research and education about Alzheimer’s disease and healthy aging.

“The human brain was once thought to stop developing at age five, but new research challenges that notion and leads to our newer belief that ‘neural plasticity’ is possible, that humans have the capacity to be shaped by environmental input,” said Dr. Nussbaum.
“New brain research indicates that the brain continues to develop in humans in their 20’s and that we continue to be able to help our brains well into later life. Other studies have shown a relationship between creativity and advanced age,” he said.

For those over 50, Dr. Nussbaum acknowledges that one’s ability to remember names, retrieve information and multi-task diminishes with age and is not necessarily a disease. He encourages learning throughout the lifespan to maintain mental acuity.

According to Dr. Nussbaum, the effects of nutrition, stress, sleep, exercise, prayer, social interaction and physical and emotional expressions of love for babies, toddlers, adolescents, young adults, those in middle age and beyond, all of which have an impact on lifelong brain health. He says individuals should reduce their caloric intake to 80% of what they intend to consume at each meal because overeating and obesity do not contribute to brain health.

Dr. Nussbaum discourages television viewing, encourages ambidexterity and challenges the traditional concept of “retirement”, indicating, instead, that older people should continue to be engaged and productive. He reports that chronic stress has been demonstrated to accelerate aging.

“Dr. Nussbaum has a wealth of information that promises to help us as we age,” said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute and a gerontologist. “His guidelines about caring for our brain are worth noting so we can continue to learn, to grow and to give back to our communities into our 80’s and beyond.”

The MetLife Mature Market Institute is MetLife’s information and policy resource center on issues related to aging, retirement, long-term care and the mature market. The Institute, staffed by gerontologists, provides research, training and education, consultation and information to support MetLife, its corporate customers and business partners.

Dr. Paul Nussbaum is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and lectures nationally and internationally on the human brain, brain-behavior relations, diseases of the brain and brain health promotion. With more than 20 years experience in the care of older persons in outpatient and long term care settings, he is also a consultant to many organizations and companies throughout the U.S. He has written for numerous scientific publications and has authored textbooks.

MetLife, a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services to millions of individual and institutional customers throughout the United States. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife, Inc. offers life insurance, annuities, automobile and homeowner’s insurance and retail banking services to individuals, as well as group insurance, reinsurance and retirement and savings products and services to corporations and other institutions. Outside the U.S., the MetLife companies have direct insurance operations in Asia Pacific, Latin America and Europe.

For more information, please visit www.metlife.com.

For a free copy of MetLife’s Ten Tips to Maintaining Brain Health, please write to the MetLife Mature Market Institute, 57 Greens Farms Road, Westport, CT 06880, call (203) 221-6580 or e-mail: MatureMarketInstitute@metlife.com. This publication and others can also be accessed at http://www.maturemarketinstitute.com/.

For a copy of the 60-page book, Love Your Brain, please visit www.paulnussbaum.com. There is a $10 charge, plus shipping and handling.