Memory Loss: Prevention and Improvement

Memory Loss: Prevention and Improvement

Becoming forgetful seems to be embedded in the generalization of aging. Many brush off their recall challenge as a “senior moment” while secretly hoping it isn’t the beginning of that dreaded dementia. A younger generation may notice this cognitive hiccup and be able to influence some change while helping themselves at the same time.

If you are over fifty and forgetful or below that but are surrounded by recall challenged elders these memory loss prevention and improvement tips may be worth a look.

Eat Your Memory Loss Away

Yup, it’s all about nutrition again. If you are eating a primarily high sugar, animal fat heavy, processed food diet, some science believes that memory can be impaired.

Harvard Medical School reports that according to a research study published in the journal, Annals of Neurology,

“Women who ate the most saturated fats from foods such as red meat and butter performed worse on tests of thinking and memory than women who ate the lowest amounts of these fats.”

It was theorized that the connection of memory challenges and a high fat diet could be due to a gene called apolipoprotein E, or APOE which is associated with the amount of cholesterol in your blood. By switching over to more fresh produce, nuts, whole grains and legumes there is a chance you may be able to lower cholesterol, reducing APOE and improving your memory as well as prevent memory loss.

Some optimal memory enhancing dietary choices may include: dark green leafy vegetables, Omega-3 fatty acids (from fish, flaxseed, seaweed or microalgae), dark berries and walnuts.

Work the Cogs and Wheels

You may have noticed or even own a cognitive enhancement app. These work with various problem solving games that are believed to increase memory strength. However, according to a 2014 Australian study that was published in PLoS Medicine, it was found that the popularity of brain games are not as effective on memory as previously thought.

To give your brain a real workout, focus on real activities but with a twist. Instead of doing the same thing over and over, challenge your brain to do it another way such as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand.

Here are a few other ways to fire your brain synapses:

Hobby

Choose a coordination skill hobby such as knitting, drawing, painting, or puzzles. Use of the hands and mind together on tangible projects lights up the brain within the memory quadrant.

CNN reported that,

“Playing games, reading books and crafting could reduce your chances of developing mild cognitive impairment by 30% to 50%, according to a 2011 study published in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry.”

Gaming 

Get a game box and start working out your mind.

Researchers from Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Charité University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus conducted a study of how video games may increase memory strength, stating,

“Video gaming causes increases in the brain regions responsible for spatial orientation, memory formation and strategic planning as well as fine motor skills.”

Music

If you know how to play an instrument, want to learn or just love to listen, music can be a daily conduit to keeping your mind fresh.

Italian researchers published a study in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience that found increased episodic [visual] memory performance, semantic [language] memory and processing speed when listening to classical music, namely Mozart.

Exercise 

Scientists used to believe that the brain “peaked out” at a certain age and new pathways were unable to be formed. Then, researchers looked at how the brain of older individuals reacted to moderate exercise and found some significant results.

Sandra Bond Chapman, Ph.D., founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth and Dee Wyly Distinguished University Chair and lead author studied cognitive decline concluding that,

“This research shows the tremendous benefit of aerobic exercise on a person’s memory and demonstrates that aerobic exercise can reduce both the biological and cognitive consequences of aging.”

If you are young, now is the time to maintain a physical regiment program that you can sustain into your older years. If you are older and still do not have a regiment it is never too late to walk, bike, swim, and lightly weight lift as a few of the many choices to boost your brain power.

Don’t let memory challenges takeover your life. Start your proactive plan now and see if you may be able to strengthen and reverse memory decline before it gets too difficult to remember how to do it in the first place.