Brain Fitness Chesapeake VA

Want to Sharpen Your Memory?

Provided by: 

By Michael Castleman

I’ve never misplaced my keys—at least not yet. But the little notes I jot to myself, to do this or that, have multiplied of late in alarming fashion. Car needs tires. Call plumber. Pay quarterly taxes. I stick the scribbled calls to action on my computer, dresser, and car steering wheel—a veritable snowdrift of Post-its that remind me how absentminded I’ve become. Everything I’ve read says not to worry, that these notes are simply a practical way to tweak memory, not a sign that something’s amiss. But for the past few years, I’ve wondered.

Then last summer, my 84-year-old father was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, a condition that, depending on which neurologist you consult, is either the annoying but benign mental equivalent of age-related aches and pains or the ominous beginning of progressive dementia. Around the same time, my 85-year-old mother-in-law was placed in the Alzheimer’s unit of a nursing home. Both my father and mother-in-law are 30 years older than I am, but their diagnoses rattled me. I started to worry over what’s in store for them—and for me. Is there anything I can do to avoid the same fate?

Only a few years ago, most neurologists would have told me, “Not much.” Losing memory was considered an inevitable part of aging, and Alzheimer’s simply struck its victims out of the blue. But recently the message has changed: Not only is it possible to head off memory loss, I should waste no time in getting started. All manifestations of a fading memory—from middle-aged misplacing of car keys to “senior moments” to dementia—exist along the same physiological continuum. In other words, that pile of reminders on my desk could indeed signal something far more serious down the road, unless I start doing something about it. Pretty scary stuff for this absentminded writer.

Far more encouraging is the latest news about how to preserve memory: It turns out that the health of your brain and heart are closely connected, which means that the same lifestyle and nutritional strategies that can ward off heart disease and stroke—eating healthy fats and lots of fruits and vegetables, exercising regularly, and taking the right supplements—can help keep your brain healthy as well.

In fact, many experts believe that adopting these approaches may even help us to avoid Alzheimer’s disease. “Nearly everyone struggles with memory loss by middle age,” says geriatric psychiatrist Gary Small, director of the UCLA Memory Clinic and author of The Memory Bible. “But serious memory problems are not inevitable with aging. They can be prevented.”

Of course, living a brain-healthy lifestyle doesn’t guarantee a lifetime of mental sharpness; at least one form of Alzheimer’s is triggered by a gene, and others may be as well. But experts like Small now believe that making the right lifestyle choices can improve your chances of delaying it—or even staving it off entirely.

Memory overload
Knowing that memory loss can often be...

Copyright 1999-2009 Natural Solutions: Vibrant Health, Balanced Living/Alternative Medicine/InnoVisi...

Click here to read more from Natural Solutions