Smart Ways To Improve Your Memory

You’ve heard it all before: Loved ones constantly reminding, stressing and even insisting that you should be living and eating healthier. You might have chosen to selectively tune out those messages and instead go for the foods you most craved at the moment, or continue in the lifestyle you are used to. After all, you are advanced in years and, if these habits brought you thus far, what new tricks can the young teach this old person? Truth is, senior citizens can feel great everyday and stay healthy well into the future by fostering a nutritious lifestyle. You can also be mentally alert and banish the worry about declining memory. But what makes some individuals experience memory loss over time while others remain sharp? Genes contribute to how intact our memories stay, but so too do lifestyle choices.

Eating a healthful diet, getting regular exercise, keeping an eye on our cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels, and not smoking have all been shown to protect memory. In the same way that muscles become stronger with use, memory and cognitive skills do too.

There are many steps that you can take to harness the power of your brain’s ability to change and improve your memory. Here are Law & Society Magazine staff tricks to help you fire up your brain’s recall and retention.

• EAT A BRAIN-BOOSTING DIET

The body needs fuel to function properly, and this holds true for the brain, as well. Eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones can be an effective strategy for powering your brain and keeping it fit and healthy for life.

Memory-improving foods

Although a diet that emphasizes eating “real” rather than processed foods, avoiding trans-fats and sugar, and eating healthful fats will help to fuel your brain and memory, certain foods outweigh others for their benefits.

Here are some foods that recent research has hailed as memory boosters.

Walnut consumption is associated with improved performance on cognitive function tests for memory, concentration, and speed of information processing.

Lutein found in kale and spinach, as well as avocados and eggs, may counter cognitive aging and improve learning and memory.

Avocado improves cognitive function in tests evaluating memory, processing speed, and attention levels.

Cocoa and chocolate enhance working memory performance and visual information processing, and they counteract sleep deprivation-related cognitive impairment. Dietary cocoa flavanols have also been found to reverse age-related memory decline.

Caffeine — equivalent to five cups of coffee per day — reverses memory impairment in mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Peppermint tea significantly improves long-term and working memory, as well as alertness. Fresh mint leaves can be found in several markets. It can be brewed by pouring boiled water over few leaves in a tea cup.

• GET PHYSICALLY ACTIVE

If you want your memory to stay sharp, it is important to keep active. Exercise increases oxygen levels in your brain, reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes — which leads to memory loss — decreases levels of stress hormones, and increases the effect of helpful brain chemicals. Working out also facilitates neuro-plasticity of certain structures in the brain, which enhances cognitive function.

Aerobic activities such as running, swimming, walking, hiking, aerobics classes or dancing may help to boost brain power in people over the age of 50. In an analysis investigating brain health of the over 50s, researchers found that aerobic activity and resistance training such as free weights, weight machines, resistance bands; combined to boost brain power. Aerobic activity improved cognitive abilities, while resistance training enhanced memory, working memory, and executive function.

• TAKE A NAP

Do you think that enhancing your memory will be challenging? Think again for you can nap your way to a superior memory. An hour-long nap in the afternoon could be enough to improve your cognitive abilities.

Adults need 7–9 hours of sleep per night to maintain physical and mental health. Sleep helps us to solidify and consolidate short-term memory to long-term memory. After sleep, people tend to improve information retention and perform better in memory tests. Skipping the recommended amount of sleep, however, interferes with the brain’s ability to form new memories. Sleep may be a trouble-free way to improve long-term retention of information. Participants of a study who slept between learning sessions could recall 10 to 16 words on a memory test, while those who had not slept only recalled 7.5 words, on average.

Other research found that in adults aged 65 and older, taking an hour-long nap in the afternoon improved performance on cognitive tests compared with individuals who did not nap.

Those who took shorter or longer naps, or who did not nap at all, exhibited declines in their mental abilities equal to what would be expected of a 5-year age increase.

• KICK BACK AND RELAX

Chronic stress has an adverse effect on the brain. Over time, stress destroys brain cells, damages the hippocampus, and is linked with memory loss. Managing stress can therefore be one of the best ways to protect your memory.

Meditation and listening to music may be effective strategies for relieving stress and reversing early memory loss in older adults with cognitive decline.