"Baby boomers have long been spending millions to save their sagging skin, fix their crow's feet, and plump their lips. Now, however, boomers are turning to brain boosters to fight an invisible effect of aging: memory loss.
While body parts sag and wrinkle, the brain actually shrinks with age, neural connections slow down, and fewer nerve cells are created, experts explain.
The process begins as early as your 30s and affects tens of millions of Americans, leaving them not only frustrated but also causing a loss of self-confidence, social impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life that can sometimes lead to self-neglect and serious health issues."
So starts the article from WEB MD Oct. 18, 2010 titled 7 Brain Boosters to Prevent Memory Loss The list includes:
1) Exercise-for us seniors that would be moderate. Walking or water aerobics with less stress on joints is great. Couch potatoes are only letting the body "rust", a great temptation for the elderly. If it hurts to move stay quiet. Fear of falling, stay seated. When a new slide was installed at the local beach last summer I climbed up and made the plunge. The problem was that it was almost impossible to climb up because of my limited upper body strength. I told the managers that I at age 69 had just set the record as the oldest person to use the new slide. Well it was the first day to be used. Maybe someone has broken my record by now.
Volunteer work, leading walks for young children in our local park or conducting learning groups for pioneer days and festivals keeps our little band of volunteers on the move. We give to others but most of all help ourselves.
2) Eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. That is good advice for any age. Feed the brain fish, fruits and vegetables. I have read turmeric** is great for the brain and the joints. Some claim lower amounts B-12 have been associated with Alzheimer's, strokes and memory loss.
As we get older, it is so easy to lose our desire to cook. Cooking for one means left overs and left overs and leftovers. Grabbing a snack is so much easier. Some seniors fiancially have to choose between medicine and food. Make a plan to cook a certain number of meals a week, freeze left overs into meals, and eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. Halt those free radicals that destroy cells by eating lots of green leafy veggies and fresh fruits. A carry in meal with other seniors help with variety options to your diet.
3) Brain exercise. So that's why you see us seniors with our suduko and crossword puzzles and my favorite, creating quilts. For me I get the feeling of organizing all the materials stored in my brain. It involves strategy, decision making, planning. and correcting skills. A cup of green tea with lemon, my puzzels are my way of cleaning out the cob webs in my brain each new day.
4) Sleep As with all ages, seniors need quality sleep. The brain needs to rest, refresh your body, and lower stress levels. "There are parts of sleep where memory gets archived,' says Doraiswamy."quoted in said article. That takes us back to exercise. With proper exercise our body will crave sleep.
If stress kills then our brain cells need to have stress lowered. We all know sleep depervation causes memory loss. Ask any teenager who thinks they can get by with 4 hours of sleep a night. We seniors have our many trips to the bathroom and we need to deal with that so that we have uninterrupted sleep. If we succumb to going to bed early out of boredom we will be waking in the middle of the night. By now in our old age , we have set bedtime routines which experts tell us is important. That extra throw pillow can be a hot bottle.
Prescribed sleep aids and over the counter pills should be only at the advice of your physician. Natural herbs like chamomile, lavender Valerian root, etc are good sleep aids without the side effects. Keep a journal of happenings for a few weeks and see how sleep is affected. I found some fast food restaurants will be in control of my sleep or should I say LACK of a good nights rest.
5) Red Wine Some studies say that drinking a glass of red wine daily is good for memory. I've read that grapes, thus wine are good antioxidants. Perhaps the social aspect of drinking wine or those who can afford wine have something to do with it. A glass of wine improving digestion might be one of the clues to the recommendation for drinking wine. This won't do if you have addictions.
6) No multitasking Strange but I am already thinking in those terms. I am constantly telling my grand daughters that I can only do one thing at a time. While I am still sorting out one situation, I don't want to be bothered with adding more things to think about. It seems aging makes us pay more attention and not want to be distracted. Teens can be texting, watching tv, and doing their nails all at one time. For me one thing at a time please. So in a conversation if I can't remember a word or a name it is because my brain is trying to finish a thought or a sentence....don't make me do both.
7) Learn new memory tricks. Yes you can teach an dog new tricks. Tricks like association, saying peoples names out loud, etc. have been around for some time. For me I just accept that the next time I meet someone I will have ask again and not feel embarrassed. Because I am a visual person, writing things down helps my memory. Know whether you are a visual, tactual or audio oriented and then use that as your strength.
So here's my list of things to do to keep mentally alert: 1) hang around with young people 2) volunteer 3) have a kid do tasks you can't master 4) eat well 5) laugh often 6) pray much 7) live it up, you only get to be a senior citizen once. After all you are only old if you are a cheese.
**
P. Murali Doraiswamy, MD, chief of biological psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center and author of
The Alzheimer's Action Plan, says that B vitamins may help, as could the spice turmeric, but that studies are inconclusive.
So what keeps your brain on full charge?
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