 Aging process brings not only wisdom, but also an increasing loss of memory. Nevertheless, you can do a number of things in order to substantially slow the rate of memory loss and keep our brains healthy.
Almost all of us know seniors who suffer from memory loss.
There are many causes that can promote loss of memory; they may include sickness, depression, emotional trauma and genetic causes. We are going to concentrate on what is considered the most common cause of memory loss, namely aging.
It has been proven that even a healthy person loses about 1% of his nerve cells early, including brain cells. Thus, an average seventy-five year old person could expect to function with only about one-half of the memory functioning that he enjoyed in his younger years.
But there are many steps people can take to help reduce the rate at which we lose our memory with years. We can choose quite a few changes to make to our lifestyle and our diet which may help the performance of our memory. They are:
- lessening our alcohol consumption
- avoiding nicotine
- adding to our diet foods rich in protein, fiber, vitamins and especially antioxidants (including vegetables and fruits).
Some other recommended dietary improvements include red meats and fish rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, and stay away from foods that contain chemicals like MSG and preservatives. Reducing the stress you deal with in your daily life can help to lessen the rate of memory loss. Of course, participating in an exercise program or a daily regime of yoga can essentially reduce stress.
Most people mistake in not taking nutritional and herbal supplements created to improve the health and functioning of their brain. Some of them:
- Vinpocetine and Ginkgo biloba. These are blood vessel dilators that allow more oxygen to reach the brain.
- Vitamin B and thiamine. These two vitamins are useful; they can help protect brain cells from the damage caused by free radicals.
- Phosphatidylserine and acetylcarnitine are other supplements that are considered in order to lower the rate of memory loss caused by our aging process. Both of them have been taken by patients suffering with Alzheimer's disease with some success. Moreover, the herbal supplements bacopa from India and the Korean ginseng evidently can improve the functioning of the brain, and in particular one’s memory.
Several mental activities exist that can help us retain our memory as the years pass. The point is that an active brain is more likely to fight off the ravages of age. Engaging in a new mental activity, like learning to play a new instrument, studying a foreign language and taking flying lessons, are just a few examples. Making a conscious effort to remember certain things, such as people’s names or birthdates, may seem trivial but when engaged in regularly often helps to maintain the brain active and sharp. Besides, there are many memory techniques available that can aid with specific things you may wish to be able to easily recall later, including repetition, mnemonics and simply writing the words you wish to be able to recall on a piece of paper and then repeating them orally a few times.
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