Memory Loss

Forgetting where you left your keys aren’t a big deal, it happens to everyone here and there. But, stress, aging, and many other factors negatively affect your memory and make it weaker. Memory loss can also indicate the development of some more serious problem such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Regardless of factors that affect your memory and take away its sharpness, you should bear in mind there are numerous things you can do to minimize this effect. Improving memory and making it sharp again isn’t the hardest job in the world and this article will show five easy ways to tackle this problem. Let’s start!

Exercise

Physical activity is an important pillar of a healthy lifestyle. You have to exercise regularly in order to manage your weight, fend off numerous diseases, and to improve memory and cognitive abilities as well. This isn’t some outrageous claim that brands would make to promote their fitness merchandise, benefits of exercise for memory are well-documented. For example, scientists from the Netherlands found that exercising four hours after learning a task can improve memory. Physical activity helped participants retain information and increase brain patterns associated with memory. Also, a growing body of evidence confirms that aerobic fitness spares age-related loss of brain tissue during aging and enhances functional aspects of higher order regions that regulate cognition. Scientists at the University of British Columbia found that regular cardio boosts the size of the hippocampus, the brain area responsible for verbal memory and learning.

Manage depression

Millions of people in the United States and across the globe experience symptoms of depression. Depression isn’t just a feeling of sadness; it is indicated by a wide spectrum of symptoms affecting the physical and emotional health of an individual. You’ve probably heard that depression is also a major contributor to memory loss, but you weren’t quite sure whether it’s true.  A study published in the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology found that depressive symptoms have an adverse effect on immediate recall of new information and amount of acquisition. So, if you have depression then being proactive about your condition will improve your quality of life, mental health, and memory too.

But, did you ever wonder why does depression contribute to memory loss? One study showed that one reason behind this effect is that depression disrupts the process of pattern separation, which is defined as the ability to differentiate things that are similar. If you have depression, it is highly important to seek professional help, talk to the therapist, get support from loved ones, and find a unique way to de-stress and feel better. This will benefit your memory, mental health, and overall quality of life.

Challenge your brain

Physical exercise isn’t the only type of exercise you need to minimize memory loss – mental exercise is also important. Your brain needs to be challenged in order to function properly. That’s why scientists and doctors always advise their patients to challenge, stimulate their brain regularly. How to do so? Options are numerous:

  • Do crosswords and puzzles
  • Play cards
  • Read
  • Travel
  • Play different brain games
  • Take up a hobby
  • Do math in your head
  • Test your recall; make a list e.g. grocery items to buy or things to do, read it and memorize it. An hour later, see how many items you recall
  • Learn a foreign language
  • Sign up for a class at the community college

Eat Mediterranean diet

Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest eating patterns in the world. It’s not a program that you get to follow for a few days and abide according to strict rules. Instead, the Mediterranean diet is a way of life, it supports a healthy lifestyle and intake of a well-balanced diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients. Your brain requires a wide spectrum of different nutrients to stay healthy and function properly. Since most people don’t meet the recommended daily values of key nutrients for brain health, supplements like Provasil became a popular tool to improve memory, concentration, and other cognitive abilities.

So, why should you eat a Mediterranean diet? Numerous studies, including the research from Frontiers in Nutrition, showed that consumption of Mediterranean diet slows down cognitive decline. In fact, this eating pattern is strongly associated with improved attention, memory, and language. Mediterranean diet helps improve memory by reducing inflammatory responses, increases micronutrients levels, improves vitamin and mineral imbalances, and so much more. To minimize memory loss, adhering to this diet won’t be a problem because it’s not restrictive.

Stay social

If you’ve ever wondered how to improve memory in an entirely natural manner, then you’ll be surprised to know that even socializing with others can do the trick. One study showed that strong social ties have the potential to preserve brain health while social isolation leads to cognitive decline. Why? It is because socializing with other people also makes you mentally engaged, it’s an excellent way to stimulate your brain, which is necessary for memory and cognition.

Conclusion

Due to stress, lack of sleep, and many other factors our memory can decline, which can be quite frustrating. Fortunately, you can minimize memory loss through little lifestyle tweaks presented in this article.