Preventing "Brain Drain"

This week I'm thinking about time. It seems to me that my daughter was just born yesterday, yet next week she begins her senior year of high school. Where does the time go?

One thing I notice as I age is that my memory has days where it's not as sharp as it used to be. I resist making lists, because that makes me feel so old, but there are times when I know that my brain is on overload and I just have to do it, or something will be missed. For me these are the times when my life is very hectic, with many projects to be addressed, keeping track of family appointments and obligations, all thrown into a busy summer week of work in the ED. Whew! Makes my brain overwhelmed just thinking about it. These are the weeks when I have to take really good care of myself by getting plenty of rest, eating well, and making those darn lists. I have to admit though, I am less stressed when I have a list to fall back on.

A lot of things affect memory, including poorly controlled blood pressure, which contributes to "hardening of the arteries," (medically called atherosclerotic heart disease," or ASHD). Other causes include poorly controlled diabetes, stress, and certain diseases like dementia. Medications used to treat these health problems and others, such as those for chronic pain, can also cause difficulty with memory.

ASHD and poorly controlled diabetes both affect memory because they decrease circulation to the brain. With loss of circulation comes loss of oxygen and nutrients, and without them we can become forgetful. So if you are having difficulty remembering things start by seeing your health care provider to see if there is a cause for your memory loss that can be fixed. Once any so-called "organic" causes of memory loss are ruled out or corrected, you can try the following ideas to keep your brain sharp.

These suggestions are consistent with the types of successful strategies used in a study of 3,000 adults (average age 73 years), that was recently published in the Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA). The brain training the study participants received consisted of three types: memory training, such as organizing a grocery list into categories which made it easier for them to remember, reasoning training, such as finding patterns in their daily activities, and speed training, which included quickly naming items as their pictures flashed on a screen.

Even before this study there had been evidence from other research that mental activities such as crossword puzzles and learning a new language helped to keep the brain fit. One small study even suggested that these types of activities might lessen the chance that a person would develop dementia. So here are the ideas, recently found in Diabetes Self-Management (July-August, 2008):

• Keep up your social life by visiting friends, volunteering, or joining a club.


• Keep learning by taking a class (you can audit a college or university class and learn the subject without paying for the class, although you won't get "credit" if you want it), buying a language program, or learning a new game that is challenging, such as bridge.


• Do puzzles, crosswords, Sudoku, or play cards or other games with friends.


• Move it! Exercise helps improve circulation, lowers blood pressure, and lowers blood glucose, which all affect memory.


• Challenge your brain by changing your daily routine, such as exercising before breakfast.


• Eat well: certain foods are good for our health, including the brain. These include the same foods you read about in relation to cardiovascular disease and diabetes prevention: green leafy veggies, blueberries, broccoli and cauliflower, the "good fats" in olive oil, avocados, nuts, and fish, fruit juice, calcium in dairy products, and even alcohol in moderation.

Ok, now off to make my "to do" list for tomorrow and get a bowl of blueberries and yogurt for my declining brain! Take care, Laurie


Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, MD on Healthy Aging
• 4 Ways to Stop Age-Related Memory Loss