7 Ways to Combat Memory Loss ...

It’s so easy to dismiss the advice that your diet should be healthy. It is wheeled out as a “way to” for any issue relating to health, but there’s a reason for that. A healthy diet is crucial for your body and brain to function well. When you eat you fuel your body and brain. You wouldn’t fill a Mercedes with a low grade fuel, so don’t do it to your body. Eating healthy and choosing good foods is one of the essential ways to combat memory loss. Good foods to strengthen brain are blueberries, spinach and strawberries.

Yes, I know it’s another old chestnut but like the point about eating, exercise is essential to a healthy life. A healthy life requires a healthy brain. Exercising improves (or at least doesn’t diminish) your memory because exercising increases your heart rate, which in turn increases the flow of oxygen to your brain, helping to stave off memory loss and aiding clarity of mind.

While some people claim to be able to function on 3-4 hours of sleep per night, it’s not fair on your brain. Like your body, your brain needs time to rest and recharge its batteries. Your brain never turns off so it needs all the rest it can get, when it can. You can keep your brain firing on all cylinders by getting a good night’s sleep – every night.

We know there are many reasons why smoking is bad for us, and why we shouldn’t overindulge in alcohol. When it comes to mental faculties and memory, these substances are bad because they inhibit the flow of oxygen to the brain, affecting your ability to concentrate and remember.

Doing yoga or meditating pulls in things I’ve already mentioned. Meditation is a way of giving your brain time to catch up with you. Your body is at rest and your brain can recharge and refocus, invigorating your mental function. When you do yoga - through postures and breathing exercises - you are driving more blood and oxygen to your brain, feeding it and keeping it healthy.

One of the tried and tested ways of remembering anything is repetition. When you want to commit something to memory, learn it parrot fashion. Closing your eyes helps imprint it into your memory. Doing this as habit will help improve short and long term memory. It will also help your mental agility (and acuity) if you keep your brain active with a mental workout. There are lots of so-called “brain training” games to help maximize your brain power.

It’s another of those obvious things for good health but it also helps with combating memory loss. Stress has to be one of the brain’s worst enemies. Chronic stress has the power to destroy brain cells and most importantly, damage the hippocampus, the area of the brain which aids in the memory function - creating new ones and retrieving old ones. On the opposite side of stress is relaxation. Find time for yourself but also socialize. This will keep your blood pressure regular and improve brain function.

As you can see, the ways to combat memory loss are aligned to living a good, healthy life. Look after your body and brain, and they will look after you. Do you suffer from poor memory now or fear it as you age?