How to Prevent Memory Loss with Aging

Guest Contributor: Leon Collier

Most people want to live a long life where they meet their grandchildren or great-grandchildren even. However, the journey towards old age isn’t as smooth as most people would like. With the rise in age comes forgetfulness.

You might begin to have trouble remembering people’s names. You start to find it challenging to remember where you put your car keys. Also, you suddenly can’t recollect events that just happened accurately. There are a lot of examples of forgetfulness. 

The human brain isn’t perfect. Normally, you will forget some things. However, when you grow older, you start to read more meaning to forgetfulness. Expert essay writers say that you shouldn’t be worried about age-related memory loss. Most of the time, you think you are nearing memory loss, it’s just your brain taking its time to process information.

When you calm down enough, you will remember what you want to remember. It will only take longer. The brain changes when you grow older. With that said, this doesn’t necessarily mean you will have memory loss or significant memory problems.

Accept that these minor memory slip-ups will happen, but it doesn’t have to be your reality. Working with experts as an essay writer, we have researched how you can make your brain withstand the minor age-caused memory loss or forgetfulness. 

Memory Challenges Caused by Aging v. Memory Challenges not Caused by Aging

It is essential that we identify age-induced memory challenges. Understand that the inability of the brain to process information quickly causes age-related memory challenges. As much as this happens to the brain, it must be emphasized that lifestyle could help you retain a greater amount of brainpower.

Imagine your brain as a muscle. The more you use it, the sharper it would be. The brain can continue to produce new cells irrespective of age. So, it is not that your brain is slowly dying as you age. You can and will remember things. Only the processing time could be longer than you want. 

So, when you grow older, you might forget your keys, mistake names, and dates, etc. You might not be able to recollect events correctly also. As you grow older, it is a possibility that you will have issues learning new things or instantly remembering what you have learned. Some other age-related areas of forgetfulness:

• Slowed thinking 
• Understanding language rules
• Pronouncing words 
• You are finding it challenging to do the things you usually do, etc. 

Age doesn’t cause every type of memory challenge. People wrongly blame age for these problems. When memory challenges prevent you from functioning correctly, then you most likely require medical assistance. These challenges are called MCI or mild cognitive impairment, and they could lead to dementia. Some of these non-age memory challenges are:

• You forget recent events often 
• Inability to remember words for speech
• Inability to focus and being easily distracted
• Having problems performing easy tasks

Keeping the Brain Sharp even with Aging

Exercising

Exercising can help you improve your brainpower. You can engage in a 30-minute daily walk. Also, you may engage in medium to intense exercise for 30 to 60 minutes three times a week.

When you physically exert yourself, you send more blood to your brain. When that happens often, you significantly reduce your risk of developing dementia. 

Proper Diet 

A healthy diet always benefits the brain. Harvard researchers have found a link between the growth of beta-amyloid plaques that can damage the brain and food high in cholesterol and fat. These plaques can lead to dementia or Alzheimer’s.

So, to have a healthy brain that can easily remember information, it would be best if you ate healthily. It would be great if you could eat more vegetables and fruits. Also, you should eat more fish instead of red meat. Studies show that people who ate fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, etc., have less chance of having memory challenges. 

Some vitamins you could not obtain by simply eating healthy food. Consider undergoing a vitamin addition course.

Adequate Sleep

We live in a fast-paced world where we have to execute many tasks. Even when we are tired, we push ourselves to do more, cut into our sleep/rest time because we want to be productive. Ironically, by not resting or sleeping, we would be anything but productive.

The human body needs about 7 to 9 hours of proper sleep. Most people don’t even have up to 5 hours of sleep each day. They binge on coffee to keep going. If you are in this category, you must find better ways to do things. By not sleeping, you are severely hurting your brain and your body. There are studies that link the growth of Alzheimer’s to sleep deficiency. 

Sleeping is crucial to the development of your brain. You see, when you sleep each night, the brain makes fresh pathways. These fresh pathways would allow you to absorb new information and remember things easily. So, when you don’t sleep, your brain function becomes blunt.

Your brain wouldn’t be as sharp as the brain of people who have adequate sleep. In addition, when you don’t sleep, your brain would begin to have challenges thinking properly and solving problems.

If something prevents you from falling asleep consider following the next steps:

• Put heavy curtains on your windows and wear a sleeping mask with earplugs to prevent the lights and sounds from keeping you awake.
• Do not indulge in sitting in front of the monitor or another type of blue light emission since blue light signals your body to stop sleeping.
• Relax, have a reading session before attempting to sleep.
• And most importantly, follow the schedule and go to bed at the same time every day. Preferably sometime before 11 p.m.

Help your Brain with Memory Tricks 

Don’t resign yourself to memory loss when you grow older. You can prevent it, as you can see above. In addition to such ways, you can use memory tricks. These tricks can help you when you have challenges.

One of these tricks is using sticky notes. Post sticky notes at obvious places in your house to help remind you of your daily tasks. If using sticky notes is too traditional for you, you can use reminders on your phone.

Also, when you lose things, try to retrace your steps as much as you can. In addition, when you meet a new person, try to associate them with something you already know. It would help you remember their names. 

If your problem is to prepare a speech try the Cicero method. Otherwise known as the method of loci it is a good way to memorize complex chunks of information. Take the text you need to memorize and attach every bit of  it to the objects in the room. Start at the entrance to the room and walk clockwise, giving every object you encounter an association with a bit of text you need to remember. Later on, you’ll be able to recall the text easier by imagining yourself walking through the room.

Conclusion

You can prevent memory loss by making conscious efforts to improving your brain’s functions. A healthy lifestyle is crucial for you to have a sharp functioning brain into old age. You don’t have to resign to an old age filled with memory hiccups. The above tips we have provided will keep you sharp and make you enjoy an older age even more.

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Leon Collier

Leon Collier is a blogger and academic writer from the UK. He loves to take on every challenge thrown at him and as a lab report writer always delivers outstanding dissertation help regularly.

When he’s not busy writing, he loves reading books and playing tabletop games with his friends.

Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12.