Guest blogger Marcia Rockwood is a journalist and editor who has worked for DailyHeathNews online, Ms. Magazine, Reader’s Digest, and AARP the bulletin. She has won numerous awards, including sharing the National Press Club Award with bestselling author Mary Roach. Skiing, gardening, and taking apart – then putting together very old houses are some of her favorite things.
When American Idol’s Randy Jackson had gastric bypass surgery his mind was likely on one thing: improving his physical health. Now a new study shows that patients who undergo weight-loss surgery may also experience improvements in memory and cognition. While researchers report that more investigation is needed to explain the reasons for the link between weight-loss surgery and improved memory, their surprising discovery sheds an intriguing light on the mysteries of the brain.
I talked with Cynthia R. Green, Ph.D., president of MemoryArts and the author of 30 Days to Total Brain Health, a book about daily exercises we all can use whether thin, thick, or somewhere in between, to help keep our memories sharp and our brains agile. Aerobic fitness is one of the three essentials, she stressed. So is staving off negative emotions and stress. And thirdly, stretching our mental capacity with strategies like these:
* Reverse the Routine. Key to better brainpower is to keep your mind working fast and flexibly. One of the best ways to do this is to push yourself outside of your normal habits and routines. Just for starters, try wearing your watch upside down. It will give your brain a little stretch whenever you check the time. Or listen to a radio station that airs in a language you studied in high school.
* Attain = Retain. Pay attention to what you’re learning as you take in new information. It’s entirely possible that what you see as a habit of “forgetting things,” is really proof that you’re not paying close attention to what you’re learning in the first place. Meditation is one great way to improve focus.
* Just for argument’s sake. As strongly held as your political (or personal) beliefs may be, take a deep breath and make yourself sit and really listen to someone you completely disagree with. Hear them out, —all the way through. And let your mind trace an entirely different pattern of logic. Then see how effectively you can counter their argument.
* Every Fifth Word. Take a random paragraph out of the newspaper, a magazine, or from a blog. Then make a list containing every fifth word in the paragraph. Use that set of words to form a sentence— smart, silly, startling. Dr. Green points out that many experts believe by staying intellectually vigorous, and giving the neurons in your brain a good workout, there is a possibility to acquire “cognitive reserve,” –a kind of extra neuron density in the brain. Should you be faced with Alzheimer’s or dementia in later life that reserve could well help to minimize or at least moderate the damage.
* Do what Bill Gates and former President Clinton do. That is, get a pad of paper and doodle. A study found subjects assigned a doodling task not only did better when quizzed on what they were monitoring on a phone call, but recalled 29% better than their non-doodling counterparts on a surprise memory test.
* Take a (quick) trip back to the fifth grade. Remember all the straight memorization that happened in class back then? That discipline fades away for most of us as life moves on. Yet it’s another very important way to keep the memory muscles flexing. Memorize a poem every week or so. Not only will poetry boost your memory strength, it will give you something soothing to repeat in traffic jams, exasperatingly long grocery store lines, and while waiting for friends who never show up on time. Remember that stress too undermines memory!
CONNECT THE DOTS
Go to Poets.org and sign up for a new poem each day. Or try one of the A-Word-A-Day websites that allow you to stretch your vocabulary. The important thing is to make flexible thinking a routine part of your life. There’s a new expression being used and that is “neurobics”—a real workout for the brain. For more Healthy Outlook Blog posts on maintaining memory, check these out: “Can Brain Games Improve Memory?” and “Boosting Your Brain Health.”
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