Simple Steps To Boost Your Memory on HWN FAN COLUMN

Who doesn’t wish for a razor-sharp memory? Increase your recall with these surprising, everyday activities.

START DRINKING COFFEE:
You know the jolt of energy and focus you get from drinking a cup of coffee? Well, it turns out coffee's revving power can make your brain work better. One way to think of it is that caffeine may allow you to store memories as you normally would, but it may boost your resolution a bit. Why does this happen? Caffeine causes your brain to release norepinephrine, which may enhance the process of memory consolidation.

LIFT WEIGHTS:
Want to remember every detail of a special event, like what you were wearing, who you talked to, and what you nibbled on? Try lifting weights for 20 minutes afterward.
A 2014 study found that episodic memory (which is the longterm memory of an event) is enhanced by a short burst of resistance exercise. Participants in the study who did 50 repetitions on a knee-extension machine, directly after being shown a set of photos, remembered 10 percent more than the participants who didn’t stress their muscles. The strength-training had an even greater positive effect on the memory of photos that evoked an emotional response. The key element in this equation is short-term stress—in this case, intense physical exercise. Researchers tested the saliva of both groups, and the exercise group showed a higher levels of norepinephrine, the type of adrenaline that has been shown to enhance memories.

STOP SMOKING:
Thinking about quitting? Take heart: Stopping smoking not only decreases your chances of developing lung disease, heart disease, cancer, and physical symptoms of premature aging, but can also give your memory a boost. Smoking hurts your ability to learn new things and remember them later. Smoking damages the areas of the brain critical to memory formation and retrieval. It’s never too late to quit smoking and improve your brain health.

HAVE SEX REGULARLY:
Consistent sexual activity has been shown to increase the production of new neurons (a process known as neurogenesis) in the brains of middle-aged rats, says a 2013 study. (Rats are routinely used in medical studies because their genetic, biologic, and behavioral characteristics are so similar to human’s.) As long as the rats continued to have sex throughout testing, age-related cognitive problems—including weakened memory —actually showed improvement thanks to the effect of
neurogenesis on their hippocampus.
The hippocampus is a really fascinating part of the brain.
It gets input from and sends output to many other regions, and it seems to take all of that information in, bind everything together into a coherent memory, and orchestrate with the rest of the brain to store the memory over time. To a large extent, memory is what the hippocampus does.

DO YOUR CARDIO:
Even if you feel like you forget things more often than you used to, it’s possible to pump up your brain’s memory center by doing aerobic exercise twice a week.
It seems that exercise either increases the birth rate [of brain cells in the hippocampus], or allows for more of the cells to stick around once born. Overall, this might cause a small but detectable increase in hippocampal volume.

KEEP A SENSIBLE SLEEP SCHEDULE:
If you want to remember the things you hear, see, and do each day, get a good night’s sleep each night. Though scientists have well proven that sleep is essential to the longterm storage of memories—ever tried to remember small details after a night of tossing and turning?—a new study has identified a curious pattern involving memory and sleep: When you’re ingesting new information, your brain will actually keep you awake—and when your brain is ready to convert your short-term memories into longterm memories, it will send you to sleep.

SMELL ROSEMARY:
Aromatherapy isn’t just for relaxing at the spa. The woodsy scent of rosemary can help you develop new longterm memories. In a recent study, researchers found that people situated in rooms scented with rosemary essential oil were better able to remember events and future tasks than people in non-scented rooms. What’s going on? People in the rosemary rooms were found to have higher blood concentration levels of 1,8-cineole, a compound small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier.
1,8-cineole has pharmacological (drug like) activity in the brain. Specifically, it increases stimulation of cholinergic neurons, [which are] strongly implicated in memory. Peppermint and sage can also improve memory performance, while lavender actually impairs memory.

[HWN/Dr Oyeyemi Olusegun Adeniyi]