Four Strategies Can Boost Your Memory
1. Vitamin B12: Is vital to clear thinking, but as you age, your body has a harder time extracting it from foods such as milk, meat, and fish. With a doctor’s okay, take a daily B-complex supplement containing 1,000 micrograms (mcg) of B12, advises Marwan Sabbagh, M.D., author of the Alzheimer’s Answer.
2. Sleep: Low quality and quantity can seriously decrease clarity, says Cornell University sleep expert, James Maas, PhD. The brain moves memories into long-term storage during deep sleep, he explains. Stick to one bedtime and keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool. Limit caffeine, night-lights, naps, and night caps; all can zap sleep.
3. Locomote: Boosting your activity level increase brain volume and enhance cognitive function. In an Australian study, people with mild memory impairments performed better on cognitive tests after walking 150 minutes a week for 6 months. Exercise increases the flow of blood to the brain, and it controls insulin and other chemicals linked to cognitive problems, notes John Murphy, M.D., president of the American Geriatrics Society. If you exercise even a little, it’s better than doing nothing.
4. Mind Your Meds: A variety of medications can cloud your concentration. A class of drugs called anticholinergics, found in some bladder, allergy, sleep remedies and drugs, such as, sedatives and seizure control meds can also produce brain fog. If concentration difficulties coincide with a new drug you’re taking, alert the physicians who prescribed it.