As we age so does our brain, which often means memory loss and forgetfulness. But just in the way we exercise to keep our bodies healthy, there are exercises we can do to maintain our brain’s health and memory.
This week on “Take Care,” memory fitness and brain health expert Dr. Cynthia Green shares how we can do this. Green is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the founder and president of Memory Arts, which provides memory fitness and brain health training. She is also a leading authority in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Unlike the milk in your fridge, there is not a specific expiration date as to when your memory will start to go bad. Green says the age you start to notice this really depends on how self-aware you are.
“You can have people in their 30s who will suddenly feel like they can’t think as quickly as they used to, or they can’t keep up at work. And you can have people into their 80s and 90s who never notice anything in their cognitive function,” Green said.
However, Green does say that according to data from the Wexler Adult Intelligence Scale, things like brain speed and accuracy start to decrease around age 25.
Although symptoms of brain aging may seem inevitable, Green says it may just be due to lack of understanding how to exercise the brain. Intellectual skills to focus on are:
- Memory
- Attention
- Speed of processing
- Multitasking
“When we work out those skills, and train them, we can more effectively maintain them,” Green said.
There is still a lot of research to be done in this area, according to Green, but one thing that is proven is the decrease in brain volume with age. This decreased volume in turn makes the brain more vulnerable to changes in blood flow, which may be a contributing factor to tired intellectual skills. Ways to help maintain blood flow include:
- Physical exercise
- A healthy diet
- Avoiding injury
- Managing blood pressure and cholesterol
Besides age and brain shrinkage, Green says there are other factors in our day-to-day lives that can also contribute to changes in memory.
- Taking certain medications
- Stress
- Lack of sleep
- Emotional distress
- Vitamin deficiencies like B12
- Other health concerns
But by leading a generally healthy lifestyle and exercising intellectual skills, such as through timed, stimulating phone and computer games, you can more easily maintain brain health and cognitive function.