Six Ways to Stop Memory Loss

I found this article useful for those using their brain lots, especially scholars. Our brains are like machines. They need care and break. One should know how to balance brain use: use it to sharpen your cognitive skill but don't use it too much.

With the wave of elder boomers looming, scientists are hard at work on ways to prevent dementia and ordinary mental decline. The research is beginning to bear fruit: it's clear that a healthy lifestyle and mental exercise can measurably improve cognitive functioning. Here are six brain-sharpening recommendations that mindful folks of any age can follow.

1. Go Aerobic: an impressive lineup of research suggests that exercise promotes new neurons in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for some aspects of memory. Neuroscientist Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois found that after only six months people over 60 who exercised three times a week for an hour had the brain volumes of people three years younger.
2. Be a Player: Software has been used for years to help people who have suffered strokes or traumatic brain injuries regain specific mental abilities. Healthy folks have their choice of a host of products, including one, Posit Science's Brain Fitness Program.
3. Fat Factor: Omega-3 fatty acids, which are plentiful in flaxseed, walnuts, wild salmon, cooked soybeans and halibut, among other foods, are not only mood-boosters but can improve concentration, according to work at the University of Siena in Italy.
4. Take Folic Acid: Research published last year in the British medical journal the Lancet found that adults ages 50 to 70 who took 800mg a day of folic acid for three years did much better on cognitive tests than a placebo group.
5. Bottoms Up: Among seniors with mild memory and cognitive problems, those who had one alcoholic drink a day, typically wine, had a slower progression of their dementia over a three-year period than the teetotalers.
6. Relax: Seniors with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood have a smaller hippocampus and do worse on memory tests, according to researchers at Douglas Hospital. Stress may also act as a trigger to poor memory in people with a gene associated with Alzheimer's. You can find the American Academy of Family Physicians' tips on managing stress here.