Are you losing your edge?
Or getting Alzheimer’s?

No!

It’s NOT a ‘senior moment’
It’s NOT the loss of brain cells
It’s NOT your brain shutting down

Your memory is still all there!
But you do need to learn the ways to find it.

The Memory Doctor, Dr. Allison Lamont, PhD, says,

“Yes, if you do nothing at all to help your brain, you will lose some of your brain power after 55. But the good news is, you can re-grow your brain capacity, just as you can improve your fitness”.

Research shows that the best results come from planned, systematic brain exercise. Even little changes in the way you challenge yourself each day can bring positive results. Science hasn’t yet found a cure for Alzheimer’s, but most over-55 brains will definitely benefit from increased brain activity, and, with the new brain connections created, will be able to push back brain decay.

Learn these NINE easy secrets for a youthful brain.

1. Can You Hear Me?

31 million Americans have hearing problems. Is one of them you? Did you know that, if you are struggling to hear, it is more than likely that you are not creating a strong memory connection for the information you were trying to hear?. You can’t process and understand what you didn’t hear properly – so you will forget.
Have your hearing tested every 3 years after age 50. Keep the volume down on your TV, Ipod or MP3. The last thing you want is more hearing loss. Protect your hearing and improve your memory.

2. Do I Look Fat In This?

The old adage, “fat and happy” just isn’t true any more. Obesity, or near obesity, is the enemy of a sharp and alert mind and obese people are usually very unhappy. While there is a lot of hype around about BMI (body mass index), there are indications that people with a healthy BMI (around 20) score much better on memory tests than those with BMI’s of 30 or more. I know there are exceptions to this general principle, but your all round health will benefit by thinking lean and trim when it comes to diet. Reducing your calorie intake by 250 a day – either by saying No to that muffin, or burning off 250 calories with a brisk walk, will work wonders for your alertness and sharper memory.Aim to keep your BMI below 25. Eating 4 or 5 small, balanced meals a day keeps your metabolism even and reduces the risks associated with high blood sugar levels.

Don’t know what your BMI is? Check here to work it out.

3. Hello Doctor!

Obesity, hypertension, or high blood cholesterol in middle-age (approximately 50 years old) significantly raise the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease, or a related dementia, in later life. (This comes from research by Miia Kivipelto and colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden). Each of these risk factors roughly doubled the risk so that those in their 50s with all 3 conditions ran a risk of developing dementia that was 6 times higher than for folks with none of them. Please get checked out regularly for blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

4. Pass the Salad, Please.

You’ve always known that vegetables are supposed to be good for you, right? Well, here’s the proof!

Jae Hee Kang reports that research, conducted over 10 years at Harvard Medical School , found that middle-aged women who consistently ate generous portions of leafy or cruciferous green vegetables were better able to preserve their cognitive abilities into advanced age than those who did not. Women who ate 8 or more servings (1 serving = 1/2 cup) of green, leafy vegetables (such as spinach or romaine lettuce) a week demonstrated the cognitive function of someone 1.7 years younger than those who ate 3 or fewer servings per week.

Green leafy vegetables seemed to preserve cognitive function best, perhaps because of their high vitamin B and antioxidant content, (e.g. vitamin C and folate) which may prevent the deleterious effects of ageing on the brain caused by free radicals So eat up that salad and eat more greens.

5. “Stop the noise! I can’t think!”

Have you ever felt like this? Well, actually, it’s probably true. If there are lots of distractions around you, then it is much more likely that you won’t remember, unless you have paid particular attention. When you want to remember, reduce the background noise.

6. Practice the Seven Second Rule!

It takes 7 seconds of concentration or processing to commit information to memory. You’ll find full details of this amazing fact in the Lamont and Eadie book: Seven Second Memory plus six other powerful memory techniques. Rewire your brain for a youthful mind. For now, though, think of paying attention as shining a flash-light on what you want to remember – and do this for seven seconds, focusing on the details and creating as many clues as you can for your memory.

7. Not just a Fishy Tale!

It’s now well-known that the Omega-3 fatty acids found in most types of fish (but particularly cold water fish) are brain-friendly. People who eat any type of fish at least once a week do appreciably better on mental tests than those who avoid seafood. Try to eat at least two fish dishes weekly; if fish is not for you then, at the very least, consider taking Omega-3 dietary supplements.

8. Move it, Baby, Move it!

You already know that exercise is good for you. Being fit gives you a great feeling of well-being. But did you know that exercise is great for your brain also?
Even a 20 minute walk a day will help activate circulation that is so vital for brain growth. 40 minutes to an hour is even better.

9. Your Brain, Your Friend, Your Future.

Do you believe you have a sharp brain? Maybe not, since you are reading this, but I want you to change that.
Dr. Lamont says that having a positive attitude and strong self-belief in the power of your brain are very important in achieving brain growth.
You can do it!

Take these nine actions today and you are on your way to a better performing brain. Not only that, you are building up a buffer against brain decay in later life.
People who are purposeful, conscientious, sociable and self-motivated show less cognitive decline and fewer Alzheimer’s disease symptoms.

Make a conscious effort to stay on task, take an interest in new activities and engage in life around you.

Why not get your memory check and the six-part memory challenge, Brain Tune?
It’s free, it’s based on science and your brain will love you for it. We’ll never reveal your details to anyone.

For more free help and personal advice on diet, exercise, brain food and improving your memory, please visit the Brain and Memory Foundation.

You KNOW you know ….
That word
That name
That number

You just can”t THINK of it.

So what’s happening??

Brain overload?
Too many things in your mind at once?
Too many drinks?
Didn’t take enough notice in the first place?
Exhausted?

These are all likely causes or short-term memory loss.

Given space to think and recall – or sleep – that lost thought will most often come back to you.

Lack of sleep could be the main culprit.

Sleep researchers say for every two hours we spend awake, the brain needs an hour of sleep to sort out the meaning of all that we’ve experienced. To read more about this study

Sleep not only helps store facts, it also helps make connections between them.

Sleep-deprivation experiments show that a tired brain has a difficult time capturing memories of all sorts, and an even tougher time making decisions.

Look after your brain to protect it against short-term memory loss.

It’s not fatal – but it can be darned embarrassing!

To find out about other ways you can sharpen your memory skills, sign up for Brain Tune. It’s a six-part memory training course that is easy, fun to do and hundreds of our readers tell us it has worked for them. It’s also free because we want everyone to have the opportunity to build a buffer of new brain connections. Research tells us that is the best, non-prescription protection against Alzheimer’s.

We will never reveal your details to anyone else.

Latest US Study Finds Brain Training Linked to Decreased Risk of Alzheimer’s.

Have you ever worried, like me, that someday you might suffer from Alzheimer’s? Recently, my sister Allison and I nursed our lovely mother, Jeanie, through the final stages of of this form of dementia. Sadly it’s an experience that more and more of our age group are going through. You probably know of someone yourself who has Alzheimer’s.It’s scary to watch because the person you knew so well gradually drifts away from you as memory loss takes over. No-one really knows what causes it. No-one has yet discovered a cure for it. And thousands more are being diagnosed with it every day.

That’s why this new research is such good news for healthy over-50′s.
It’s a huge, 800 page study prepared for an NIH State-of-the-Science Conference “Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline,  and its findings are music to the ears of everyone over 50 who wants to keep a sharp, alert brain for the rest of their life.

And who doesn’t!

Scientists, as you know, are very cautious about making promises but this is what they said:

“Of all the factors reviewed, including diet and dietary supplements, physical exercise, social engagement, and other leisure activities, only cognitive training was found to have a high level of evidence for being associated with a decreased risk of cognitive decline.”

This is fantastic news for Baby Boomers!

What the scientists are saying is this:

Although eating brain food, physical fitness and social activity are all really important, ‘only cognitive training was said to have a “high degree of evidence” in this report’.

(‘Cognitive’ means brain and memory activities).

This new knowledge is of critical importance.

It means you don’t have to accept memory loss as a consequence of getting older.

You can do something about it!

At 50+, you are confidently expecting to live a full and positive life, with plenty of time to enjoy the leisure activities you’ve promised yourself and your family during your busy earning years.
You’re entitled to those years – but more and more of us are being robbed of them through memory loss and Alzheimer’s.

But you can do something about that. Take action today.

Sign up on this page for our FREE six-day Brain Tune course.

It will set you on the right path to build essential new brain connections. That’s the best, non-prescription protection against Alzheimer’s.

For further information, you can read lots of articles on this site, including  Nine Secrets of a Sharp Brain After 55 and Keep that Boomer Brain Growing

However, new research from the Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology has found that taxi drivers’ brains actually grow when they have to learn so much new information.

Their brains adapt to specialise in and store the vast quantities of navigational information needed to do their job, while leaving other parts of their brains free to regale with their insights.

Why is it excellent news? We can’t all be taxi-drivers but we all want a brain that remembers well. The really interesting thing about the brains of taxi drivers in the London study, was that the more they needed to learn about the streets and landmarks of London, the larger that area of their brain grew to accommodate all the new learning.

That’s the opposite of “the older you are the more brain cells you lose”, a long-standing over-simplification that is losing credibility as study after study demonstrate the opposite.

Researcher Eleanor Maguire of the Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology described the study:

“We got the taxi drivers to imagine they were driving from point to point [on London streets] while their brains were being observed using MRI scans. We also asked them to recall other types of memory that didn’t involve any navigation, like describing famous landmarks like the Statue of Liberty or the Sydney Opera House.”

What the study showed was that taxi drivers become adept at navigating in their imagination, and that this activates a different area of the brain, (the hippocampus), than they (and us) use for doing something seemingly related such as describing a landmark like the Statue of Liberty.  What’s even more stunning, is the hippocampus in these cabbies actually got heavier as they formed all the connections necessary to navigate detailed maps in their minds.

The Knowledge

When a new London cabbie joins the ranks (I couldn’t resist!) they have not yet developed what is known as “The Knowledge”, that mental map of landmarks and streets necessary to navigate the sprawling and, in places, ancient metropolis.  The most remarkable thing about the study is that you can practically measure the weight of The Knowledge in the human brain.  The study showed a before and after picture that clearly demonstrates an amazing degree of new brain growth in a remarkably short period of time.

The MRI scans showed most brain activity for taxi-drivers occurred when imagining using the information – when actively thinking, not just driving around.  You need to be engaged in recall to see the effect.

So, what does this study mean for you, my boomer friends?

It is a stunning example of the fact that your brain will grow if it is challenged to learn new information, particularly complex information. Setting out to learn the complete map of London might not be the challenge for you, but I’m sure there are others that your brain will thank you for. Maybe the map of New York? Just joking!

Three Lessons

1. Challenge yourself to learn something new.
2. The more complex the better.
3. Try to hold the new knowledge in your mind.  Apply it, use it, imagine yourself using it, explain it to someone else. Manipulating information in your mind like this helps you to re-grow new brain connections to retain the knowledge.

What can you do right now to start building a better brain?

It’s never too late to start re-growing YOUR brain connections.  The science is clear that it’s the best, non-prescription protection against memory loss.  Fill in the Memory Check box below and you’ll get two things:

1. A quick check of how sharp your memory is right now.
2. A brief 6-part course that will give you some easy-to-follow tools to help you build your brain and keep it fit.

Earthquake stress.

And all of these disasters have left heartbreak in their wake. Dr. Lamont (co-founder of the Brain and Memory Foundation) lives in Christchurch and fortunately sustained very little damage. She is a counsellor and conducts the Christchurch Memory Clinic. Many very distressed clients are coming to her at the moment because of earthquake stress. From her blog:

“People are describing themselves as ‘scattered’, with little focus or concentration. Technology experts are talking of looking away from their computer screens and then being unable to recall what they had been viewing seconds before. Inability to recall well-known information is causing added distress. Teachers report students are unable to stay ‘on task’. This has far-reaching ramifications as work productivity drops and students prepare for end-of-year examinations.”

So what can be done  to help these symptoms?

Stress affects your memory function.

Here are a few simple strategies to try if you are feeling under pressure.

When Stress Affects Your Memory.

• Take a deep breath and exhale slowly; do this three times and concentrate of physically relaxing
• Step away from whatever it is that you are doing. Stretch your arms forwards, to the sides; clasp your hands behind your back and pull your shoulders back. Breathe deeply.
• Get physical: walking, jogging, swimming or wii will all help your body ‘get back in tune’.
• Be determined NOT to multi-task – one thing at a time is all that you can expect when you are under stress.
• Treat yourself to a massage or maybe acupuncture?
• Be sure you do all you can to get a decent night’s sleep. That is SO important.
• Professional help ( e.g. psychotherapy, anger management) might be needed if the stress persists but there are many self-management things you can try first,

Reduce stress and your memory will thank you!

Is my memory normal?

Click ‘Memory Check’ to find out.

→     Memory Check

Remember: you can do this on-line, or print it off and complete it by hand.

To get your correct scores, place the numeral of your choice into the correct column (e.g. if you think 3 describes your memory, place a 3 in the third column).
On-line, your scores add up downwards automatically. On paper you will have to add them up yourself.
Then add the scores across the bottom of the page to get your grand total.

If you have any queries or comments, contact the author: To email us

If you’d like to improve your memory score, sign up for Brain Tune below. It’s free! And we will never share your details with anyone.

Kindest regards

Gillian Eadie
MEd, BA, LTCL, Churchill Fellow
CEO Brain and Memory Foundation.

To purchase your own copy of the life-changing book, Seven Second Memory: Memory techniques that will change your life, visit http://sevensecondmemory.com; also available for reading on Kindle,  iPad, iPhone or other smartphones.

Train Your Brain

Have you already tried these brainteasers on Twitter?

If not, try them now before looking up the answers!

1. The words below are all anagrams of other words, the initial letters of which form an anagram of another word. What is the answer

bruise warned please listen veined trance

2. Starting with HATE, change one letter at a time until you have the word LOVE. Each change leaves the other letters in their original places and must result in a proper word. What is the minimum number of steps required to achieve this change?

HATE …. …. ….

LOVE

3. If today is Friday, what is the day that follows the day that comes after the day that precedes the day before yesterday?

4. If you were to spell out the numbers in full, (One, Two, Three, etc), how far would you have to go until you found the letter ‘A’?

5. Another Word Ladder

Change ONE to TWO in seven steps, changing only one letter in each three-letter word.

6. When Bob is twice as old as he is now, he’ll be four times as old as he was six years ago. How old is Bob?

7. Make the following correct with one stroke of the pen: 101010 = 9.50

8. How can you combine eight 8′s to make 1000?

9. Tune up your brain! Can you find a single five-letter word which can be added to each of the following letters to form 5 six-letter words? B, T, J, M, D

10. The maker doesn’t need it, the buyer doesn’t use it and the user uses it without knowing. What is it?

11. Show how one taken away from 19 can give you 20.

12. There are three light seitches downstairs which light up three bulbs in the attic. How can you find out which switch lights up which bulb with only one trip upstairs?

13. A Christmas brain teaser. If snow falls from the sky at the rate of one drop of snow per second, how many drops of snow will fall over one minute?

Come on, you can do it!

Answers: (Don’t look unless you have to!)

1. The answer is ‘ANSWER’: asleep, nectar, silent, wander, envied, rubies.

2. HATE, DATE, DOTE, DOVE, LOVE or HATE, LATE, LAVE, LOVE or HATE HAVE HOVE LOVE.

3. Thursday

4. 1000: one thousand. Unless you in the UK when 101 = one hundred And one.

5. OLE, ALE, AYE, DYE, DOE, TOE, TOO, TWO

6. Bob is twelve (12)

7. 10 T0 10

8. Here’s one way but you might find more? 8+8+8+88+888=1000

9. Bangle, Tangle, Jangle, Mangle, Dangle

10. A coffin!

11. Write 19 in Roman numerals – XIX. Take I away and you are left with XX.

12. Turn on one switch and wait a minute or two. Then turn it off and switch on another light. Go upstairs and you will see one light on, one is still warm to the touch and one is still cold. Now you know which is which!

13. 61 drops of snow. We start counting from the time the first snow drop falls and the moment of time is 0 seconds. At the moment of time of 1 second, we have two drops of snow, and so on. When the moment of time is 60 seconds, we will have had 61 drops of snow.

Avoid multi-tasking. It leads to stress and memory loss.

For weeks you’ve been cramming for this exam and you got up early this morning to make sure that you had remembered everything. A lot hangs on this test – your promotion, for one. You can feel the tension rising but say to yourself, “It’s just exam nerves – it’s good stress”, right? Then, when you look at the first question one that you’ve been expecting, your brain goes blank, the words don’t make sense, and you can’t remember a single fact to write down.

You want to get up and run right out of the exam room. When this happens, you are experiencing the “fight or flight response” that every human being has in cases of impending danger.

‘Fight or flight’ is an innate response and it’s a great instinct in its right place. When Fight or Flight kicks in, though, the brain slows down so that it can concentrate on protecting you. If you try to remember something when Fight or Flight is operating, you’ll forget – that’s why stress can cause memory loss.

Stress isn’t always a bad thing – we can all do with energy surges now and then.

In Fight or Flight, for instance, your body automatically starts a chain of reactions. Stress hormones such as cortisol, secreted by the brain, provide energy to our limbs so that we can run away immediately. At the same time, though, the hippocampus is robbed of its energy; if this goes on for a long time, then there are chances of short-term memory loss, because the hippocampus is vital in processing memory.
Repeated exposure to stress of the hippocampus can cause long-term damage and more permanent memory loss. So, it is important to get stress under control.

Can continuous stress cause memory loss? Yes, it can.

If you are forgetting more often, panicking about deadlines and too many unfinished tasks, then you must do something about it today. Stress can become a chronic ailment and you will suffer memory loss.

So, what can you do to contain stress?

1. Monitor how your body and brain are being affected by stress every day. It is important that you take this seriously in order to avoid irreparable damage. Make a note of times you feel particularly pushed; jot down how you are feeling and what you are doing. What are you eating? What are you drinking?
2. Make a list of tasks to be done and create a time-line. If you know that some deadlines you have agreed to cannot be done in the time, contact the recipient now and renegotiate. Take control, relieve the pressure and begin working in a planned, sensible way.
3. Organize your life so that you can work under normal conditions without undue stress. Enjoy your tasks and regain your life.
4. Be in control of the way you eat, exercise, plan and respond – think about your reactions consciously until you feel you life is back on track.

Stress related memory loss diseases include Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other related illnesses that can cause brain trauma. So take action NOW.
A risk-free way of making a start is to sign up for your free  six-part course of Brain Tune.

• It takes no more than 20 minutes a day.
• It’s based on science and research.
• It’s easy to do.
• And it’s been shown to make a difference.

In fact, it’s so good, the University of Oxford in the UK are using a similar product in a research project involving people just like you.

Is this forgetfulness normal?

Many people over the age of 50 (and maybe even younger) experience mild forgetfulness.
Although these are a wake-up call to pay attention to your brain and memory, if the forgetfulness includes:
• Forgetting parts of an experience
• Forgetting where you park the car
• Forgetting events from the distant past
• Forgetting a person’s name, but remembering it later
Then, your memory loss is mild and would be regarded in the ‘normal’ range. It’s worrying though and, in the view of Dr. Allison Lamont, the Memory Doctor, “it’s time to take stock of your lifestyle and memory habits. Memory can be enhanced at this stage.”

When Should I Be Worried?

When you should be worried though, is when your memory loss is affecting your daily living. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive condition that damages areas of the brain involved in memory, intelligence, judgement, language, and behaviour. MRI scans are now able to determine what is happening in an Alzheimer’s but, prior to this, doctors have ways of identifying when the memory loss has become more serious.

When Should I Check With My Doctor?

It’s time to check with your doctor, if you, or someone close to you, is:

• Forgetting something you have just done, or an event you have just attended
• Forgetting how to do things that you’ve done many times before, like driving a car or telling the time
• Repeating phrases or stories in the same conversation
• Forgetting ever having known a particular person
• Frequently becoming confused, or seeming ‘far away’
• Having trouble making choices or handling money
• Noticing that forgetting like this has become more frequent over the past six months.

Never accept memory loss as normal – in mild cases, you can do something about it today – check out Seven Second Memory for a memory program that works.
In serious cases, then the sooner you have an accurate diagnosis, the sooner you can take the necessary steps.

For further information, read Nine Secrets of a Sharp Brain After 55 and Keep that Boomer Brain Growing

What you eat affects how well you think.

Just as your body needs to be in peak condition as you approach your 40’s and 50’s, to have a memory that keeps growing and never lets you down, your brain and neurons need the right foods also.

What you eat directly affects the performance of your brain.

Your intelligence, the way you move, your memory and even the beating of your heart, all rely on your brain cells.

Research has shown that by eating the right food, you can boost your IQ, improve your mood, be more emotionally stable, sharpen your memory and keep your mind young.
The right nutrients will give your brain the power to think more quickly, remember more effectively, be better coordinated and balanced and have improved concentration.

Unfortunately, with all of the food processing that takes place today, and because so many of the ingredients that are actively bad for your brain are used in almost everything edible in the supermarket, it is increasingly difficult to make sure that the foods you are eating are the right ones.

Think ‘balanced diet’ as you plan your meals for the week. Be sure to include at least 25 of the following in your shopping list.

Lean Protein

1. Fish – Salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring (also listed under fats)
2. Poultry – chicken and turkey (skinless)
3. Meat – lean beef and pork
4. Eggs – free-range and/or organic eggs are best
5. Tofu and Soy products
6. Dairy products – low fat cheeses, cottage cheese, low fat yogurt (sugar free) and low fat or skim milk
7. Beans and lentils – also listed under carbohydrates
8. Nuts and seeds, especially walnuts – also listed under fats

Complex Carbohydrates

1. Berries – especially blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries (keep frozen berries on hand as well)
2. Oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit
3. Cherries
4. Peaches, plums
5. Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts
6. Oats (the long cooking kind), whole wheat items, wholemeal bread with at least 3 grams of fibre.
7. Red or yellow peppers (much higher in Vitamin C than green)
8. Pumpkin squash
9. Spinach – for salad or cooked, adds fiber and nutrients
10. Tomatoes
11. Yams
12. Beans – also listed under proteins

Fats

1. Avocados (great news for avocado fans!)
2. Extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
3. Olives
4. Salmon – also listed under protein
5. Nuts and Nut Butter, especially walnuts, macadamia nuts,
Brazil nuts, pecans and almonds – also listed under protein

Liquids

1. Water
2. Green or black tea

Remember to include minerals, too, as they are also critical to mental functioning and performance.

Magnesium and manganese are needed for brain energy. Sodium, potassium and calcium are important in the thinking process and they facilitate the transmission of messages. Check food labels.

For more information, read Keep that Boomer Brain Growing