![]() Long-term exposure to stress hormones can harm the brain-including the hippocampus, a brain region key to memory. But intense or prolonged stress takes a toll on your health. Stress can be helpful in reason-able doses to motivate you and focus attention. It's no coin-cidence that forgetfulness is a common symptom of insomnia. It's also harder to hold on to memories and retrieve information you've learned previously if you're poorly rested, because the pro-cess in which you solidify recent experiences into durable memories occurs during sleep. To learn new information, you must be able to pay attention, which you can't do if you're not well rested. ![]() Regular exercise also supports restful sleep, which is essential restorative "down time" for the brain. During exercise, the body produces sub-stances that help maintain the physical integrity and function of the brain. Exercise enriches the blood (and therefore the brain) with oxygen. Exercise has a variety of potentially positive influences on cognitive skills. Research shows that a diet that contains abundant fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains-with limited amounts of animal products-is best for cognitive fitness.Įxercise regularly. Here are some fun-damental strategies for healthy brain aging:Įat a plant-based diet. Research also suggests that good nutrition, physical activity, a healthy weight, and remaining mentally active in midlife can help to reduce or delay memory impairment later in life. Maintaining your overall cardiovascular fitness is a potent way to preserve memory function. There are also simple ways to help sharpen your everyday memory. The good news is that many age-related memory slips are perfectly normal and not necessarily signs of dementia due to brain diseases like Alzheimer's. Similarly, research has linked diabetes and obesity to poorer brain health. Any condition that compromises heart health and blood vessel flexibility can also affect memory and other mental skills. Memory difficulties may also be caused by medications, poor vision or hearing, sleep disturbances, depression, or chronic pain-all things you can take steps to correct.Ĭardiovascular fitness is also tied closely to brain health and memory. Memory can falter as a result of stress, anxiety, fatigue, distractions, or being overloaded. As your body ages, so does your brain, and as the structure of the brain ages, so does its ability to process information quickly. A typical sign of this mild forgetful-ness is difficulty recalling a word or name that once came easily to you. ![]() Many people begin to notice changes in memory by around age 50.
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