Science knows a lot about the human brain today, but even now it is not fully understood. However, there is no doubt that for humans the brain is the main organ of perception and knowledge of the surrounding world. Surprisingly, this organ of small volume and weighing less than two kilograms is responsible for controlling the entire human body.
The brain is characterized by a dynamic and sensitive to the slightest influences connection between cells, it can restore damaged neural connections and create new ones, reacts with lightning speed to any failures in the body systems and strives to restore their functionality as soon as possible.
But, unfortunately, any failure leaves a trace. The capabilities of the brain in this regard are by no means limitless. Over time, his ability to work, as well as his ability to recover, becomes worse, and this causes a huge number of different cognitive disorders.
Just as effort is required to maintain intelligence at a high level (we wrote about this in detail in the article “Development of thinking. What to do to become smarter”), the brain also requires care, namely rest, supply of necessary substances, maintaining plasticity, ensuring proper blood circulation, etc.
At the same time, it is one thing to understand that you need to take care of your mind and brain, and quite another to know how this is done in practice. With this article we want to expand your knowledge by talking about how to maintain a clear mind and intelligence in old age. It may be too early to think about old age, but in any case: forewarned means forearmed.
Reasons for the deterioration of the ability to remember in adulthood
There are natural reasons that inhibit mental activity. As well as external factors affecting concentration and the ability to remember.
The first include:
- Slowing down metabolic processes in the body;
- Vascular dysfunction.
- Injuries or infections of the head that lead to dysfunction of some of its parts;
- Lack of physical activity;
- Unbalanced diet;
- Stroke or heart attack;
- Lack of interest in new knowledge and hobbies;
- Stress and depression.
This causes neurons to lack oxygen and nutrients. Concentration and memory ability gradually decrease.
External factors include:
Short-term memories disappear first. That is, the information received last is forgotten.
Poor memory: causes, treatment
If relatives note that memory deterioration occurs in older people, treatment in this case must begin immediately by identifying the causes. Neurologists identify several causes of memory impairment:
- bruises, injuries, hemorrhages, concussions lead to problems with remembering information;
- with Alzheimer's disease, partial memory loss is observed in older people; treatment of this pathology is carried out by a neurologist;
- epilepsy;
- atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels;
- brain tumors;
- chemotherapy;
- long-term depression combined with insomnia;
- imbalance of substances in the body due to diet and nutritional disorders (for example, iodine);
- psychological factors, such as passion for something, the desire to forget about an unpleasant, traumatic event;
- in a state of passion, memory loss may occur, for this reason treatment is most effective;
When determining the causes of memory impairment, the doctor talks with the patient, conducts an examination to identify the suspected causes, after which he may prescribe a number of diagnostic methods. The neurology clinic performs various studies to determine the presence of pathologies in the circulatory system and other factors that cause memory problems. After diagnosis, the doctor selects a therapy program.
Memory Tests
To determine how developed mental activity is, neurologists use memory tests for older people.
To conduct the test you need: a watch, paper and a pen. Within 60 seconds you need to remember the following words: haystack, sidewalk, castle, century, strip, film, carriage, aroma, landscape, Carpathians, moon, Himalayas, actor, stillness, book, calendar, flower, man, hill, woman, taxi , abstraction, vessel, helicopter, gift.
When time is up, write down the words you remember on a piece of paper:
- Less than 6 – specialist consultation and a program for training memory functions are required;
- 7-12 - attention and concentration suffer;
- 13-17 - good memory ability;
- 18-22 - the result is above average, phone numbers, card PIN codes and other important information are easy to remember;
- More than 22 - a high result, the ability to quickly remember large amounts of information, analyze and systematize it in your head.
Do several of these tests to determine the level of neuron activity in your brain.
How to train a child's memory
First of all, it is worth noting that adults and children remember information differently. In other words, for a child the process of memorization most often occurs involuntarily. Information heard somewhere by chance during a certain period of time can emerge in a child’s speech. Probably the most common example, which is common in all countries, regardless of cultural differences, is the use of profanity by parents in front of a child. Of course, to a greater extent, such an example can be considered negative, but this will not make it any less striking.
Another feature of the child’s memorization process is emotional coloring. Thus, a positive experience with memory exercises will not only guarantee a further desire to learn, but will also enhance the effect itself.
What is even more important is what type of memory the child is initially predisposed to. However, it is worth mentioning in advance that traditionally in society there are several types of memory: visual, auditory, motor and emotional. But in fact, memory classifications are much broader, and research in this area covers many scientific disciplines. Therefore, without visiting a specialist, it is impossible to say exactly what the child is predisposed to. So parents should be guided by their observations during educational games or other forms of pastime for the child.
On the other hand, determining predisposition does not in any way negate the fact that memory must be developed and trained in a comprehensive manner.
It is worth developing memory in children as early as possible. But for this, it is important to take into account that each age stage is associated with one or another type of memory. For example, babies up to one year old develop emotional and motor memory. Logical memory begins to form together with speech.
Psychologists have also determined that at the age of 5, children remember poems best; after 6 years, you can begin to actively train visual memory, and at the age of 8, you need to work on long-term memory processes.
The best way to train a child’s memory is through play using several different exercises. The following popular methods can be distinguished:
- Word game;
- Physical exercise;
- Stories about the events of the day;
- Association game;
- Learning a foreign language (words and key phrases).
Techniques and exercises
If doctors discover serious abnormalities, they prescribe a course of drug treatment. But in some cases, you can get by with exercises for the brain and memory for an elderly person, which are performed at home with the help of loved ones.
Memory
For the exercise you will need a set of cards with paired images on them. Lay out the cards face down and turn them over one at a time, remembering which picture is which and collecting the same ones.
Subsequence
You need to take 15 items, it is important that they are new and unfamiliar. They need to be placed in random order on the table. For 60 seconds you need to look at these objects and remember how they are located relative to each other. After this, the assistant must mix them, and the trainee must put them in the right order.
Fine motor skills
Exercises performed with the fingers to improve memory in older people are very useful for mental activity. Doctors recommend mastering the skill of knitting and embroidery. If this is difficult, you should start with simple exercises. Scatter the peas and buckwheat on the table in front of you, mix, then divide into grains.
Art therapy
This technique is used to restore memory after a stroke in the elderly. The patient must be treated by a doctor. The essence of the technique is to use colors and their shades to develop new connections between neurons in the brain. At home, it is useful for older people to draw, mixing colors and obtaining new shades.
New skills
As an adult, it is useful to learn new skills. For example, learn to work on a computer, learn a foreign language. This stimulates neurons and makes them work fully.
Card games
Another option for keeping an elderly person with poor memory occupied is playing cards. Such games are based on memorizing moves and cards used. It develops the mind and does not get boring over time.
Online Games
As an alternative to home exercises, you can use brain simulators on a computer or tablet. The advantage of the electronic version is that before starting classes you are asked to take a test to determine your ability level.
Forget the advice about learning poetry. Memorizing without using imagination and associative thinking will not improve the situation. Such information quickly “flies” out of your head as unnecessary.
Ways to Maintain a Clear Mind and Intelligence
With the tips below, we want to complement what you have already learned. The sooner you start following them, the more benefits you will bring to your brain and the better the results will be by the time you reach old age.
Gymnastics for the mind
A specialist in brain imaging, Kawashima Ryuta, MD, from Japan, has spent many years studying ways to improve cognitive skills, which has allowed him to identify a few that are most effective. According to him, the best methods for training the brain are solving simple mathematical problems at speed and reading aloud.
Ryuta discovered that by performing simple mathematical calculations, the brain began to work much more actively than during any other activity. And subsequent experiments confirmed that by solving examples, the frontal lobes of the left and right hemispheres of the brain develop.
In the experiment, people who studied mathematics for just 5 minutes every day showed improved results in tests of communication, self-control, memory and creative thinking after a couple of months. People with Alzheimer's disease also participated, and after 6 months of training, the decline in their cognitive abilities slowed down.
Based on these studies, Ryuta developed a series of special notebooks called “Training the Brain.” These notebooks are collections of easy examples for performing mathematical operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Today, “Training the Brain” notebooks can be bought or found on the Internet, but you can get acquainted with the example below (and if you try to solve all the examples, you’ll get a good workout for your brain):
We think that you did an excellent job with the examples. But this is not the only way to preserve the mind and intelligence. Let's continue.
Smart lifestyle
You may be familiar with the book “The Retired Brain,” authored by cognitive neuropsychology professor Andre Aleman (if not, be sure to read it). It provides facts confirming that intelligence can be trained at absolutely any age.
For example, Sigmund Freud believed that in old age a person is no longer able to learn anything. But it is now known that the brains of older people have good plasticity, which means that their neurons can still create new connections that are required for learning. Due to them, the deterioration in the functions and structure of the brain observed during aging of the body can be compensated.
According to Aleman, brain training tasks like crossword puzzles and logic problems are an excellent way to prevent cognitive impairment. And in addition to this, the scientist provides a number of recommendations to help maintain clarity and sharpness of mind:
- Follow the principles of healthy eating. The most important part of a “smart” diet is moderation in food. The fewer calories a person consumes, the less oxidation his brain neurons are exposed to. It is advisable to reduce your intake of foods containing sugar, salt and saturated fat. And you need to add foods rich in vitamins to your diet, especially vitamin B12 and folic acid. You should also not forget to drink at least one and a half liters of water per day.
- Stay active. Physical activity is extremely beneficial not only for the body, but also for the brain. To maintain cognitive function, you need to do exercises that raise your heart rate and cause you to sweat for half an hour at least three times a week. Such exercises include cycling, jogging, swimming and any active sports games.
- Continue to work. This option is more suitable for older people, but you still need to know about it. An excellent way to maintain mental activity is to continue working after reaching retirement age. Of course, no one forces you to work at a factory at 70 years old. Work can be replaced by interesting activities and hobbies that require the use of memory and attention.
- Read books. If you want to keep your brain active for as long as possible, try to read as much as possible. Moreover, we are talking specifically about books, and not about magazines or newspapers. Firstly, books are much more useful and interesting, and secondly, articles in the press are usually short, and you can understand their essence by simply reading the title and skimming the paragraphs. In addition, when reading books, a person is forced to process and remember more information in order to follow the plot.
The benefit of the tips offered by Andre Aleman is that they not only have a beneficial effect on brain function and intellectual functions, but also help maintain a healthy body and broaden your horizons. Conclusion: use your brain and lead a healthy lifestyle so that your intelligence will serve you until old age.
Correct Use of Intelligence
Several decades ago, scientists were surprised to discover that the human brain has a unique quality - plasticity. This organ can physically change depending on environmental conditions, and neural connections in it can be formed until old age. The more often a person uses chains of neurons, the stronger they become. Taxi drivers are cited as proof of this: after several years of work, their hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for spatial thinking, becomes larger.
Anyone can consciously train any area of their brain. But at the same time, you need to remember about the opposite effect: by not using your brain, you contribute to its degradation (we recommend reading the article “10 ways to prevent mental degradation” on this topic). Therefore, anyone who wants to have a sharp and clear mind in old age must force their brain to work to its fullest today.
Human intellectual potential is inexhaustible, but most people do not even strive to fully reveal it. Roger Sipe, a professional and performance coach who wrote the best-selling book Brain Development, believes that people can use their minds much more effectively, read four times faster, and remember three times better.
In the aforementioned book by Sipe you can find a lot of tips on how to improve your cognitive abilities, but giving up multitasking deserves special attention among them. The author explains it this way: thinking that a person can handle multitasking is completely wrong, and anyone who believes that they can successfully do several things at the same time is mistaken.
As author and personal development consultant Peter Bregman wrote in an article in the Harvard Business Review, multitasking is a trick that a person performs on himself in the belief that he is getting more done. But in reality, human productivity in this case drops by 40%.
The point is that a person does not do several things at once, but simply quickly switches between them, which only interferes with himself, and at the same time wastes time. The results of such work always require improvement. Plus, multitasking also dulls a person. IQ drops about the same as after a night without sleep. Many people pride themselves on thinking that they are great at multitasking, but this is self-deception.
And one more important nuance: in the realities of today, with a high pace of life and far from the best state of the environment, it is very difficult for the human body to cope with stress. The quality of the products also leaves much to be desired, and replenishment with useful substances is extremely necessary for a person. That is why it is worth paying attention to useful food additives, and they need to be mentioned separately.
Healthy Supplements
Renowned neurologist and member of the American College of Nutrition, David Perlmutter, has spent many years studying the effects of nutrition on human thinking abilities. He found that glucose and gluten are the main causes of memory impairment and the development of many neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's disease.
You can read in detail about Perlmutter’s research in his book “Food and the Brain.” We will consider only the supplements cited by the author that stimulate brain activity:
- Turmeric. This is a well-known seasoning that gives food a yellow color. But it is good not for this, but because it has been used for thousands of years in Indian and Chinese medicine. Turmeric contains curcumin, which can activate genes that produce incredible amounts of antioxidants. It also improves glucose metabolism. Together, all this significantly reduces the likelihood of developing brain diseases.
- Probiotics. This term refers to a special class of microorganisms and substances of microbial origin. They are used for therapeutic purposes and as food products, as well as dietary supplements. Eating probiotics improves brain function, reduces stress, and relieves anxiety, worry and depression.
- Resveratrol. Perlmutter calls it real magic. This amazingly useful substance improves blood circulation in the brain, stimulates the heart, slows down the aging process, and also regulates fat cells, preventing them from developing. The largest amount of resveratrol is found in grapes and drinks made from them.
- Vitamin D: This vitamin is most often mentioned when talking about bone health and calcium deficiency. For this reason, it is added to milk. But the effect of vitamin D on the body is much more serious, because it has a positive effect on the brain. The human central nervous system includes receptors for this vitamin, and it prevents the destructive effects of free radicals on neurons.
- Alpha lipoic acid. It is considered a powerful antioxidant for brain cells. Despite the fact that the body produces this fatty acid in the required quantity, the lifestyle of a modern person and poor diet force it to be taken as a supplement.
- Coconut oil. It can be used for both the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Knowledgeable people generally consider this oil to be superfuel for the brain, as well as a substance that stops any inflammatory processes. Coconut oil can either be added to food when preparing it, or drunk in its pure form, one teaspoon per day.
- Docosahexaenoic acid. This omega-3 fatty acid can be called one of the best among all supplements. Nutritionists and doctors call it a treasure that protects the brain from the development of many diseases and stops the processes of aging and degeneration. Eat plenty of fish, as well as salmon or cod liver, and your brain will thank you.
You can find a lot more useful and interesting information in the book “Food and the Brain”, and it will be better if you read it yourself. We will just make one more addition: David Perlmutter strongly recommends eliminating cereals, bread and sugar from your diet. In his opinion, this will allow one to become smarter and avoid the deterioration of mental abilities associated with the aging process.
What has been said in the article is quite enough to understand how important it is to start taking care of your brain now and what is necessary for this. Experts and simply knowledgeable people unanimously say that maintaining a clear mind and intelligence in old age is quite possible. We also share this belief, and as evidence we would like to give several examples.
Quick Memorization Methods
Methods for quickly memorizing information in older people will help retain important information in their minds:
- Association method - if you need to remember a name, title or number, it must be compared with an object or famous person with the same name;
- Abbreviation - a phrase is easier to remember if you take the first letters of each word, for example “you need to go to the dentist” - NPS;
- Visualization is a very effective method; you need to imagine in your imagination what you want to remember;
- From complex to simple - if you need to learn a large amount of knowledge, it is better to break it down into small blocks and learn gradually;
- Rhyming - with the help of poetic form, information is absorbed 4 times better;
- Hook method - numbers are better remembered if you replace them with objects. For example, 0 is a donut, 1 is a stick, 2 is a swan.
Everyone chooses an option that is convenient for themselves.
You can also train your brain using these methods.
Recommendations from experts
To stop forgetting, it is important not only to exercise daily, but also to adjust your lifestyle and diet. Brain activity is affected by general physical condition.
How to preserve memory in old age:
- Physical activity: you need to go for a walk or jog every day - this strengthens not only physical health, but also the nervous system;
- Proper nutrition: Vitamins and fatty acids are necessary to maintain stable brain activity. They are found in meat, fish, nuts, vegetables and fruits;
- Get adequate sleep: A 7-hour night's rest is essential for neuronal recovery;
- Single-tasking: focusing on one task helps you cope better with it and remember the sequence of actions.
If you or your loved ones have memory problems, do not ignore it. Research by neurophysiologists has proven that most functions can be restored. Therefore, follow the advice of experts and do the necessary exercises.
Video
The exercises should be repeated daily for 20-30 minutes; for an elderly person with dementia, it is better if there is a loved one nearby to support and guide him.
Of course, it is important that the classes bring a lot of positive emotions to the elderly person, so that he is interested in studying. After all, if he doesn’t have a love for singing or drawing, classes can only make him angry. But the most important thing in all these activities is your attention to a loved one who is sick, which - as long as the person gets to know you - is priceless.
Three rules of life to improve mnestic processes
It is extremely important to adhere to these rules:
We create healthy environmental conditions. Good brain function is possible with proper organization of work and rest schedules. Therefore it is necessary:
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| Don't neglect physical activity. Simple exercises help stimulate blood circulation in the brain. Strength training and running are useful. A physical therapy doctor will help you select the correct training program, taking into account age characteristics and medical history. |
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We eat healthy and tasty. The diet should be varied; the menu should include the following foods that are good for the brain:
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Note! Vitamin-mineral complexes and other drugs to improve memory are also useful. However, you should not buy the contents of pharmacy counters thoughtlessly. A specialist will help you select medications (Glycine, Phenibut, Noopept) and dietary supplements (Vitrum Memory, products with Ginkgo Biloba) in a suitable combination.
Some more useful tips
Art helps you live.
In addition, it is recommended:
- select synonyms for different words and use them in everyday life;
- do usual things with the wrong hand - for right-handers - left, for left-handers - right;
- change walking routes, order of household chores;
- write summaries or reproduce heard text orally - the more often you practice, the faster you will notice how you remember more and more details;
- draw using different materials - watercolor, gouache, pastel, felt-tip pens (fine motor skills and memory are trained - drawing details helps a lot with this);
- visit museums, exhibitions, concerts - and be sure to share your impressions;
- get enough sleep and avoid stressful situations.
For various reasons - smile!
And most importantly - think positively!!! This is the main, strict, reinforced concrete rule! A good mood is the key to the health of the nervous system and the body as a whole.
