Surprising Memory Snatchers
Feeling Forgetful?
By Mary Kearl
As early as your 20s two changes in your body can affect your memory: You begin losing brain cells and you're also producing less chemical fuel to power the brain cells that remain, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. The more you age, the more impact these changes have on your memory. While short-term (things like the name of a person you just met) and remote memories aren't usually affected by aging, recent memory -- what you did last night or what you ate for breakfast this morning -- can take a hit. Check out the photo gallery below to discover the sneaky memory-stealing culprits that may be regular players in your daily routine.
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Surprising Memory Snatchers
By Mary Kearl
Your Cell Phone
A Swedish study of memory recall in rats found that radiation from cell phones affected the rodents' brain power. Researchers at the Division of Neurosurgery, Lund University in Sweden found that rats that were exposed to mobile phone radiation for two hours a week for more than a year had poorer results on a memory test than those that had no contact with mobile phone radiation. In earlier findings from the researchers, microwave radiation from cell phones affected the brain's ability to protect against nerve cell damage. The lead researcher Henrietta Nittby has a cell phone but uses hands-free equipment to avoid holding her phone up to her ear, according to ScienceDaily.com.
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Your Diet
A new study from Tufts University's psychology department pitted the memory recall of low-calorie dieters against low-carb dieters, with some mixed results. Initial testing conducted when the low-carb dieters had eliminated carbohydrates from their daily intakes revealed that going completely carb-free may lead to lower performances on memory-based tasks. The observed impairments in memory improved after participants reintroduced carbohydrates -- though still sticking to a low-carb diet. Where low-carb dieters have the upper-hand is in reporting less confusion and a greater attention span compared with their low-cal dieter counterparts.
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Salty and Fatty Foods
You always knew a fatty and salty diet was bad for your heart, waist and more -- now research from the June 2008 issue of the "Journal of Alzheimer's Disease" reveals that it's probably bad for your brain, too. Over an eight-week period researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina fed a high-cholesterol diet to one group of middle-aged rats and high-saturated-fat diet to another. While weight gain and food intake were similar among both groups, the saturated-fat fed rats made more memory errors in a maze test, but researchers concluded that both diets can "profoundly impair memory."
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Being Underweight
Obesity, associated with a slew of health problems including heart disease and diabetes, may not lead to memory problems in old age, according to a 2007 study published in "Neurology." Over the course of the six-year study, tests were administered to a group of about 4,000 people over age 65, of whom nearly 25 percent were obese. As time passed, neither obese nor overweight participants exhibited significant changes in memory or cognitive function. In fact, underweight participants demonstrated more brain drain over time -- which the authors note is consistent with previous findings that weight loss or low (Body Mass Index) BMI in old age may be a precursor of cognitive decline or Alzheimer's disease.
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Taking Too Much Medicine
You may want to rethink taking more than the recommended dose of a medication. Overuse of medicines may be the single biggest memory snatcher or cause of confusion in older adults, according to Jan Nissl, RN, BS.
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Poor Sleep
People with sleep apnea -- a sleep condition where sufferers stop breathing temporarily many times throughout the night -- score worse than others on memory and cognitive tests, according to Harvard Health Publications. Using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine -- a sleep-and-breathing aide -- helps improve scores on memory tests if sleep is improved. This is corroborated by a 2008 study that found that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain regions that help store memory. Other studies have linked sleep deprivation to short-term memory loss and poor sleep to trouble remembering.
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Menopause
Women often experience memory lapses and difficulty concentrating leading up to and during menopause. Estrogen therapy has been shown to help, but the Women's Health Initiative found that this seemed to increase the risk of dementia and cognitive problems, according to Harvard Health Publications. A recent study from the University of Illinois at Chicago found that the verbal memory problems women experience in midlife may go hand in hand with hot flashes. Other memory troubles -- shorter attention spans, working memory and visual memory -- were not associated with hot flashes, but poor sleep, often a product of nighttime hot flashes, did impact these areas of memory.
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Certain Surgeries
Weigh loss surgeries, such as gastric bypass, can lead to a vitamin deficiency, which if left untreated, can cause memory loss and confusion, according to a 2007 study published in "Neurology." Deafness, vomiting and seizures were also reported symptoms. Another kind of bypass surgery, of the coronary artery variety, can also lead to confusion, fuzzy thinking, trouble concentrating, difficulty remembering and solving problems, according to Harvard Health Publications.
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Experimenting With Drugs (Just One Time)
While you may know that alcohol and drug use can lead to impaired judgment, coordination and memory, some scientists assert that trying ecstasy just once could damage your memory. Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire's School of Psychology have found that compared with non-users those who've tried ecstasy show significantly impaired memory and that the amount of ecstasy consumed is largely irrelevant, according to reporting from ScienceDaily.com.
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10 comments
marykearl07 10:33:44 AM Mar 10 2009
Please read the studies cited in this story, and then tell me that I'm staring at a "professor's butt."
Olakinomassage 09:25:50 PM Mar 09 2009
I read Mary Kearl's info blurb. Sounds like she's "really qualified" to write an article like this. Good luck with all those "yummy deserts" Mary. You're just what the reading public needs, another "know it all" writer without a clue and unwilling to do any significant research. But then who really cares if your article is misleading to who knows how many readers. You've done your "job" of filling space. I guess your article, more than anything, makes a statement about the lack of truth in today's "educated" journalism. You should be ashamed!
Olakinomassage 09:11:54 PM Mar 09 2009
These "medical tips" are, as usual, full of crap without needed clarifications. The fact of the matter is that salt (seas salt - not the cheap iodized poison sold in grocery stores) is vital to everyone's health. The "baloney" we've been fed by the medical industry about salt and high blood pressure is also untrue. Research what natural health practitioners have to say about the subject. U.S. citizens have been sold a bunch of lies by the medical industry for over one hundred years. Profit - money making shams like cutting your salt intake is a half-truth. The fact is that our bodies requires minerals. These minerals are contained in sea salt and in the exact amounts needed by our bodies. Sure, doctors will tell you that you need to reduce salt to be healthy, but they conveniently fail to tell you that it is the high amount of cheap iodized salt added to processed foods and fast foods that is the problem. Do your research. If you are going to trust the medical industry, you are going t
Jackboose 12:30:28 AM Mar 09 2009
sometimes i think they just make up stuff, it seems everything is bad for you now a days, eating your spinach will be bad one day too haha
Starchildlucy 12:19:42 AM Mar 09 2009
I have another factor that should be added to the "memory zappers" list - this article. Much of the information contradicts itself when you read it and a whole lot of this stuff is known and listed under the "duhhh!" colunm - illicit drugs drugs causing memory issues, what a concept! Looks like some writer had nothing to do, went through a bunch of journals and strung together a bunch of "alleged" facts in no particular perspective like a young child stinging beads. DO NOT trust this article - you got questions - talk to your doctor.
Fastest Nascar 11:56:28 PM Mar 08 2009
Dear Mary Kearl,I strongly suggest you read a good history book about food and quit staring at your professor's butt!Salt and it's wonders has been commonly used since the Egyptian pharoh's true mineral powers and the art of mummification of there king's and queens remains along with there loving petsThe main function of this amazing mineral we all now call "salt" was to primarily preserve there beloved ones flesh after death came to be for the bird god RA. *** Quit staring at my butt now mary, you are just so dirty minded ***
DanaHume 11:25:59 PM Mar 08 2009
Salt: Bad for blood pressure. I cannot believe the amount of salt intake by so many people...and how much of sodium is in our food. Don't even need to put salt on most food, it's already there. Try food WITHOUT salt for one week, and I bet one will start tasting the food, not the salt! Or, buy sea salt, or lower sodium salt.
Fivefourhim 10:40:18 PM Mar 08 2009
Not really an informative piece. We should curtail salt intake now because you say so? How about; Salt intake affects the delicate balance between the exchange of chemicals in the brain, one of which is potassium. Is that the issue? Please fix the article.
Fivefourhim 10:40:16 PM Mar 08 2009
Not really an informative piece. We should curtail salt intake now because you say so? How about; Salt intake affects the delicate balance between the exchange of chemicals in the brain, one of which is potassium. Is that the issue? Please fix the article.
hiddenemotions19 09:53:27 PM Mar 08 2009
Salt dont make you forgetful cuz, I been puttin Salt on my food since I was 10 yrs old atleast!ur salt lover,Stevestevensu88@yahoo.com
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