A Lifestyle Change That Boosts Memory

Carl Lowe | Jan 29, 2013 | Comments 0

If your memory is getting worse, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, think they’ve discovered why it’s giving you problems. They recommend a simple lifestyle change that can rewire and improve your brain.

According to these scientists, our sleep slips as we age, and sleep deterioration is what shatters our ability to remember. Get better sleep and your mind may mend.

“What we have discovered is a dysfunctional pathway that helps explain the relationship between brain deterioration, sleep disruption and memory loss as we get older — and with that, a potentially new treatment avenue,” says sleep researcher Matthew Walker.

“When we are young, we have deep sleep that helps the brain store and retain new facts and information,” Walker says. “But as we get older, the quality of our sleep deteriorates and prevents those memories from being saved by the brain at night.”

Healthy adults typically spend one-quarter of the night in deep, non-rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. At this time, the brain’s middle frontal lobe generates slow brain waves. Impairment of this frontal region of the brain as we age can hinder deep sleep.

Ways to improve sleep include:

• Avoid coffee, black tea and caffeinated drinks after dinner.
• Exercise during the day (but not late at night).
• Go to bed at the same time every night.
• Sleep in a totally darkened room.
• Don’t use a computer or cellphone within an hour of bedtime.