How to improve memory

Today, many people are wondering how to improve memory. We are bombarded with information in the media about how to increase memory that may or may not be accurate, so it is vital to be able to determine fact from fiction. Nonetheless, no one wants to suffer from memory loss, whether it is some “normal” part of the aging process or something much more severe, such as a diagnosable memory loss disorder.

Either way, to not be able to have a functional memory is scary for all of us, and we should all be aware of what can be done to boost memory.

Ways to Improve Memory

Scientists from all over the world are urgently looking for the best way to improve memory. Unfortunately, it is a story that is far from being told, and the debate is still ongoing. However, we do have some insights into behaviors that benefit the brain and hence your ability to remember people, places, events, and other important things in your life. Interestingly, it is being proven that the brain is just like every other organ. It must be cared for properly just like our heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, gut, skin, and all of the rest, otherwise it is subject to premature damage that will result in dysfunction on some level. For example, being physically active is highly important to brain function (Colcombe et al., 2006; Johansson et al., 2022). Consistent and intense physical exercise will keep your brain sharp, just as it benefits your heart, muscles, lungs, and the rest of our body.

Being sedentary or inactive has been labeled as the “new smoking” to convey how dangerous it is for our overall health to not exercise regularly (González et al., 2017). Speaking of which, avoiding tobacco of any kind is beneficial to your brain’s functioning (Boksa, 2017). Six to eight hours of nightly sleep are usually considered ideal, and this is when the brain and other organs undergo a cleansing process to eliminate metabolic byproducts that we do not want to build up over time (Frank & Heller, 2019). If you have insomnia, then you want to address this as quickly and effectively as possible. Managing stress is also necessary to keep your brain functioning optimally, as uncontrolled stress leads to dysregulated neurotransmitter release that may impact your cognition and memory over time (McEwen, 2006). Related to stress, inflammation also needs to be kept under control. While acute inflammation is necessary to counteract infection, injury, or trauma, it needs to be minimized over time. Stress and inflammation are best managed with regular exercise, proper sleep, and optimal nutrition, among others.

What can Cause Memory Loss?

Besides being sedentary, having insomnia, and not managing stress and inflammation well, what else may contribute to memory loss? Unfortunately, age is a significant factor related to memory loss and cognitive dysfunction, which makes all of our behaviors even more important as we get older (Naveh-Benjamin & Mayr, 2018). Normal age-associated memory loss may not necessarily be entirely preventable for everyone, but if you are taking care of yourself as best as you can, then hopefully the loss will be very minimal. Addiction to alcohol and drugs is another serious problem related to cognitive decline and memory loss, so if addiction is an issue, then it must be addressed with the appropriate professional mental help (Verdejo-Garcia et al., 2019).

Many types of prescription medication are also known to increase the risk of memory loss, such as those used to treat depression, other mood disorders, hypertension, high cholesterol, and insomnia (Anagha et al., 2021). If you are taking one or more of these types of drugs, then I would encourage you to discuss with your physician what you can do to minimize your risk of future memory loss. Finally, have you heard of the old saying, “If you do not use it, then you will lose it?” This applies to your brain and your memory! Many times, people who are retired and/or older stop challenging themselves in work or other activities, which can negatively impact your brain’s function (Mäcken et al., 2021). Think of your brain as being akin to a muscle, where it should be stimulated daily with activities to keep it sharp and strong.

Learn a new language, practice a new musical instrument, or pick up a new physical activity or exercise to keep your brain working, sharp, and less susceptible to losing its ability to remember and memorize.

What about Nutrition and Dietary Supplementation to Boost Memory?

Nutritional scientists have been looking for answers to help improve memory and brain health in general. Some dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean Diet, are providing preliminary insights into how eating a certain way may be beneficial for brain health (Román et al., 2019).

The difficulty with making conclusive statements about dietary patterns is that they have to be considered within the context of many other factors along with diet, e.g., exercise, sleep, stress, alcohol/drug use, etc., to be able to make definitive conclusions or recommendations, and this type of epidemiological research requires many years of study across different groups of lots of people. In addition, other researchers are investigating how individual nutrients or dietary compounds may increase memory and/or help to avoid memory loss.

These compounds include those such as choline, Ginkgo biloba, ginseng, vitamin D, vitamin E, turmeric/curcumin, caffeine, and saffron. Some of these compounds have shown limited benefit on boosting memory in periods of 3 to 6 months, such as choline and Ginkgo biloba, but others have not shown anything impressive, such as vitamins D and E (Blusztajn et al., 2017; Byrn et al., 2019; Lewis et al., 2014; Lloret et al., 2019). Thus, while optimal nutrition is still your best strategy for brain health, including eating a predominantly whole-food, plant-based diet with a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, grains, and beans, and supplementing with key nutrients that are uncommon in the modern diet, it is still not clear how much some of these dietary compounds may conclusively benefit your memory.

Conclusion

At Dr Lewis Nutrition™, our mission is to bring you the best dietary supplements, not just for brain health, but for your overall health. Daily Brain Care is unlike any other dietary supplement on the market in terms of its proven benefits to cognition, including memory. While other nutrients and dietary compounds such as turmeric/curcumin, vitamin E, Ginkgo biloba, and saffron have also shown some benefits to brain health and memory, their effects are substantially less than Daily Brain Care. All of those compounds are beneficial, but they do not contain the broad spectrum of nutrients, phytonutrients, molecules, elements, and metabolites as in Daily Brain Care. In addition, Daily Brain Care provides you with a concentrated amount of the key polysaccharides that are not typical in today’s diet, giving you the edge over other dietary supplements, thus providing your cells these important raw materials that they need to function properly. No other dietary supplement has been clinically proven to the degree of Daily Brain Care to support your memory and brain health!

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