We are entering a time when many people feel more stress and experience that their memory is deteriorating. Our memory can worsen if we have high levels of stress, can’t sleep well, and feel overwhelmed all the time. Traumatic events can also cause memory loss. When we have high levels of stress or trauma, our cortisol levels (our stress hormone) change and adrenaline levels rise to give us more energy. This can cause confusion in the brain and we can react irrationally. After a period of prolonged stress, our adrenaline levels can drop and we feel physically and mentally exhausted, so we feel mentally tired and can’t think as fast as before.
When the brain has de-stressed and we feel more in control, our memory is often rejuvenated and we experience normal recall.
However, we have more and more clients in our office who feel that their memory levels have dropped significantly, their stress levels are not subsiding, and they would like to train their brain to function optimally again.
One has to differentiate between stress related memory loss and a more serious reason why memory is declining.
Here is a summary of some known diseases that cause memory problems:
alzheimer: There are a number of symptom related to Alzheimer’s. The most common are that the person can:
- Being confused about time and space
- Has trouble speaking or writing
- Losing things and forgetting what they have done with the items.
- Have difficulty judging things accurately more
- Show mood and personality changes, such as feeling depressed, angry, irritable, and anxious.
Those symptoms initially start mild and become more severe over time. Unlike other chronic diseases, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease is increasing; Recent research suggests that it has become the third leading cause of death, after cardiovascular disease and cancer.
vascular dementia: People show signs of memory loss after having a major stroke, or one or more “silent” strokes, which can happen without them realizing it.
Symptoms depend on the part of the brain affected by the stroke.
Compared to Alzheimer’s, which begins with memory problems, vascular dementia often begins with poor judgment, as you can’t plan or organize things well and make poor decisions.
Tea symptom from vascular dementia may include:
- memory problems
- Problems speaking and/or understanding speech
- Trouble recognizing once-familiar sights and sounds
- Feeling confused, restless, or agitated
- Changes in behavior and mood
- Problems walking and having frequent falls.
It is important to understand why our memory fails and why it is necessary for your doctor to make a proper diagnosis. The good news is that science has come a long way and there are many different treatment and training options that can be used to improve brain function and memory again.
A study by Dr. Dale Bredesen of the UCLA Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging shows that: “A more broad-based therapeutic approach, rather than of a single drug that targets a single target, may be feasible and potentially more effective for the treatment of cognitive decline due to Alzheimer’s disease.
cognitive decline it is one of the main concerns of the aging population and of people who have high levels of stress in their lives. Alzheimer’s affects approximately 30 million people worldwide. It is estimated that by 2050, without effective prevention and treatment, 160 million people worldwide would have the disease.”
There are a number of different treatment options to help you increase your memory. Your doctor will recommend medications that can help your brain stabilize and prevent a decline in function if you have a specific memory-related condition. Also, it is important to learn skills to increase your brain function, such as technical memories Y emotional intelligence skills that changes negative behaviors and thought patterns.
Advice It is necessary for people who have fallen into depression or anxiety due to their decline in functioning and negative changes in their lives. Your brain can be helped by taking supplements such as Omega 3, Gingko Bilbao, Vitamin C and Zink to increase the functioning of your brain. Make sure you get enough sleep, as this can greatly improve your memory. Besides, Guided Meditation it’s another way to distress your brain and get your memory back.
Finally, it is important train your brain return to optimal function, which can be achieved with neurofeedback/brain training, where areas of the brain that are not functioning optimally are retrained. Just like you train your body in the gym, you can train your brain, improving areas of the brain that are not working optimally. Fortunately, our brain is plastic, which means that it acts like a muscle that can be trained and changed to overcome negative patterns of functioning.
So don’t think that your memory is bad because of age. We can train our brain and increase our memory, feel better and regain our confidence when we need to remember facts, names, numbers or events. You are never too old to train your brain!