PUZZLES TO BOOST YOUR BRAIN & MEMORY
Give your mind a workout!
EveRyoNe worries that increasing memory lapses could signal early dementia, but we all differ greatly in the degree to which our brains decline with age.
It’s an inevitable part of ageing — but some of our mental faculties may age faster than others. for many people vocabulary, numerical skills and even general knowledge will stay as sharp as they ever were, but other aspects (such as strategic planning and processing speed) will probably start to decline from middle-age.
As you age, the natural dulling of the senses (taste, hearing, sight, touch) can interfere with your brain’s ability to process information, while healthrelated changes such as arthritis and pain can put extra pressure on your brain’s ability to fire up the areas responsible for concentration and processing speed.
It’s rare to find someone who hangs on to every aspect of their cognitive functioning right through until old age, but, as I have been explaining all this week, there are many ways you can reduce the risk of mental ageing.
I am a doctor of psychology specialising in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and my big area of research at uCI ( university of California, Irvine), where I worked as a professor of psychology for many years, has been measuring the impact of brain puzzles and exercises on people in the earliest stages of dementia.
My STuDIeS show the perfect brain workout targets different parts of the brain — just as a proper gym workout targets muscles around the body — and you’ll find a good mix of puzzles to try here today.
If you are concerned about your dwindling memory, talk to your GP — an escalation of mental vagueness could easily be the result of a vitamin deficiency, an unnoticed side-effect of a new medication, or a combination of medications causing drowsiness.
But by keeping your brain active through a mix of exercises and ensuring you eat a healthy diet (as I outlined in yesterday’s paper) you will be helping your brain to stay strong.
Numerous studies show that regular activity is important, too. That’s why I recommend that all my patients aim to be active for three hours per week. you don’t have to work really hard as the studies show the important thing is to raise your heart rate.
for many people the best activity is walking — build your weekly total in small chunks: 15 minutes at a time.
When your heart is pumping a little harder than normal you will be supplying your brain with fresh oxygen and nutrients. exercise that increases your heart rate also increases your ability to pay attention.
Research has also shown that regular exercise can help you restore some of the cognitive functions that might be lost through the ageing process, and enhance other functions in the brain, such as memory, decisionmaking, rational thinking and long-term thought processing.
When you are active, chemicals are sent from your working muscles into your bloodstream and to the brain. These chemicals have been shown to increase the production of an important chemical called brain- derived neurotrophic factor (BDNf), which acts like fertiliser for neurons (vital cells in the brain), encouraging them to stay healthy and keep growing. This is the key to the science of ‘neuroplasticity’ — the exciting discovery that the brain can grow, expand and develop as you age, if looked after properly. As we age, our levels of BDNf naturally fall, but researchers have found that exercise induces production and can therefore help to maintain levels.
When you exercise regularly, studies show your brain builds up reserves of BDNf and your neurons start to branch out, forming new connections. In fact, the brains of people who exercise have been shown to have more BDNf and a greater capacity for learning new things.
Like exercise, sleep, too, is key. Studies have shown that longterm sleep problems such as chronic insomnia can raise your risk of developing dementia, and scientists have only recently understood why this is the case.
It seems that when you sleep well, you enjoy long periods of ReM sleep. This is the deeply restorative period of sleep when dreaming typically occurs.
The brain has its own drainage system, which controls the flow of a special liquid that surrounds the spinal cord and the brain (cerebrospinal fluid). one study (albeit on mice) found the space between the brain cells increases by up to 60 per cent when we are in ReM sleep, allowing this brain fluid to flow around and between brain cells with ease.
The scientists also found that any accumulated toxic molecules — such as the ‘plaques’ associated with Alzheimer’s disease — are flushed away more efficiently during ReM sleep.
even a few broken nights in a row can leave you feeling foggyheaded, which is why I always ask my patients how they have slept before any cognitive tests.
So never skimp on shut- eye, and if you have a sleep problem, talk to your GP about steps you can take to fix it.
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