Brain Drain

Sun Herald

Sunday April 6, 2008

By Helen Hawkes

Feeling forgetful? Hobbies, socialising and folic acid could help you maintain sharp memories.

Ever remembered a name half an hour or even a day after you were searching for it? As we get older, many of us find that both our memory and the speed at which we can complete tasks start to decline. But what's normal and when should we worry?

"Background noise" - whether it is environmental (a barking dog) or psychological (intrusive thoughts about a fight you had with your partner) - can confound the midlife brain, says Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, author of That Memory Book (Virago). Not only is it harder to rule out this life static, advancing age means we also have more information in our brain to sift before we get to the relevant "file".

According to Dr Nicholas Cordato, a specialist geriatrician and head of the Westmead cognition clinic in Sydney, controversy surrounds how to distinguish normal ageing from mild cognitive impairment. "Certainly, there are large differences between individuals [of the same age] in performance on cognitive tests," he says.

The good news is that accumulated knowledge - which relies on long-term memory and includes vocabulary and general knowledge - doesn't show much decline, says Cordato. "However, it does seem that mental speed and manipulation, which includes tasks such as scheduling, tend to decrease."

To fight ageing free radicals you could try antioxidants, however a vitamin B complex tablet may be more efficient; the vitamin has been scientifically proven to help. "A Dutch study looked at the effect of three years of supplementation with folic acid in men and women aged 50 to 70 years and found improved memory," says Cordato.

Jakobson Ramin advocates boosting magnesium (a 2004 study by US researchers at MIT found 420 milligrams for males and 320 for women helped maintain nerve cells function) and quitting smoking. (People who smoke in midlife are nearly one third more likely to develop Alzheimer's, according to a 2005 study published in the Neurology journal.) Regular exercise is also associated with a decreased risk of cognitive decline over time.

As for mental exercise games, the jury is out. But international studies have shown that maintaining hobbies and social networks keep not just you, but also your brain younger.

© 2008 Sun Herald

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