Learning and Memory

If You Want to Improve Your Memory Eat and Sleep

One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory. -- Rita Mae Brown

Would you like to be able to remember where you put your car keys? What about that new project at work you are supposed to ace? A healthy brain doesn't just happen, it must be treated to the essentials it needs, such as vitamins, healthy oils (the brain is primarily fat), adequate sleep and exercise. This is useful information for students who want to perform at their maximum level of proficiency and for those of us who cannot find our glasses.

The Basics: Nutrition

Learn how to nurture your brain with the basics it needs to function. First, eat a nutritious breakfast. Unfortunately, "nutritious" keeps changing according to the most recent studies. As of this moment, Newscientist.com is recommending beans on toast. Some types of beans are high in fiber and B vitamins. They also recommend an omelet and a salad for lunchtime enjoyment. These foods would provide protein and various vitamins.

Remember, vegetable color tells us a lot about the vitamins in vegetables. If we have a variety of colors on our plates it indicates we are getting a good mixture of vitamins.

Memory and Mice

The evidence is piling up about junk food, memory and mice. The Society for Neuroscience reports that, "rats and mice raised on the rodent equivalent of junk food struggled to find their way around a maze, and took longer to remember solutions to problems they had already solved" (Newscientist.com, Eleven Steps to a Better Brain, May, 2005). Unfortunately, human beings can experience the human equivalent of "maze confusion."

If you want to steer clear of "maze confusion" you will be happy to know that fish oil (omega 3 fatty acid) is the brain food your grandmother swore it was. You can find this healthful oil in salmon, tuna, flax seeds, sardines and herring to name a few sources. Berries are a great dessert because they are brimming with antioxidants. Oh, they are good for rats too.

Your Brain Needs ZZZZZZ

Unfortunately, many workers and students are sleep deprived. Lack of sleep affects planning, problem-solving, learning, concentration, working memory and alertness. If you are sleep deprived your IQ also takes a nose dive. "If you have been awake for 21 hours straight, your abilities are equivalent to someone who is legally drunk," says Sean Drummond from the University of California, San Diego. You don't need to pull an all-nighter to suffer the effects: two or three late nights and early mornings have the same effect.

Let's learn from a study supporting the no sleep, no memory model from Science Magazine on line. Neuroscientist Matthew Walker of Harvard University and his colleagues paid 10 undergraduate students to forgo a night's sleep. The next day, the students viewed a series of 30 words, and two days later--after having two nights to catch up on their sleep--the students returned to the lab and took a test to see how well they remembered the words they'd seen. The students recalled about 40% fewer words overall than a group of 10 students who had a good night of sleep. Oddly enough, they were substantially worse at remembering positive words than negative words. In law enforcement we call that a clue. Thank about it.

Conclusion

If you want to function well, remember to regularly get 8 to 9 hours of sleep, eat nutritious meals and hit the gym. Good grades and a successful career depend on your ability to think on your feet and remember what you are supposed to do today. Don't just sit there, eat some beans…

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