Improve Memory, Focus, and Brain Health
I have had several people close to me have loved ones die in the last month and have friends who have been significantly affected by the fires in California. COVID, the flu, and RSV are moving rapidly through my clients’ families and two of my immediate family members have just moved or are moving out of long-term established homes.
It’s a lot of energetic and physical change!
When we have so much going on while navigating the realities of life, our jobs, our kids, our loved ones, and our health getting thrown by the flu or COVID or pneumonia can feel like the last straw to bring your carefully balanced set of 30 plates crashing down.
Even without a cold or illness, the part of ourselves we tend to demand the most from and also make the most wrong is our brain. In other words, how we think and how we remember things. For many of us it feels like we are moving through a constant fog or forgetting people’s names, losing our words, our keys, our glasses, our phone, wallets, and watches now more then ever.
I actually have to put myself in this one. Just last night I walked my dog, Henry, in a local park and when I got back to my car I saw I had left the tail gate open the whole time. Twice in the last week I have poured cold water over my tea bag thinking I had already heated the water to boil. Over the last 5 years I have noticed my word and proper noun recall has greatly diminished. At 44 years old, it is too easy to blame “aging" or hormone decline. If you are on social media there are 1,000 people who would say I am approaching peri-menoapuse and that explains it all.
Maybe.
But I don’t actually think my hormones or the length of my telomeres are fully to blame. (BTW Telomeres are the ends of your chromosomes that determine how long your cells can keep replicating and is a determinant or cell death, and thus cellular aging.)
When it comes to analyzing the causes of memory loss it is a vast and varied landscape of just about every factor of your life being a contributing element.
Read on to learn more about what I think are the top ways to improve your memory and take care of your brain.
In the past 5 years of my practice, one of the biggest areas people ask for help with is their memory.
Word loss, forgetting names, not knowing why they are in a room, not being able to remember short term dates and to-dos, etc. This is a very complex part of our health and human existence and not as easy as just telling people to “take two ginkgo biloba and call me in the morning.”
Trust me, I wish it was!
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I would say the majority of the time people’s memory issues are not rooted in any medical or physical cause. It’s in your LIFE.
Memory is a WORLD which includes our health, inflammation, toxicity status, emotional state, nutrition, and complex psychology. Yes how we take care of our physical health can play a large roll in brain function we often jump to that first because quite frankly it is easier to confront then what we are avoiding in our lives.
Being Present
I was recently asked by a client about how to help improve her memory. This person has lost 48lbs in the past year, dramatically reduced her inflammation, and overall is WAY healthier than when we started. And while there are supplements, herbs, and actions to take in your health to support memory and brain health - my advice was actually about being present.
I found myself saying, “You can’t start attacking (making wrong) your physical memory issues until you deal with being present.”
When I was a coach for the transformational education company Landmark, being present was a HUGE component of what we were being trained in. From that experience and training, my takeaway was: if I had areas of my life that were out of integrity, I was living in the past or the future, not the here and now. Not being present.
It is literally impossible to be in the present if I am worried about the future or ruminating on the past.
To experience more presence and thus a better memory, I recommend focusing on a few things:
Completing your past. By getting closure, decluttering your past, declaring things you won’t be doing, and healing relationships with key people in your life, you will get access to being more present and thus a better memory.
Work on your integrity. Make lists of all the areas you are out of integrity in your own life. Where are you not living true to yourself and your values? Where have you broken your word, not kept a promise, or not addressed something with someone? Tackle that list and get everything on it in alignment with yourself and others.
Meditation. The act of meditating increases the density of gray matter in areas like the hippocampus (memory and learning) and prefrontal cortex (decision-making and focus). Regular meditation decreases the size of the amygdala, the brain's "fear center," reducing the intensity of stress responses - and thus supporting you in staying here, in the now.
Express and feel your emotions now as they are arising. When we avoid our emotions as they come up or worse when we deny they are there at all, we are not living in the present moment. Your brain is somewhere else, trying to avoid what is happening now. Thus, you won’t remember where you put your keys or when your dentist appointment is either.
Memory & Brain Health Support
So what can you do to support memory and your brain from a health standpoint? Here are some tips to support your body’s processes and your brain health so that you can access better memory and long-term brain functioning:
Stay hydrated. A very common and overlooked cause of brain fog is dehydration! Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day. You can add a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sea salt for electrolytes.
Manage your blood sugar. There is a lot of research out now that connects dementia and Alzheimer’s to blood sugar - many people in my field call dementia type 3 diabetes. The brain relies on glucose for energy, but chronically high blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels and neurons, impairing brain function. Consistently elevated glucose levels, even in the absence of diabetes, can lead to inflammation and oxidative stress, which harm brain cells and are linked to cognitive decline. You want to have a low HBA1c, 5.2 or lower. Ideal is 4.8. To manage this, make sure you eat enough at the right time. Don’t skip meals as it will crash your blood sugar and starve your brain. Make sure your meals consist of high-quality protein, fats, and vegetables. Limit grains, especially processed grains like bread or pasta. If you do eat grains, eat your protein and fat first as it makes a difference for your blood sugar. Go for walks after meals.
Dopamine detoxes. Cut out screen team. Deal with being addicted to your phone powerfully, no doom scrolling! There are apps you can install on your phone to block you from some of the worst offenders (social media and games).
Spend time in nature. LOADS of time in nature. Take long walks, spend time in the quiet, look at the trees, do NOTHING. Leave your phone and headphones at home. Give your brain a break from thinking.
Be crafty. Do something repetitive with your hands. It increases oxytocin and helps you feel calm and connected, and more present in your life. E.g.: knitting, painting, drawing, woodworking, fishing, sorting small items, coloring, even folding laundry (I know, but it works!).
Get more sleep. Get 8 hours a night of high quality sleep. You can improve your sleep hygiene by sleeping in the cold (60-68 degrees), blacking out your room as much as possible, ditching screens a few hours before bed, and having a consistent sleep and wake schedule. Magnesium supplementation can help decrease wake times throughout the night. (5mg per lb of body weight).
Heal chronic viruses. Viruses in particular have a BIG impact on the brain and neuro-inflammation. That’s why you get brain fog with the flu and when you’re sick. If you’ve had COVID, lymes disease, HPV, etc. reach out so I can support you in healing the long term affects of these viruses.
Heal your gut. 90% neurotransmitters are made in the GI track. Healing your gut involves restoring the balance of beneficial bacteria, repairing the gut lining, and supporting overall digestive health. You can work on this by adopting a whole foods diet full of fiber and fermented foods, avoiding trigger foods such as processed sugar, dairy, and gluten, and reducing stress in your life through quality sleep and movement.
Supplementation. There are some supplements that support brain health for memory, ADHD, focus, depression and anxiety. As you can see this is LAST on my list as you will get better memory improvement doing all of the above before taking a pill. And these supplements can be very beneficial to add to a work-in-progress life style: fish oil, especially DHA, B vitamins, magnesium, vitamin D, carnitine, polyphenols, choline, phosphatidylserine, lions mane, and many more depending on your personal health profile.
Reach out if you need support in this.
Brain health and memory is a complex topic requiring a holistic lens, plus remember that everyone is different based on your own biology and health history. If you have been feeling like your memory isn’t what it used to be and you’d like to do something about it, don’t hesitate to reach out to me for a free consultation.