How are you doing with your memory? As we age, our memory does not seem to improve especially short-term memory. For example, what you had for dinner last night might be difficult to remember, but some event that happened number of years ago might be remembered. However, recent research suggests that lifestyle also affects memory, according to an article found in the February 27, 2012, edition of Time.
This finding might surprise you? Elderly individuals who consumed between 2143 to 6000 calories a day were twice as likely to have mild cognitive impairment compared with those that ate fewer than 1526 calories per day. How many calories are you consuming per day? So aside from putting on weight, memory can also be affected by calories consumed.
Scientist found, in a study of people ages 45 to 80, that those who did not sleep well (waking up more than five times per hour) were more likely to exhibit deposits of amyloid proteins. Amyloid proteins are related to developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Some factors influencing sleep difficulties as we increase in age include:
1. external-increased sensitivity to noise; decreased exposure to natural light; decreased activity; increased napping.
2. psychological-depression, anxiety, stress; bereavement
3. physiological- secondary to sleep- illness (CHD; diabetes; obesity) or pain; medications; Nocturia; menopausal night sweats.
4 .physiological-relating to sleep- advanced phase of sleep disorder; increased sleep latency; increased number of brief arousal’s; increased sleep apnea.
Also, a number of medications or drugs may decrease melatonin, and interfere with sleep. A brief list includes but not limited to: alcohol, aspirin, Benadryl, BuSpar, caffeine, Cylert, diazepam, diltiazem, and ibuprofen, Interleukin-two, Marplan, nicotine, Prozac, Ritalin, tobacco, vitamin B12, Wellbutrin, Xanax, and Zoloft.
In essence, foods, beverages, and drugs may impair your sleep. The following might assist in resolving sleep difficulties:
1. Melatonin may help resolve sleep difficulties .Melatonin or melatonin supplements assist in sleep by altering circadian rhythms. Melatonin is also affected by changes in body temperature, so taking a hot bath at night, may assist in falling asleep, because the hot water raises body temperature which causes the pineal gland to produce melatonin.
2. There are certain foods that contain melatonin, such as oats, sweet corn, rice, Japanese radish, ginger, tomatoes, bananas, and barley so consider these if they are not in your diet.
Additional tips for improving sleep include: comfortable mattress, pillow sheets and clothing; room temperature moderate; bedroom dark and; bedroom quiet; wear earplugs; white noise machine; unplug the telephone; remove clock from view.
Hopefully, you are not one of the 65% of people who reported in a national poll that they do not get enough sleep.
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