Stephanie S. Durruthy, MD, DFAPA
At midlife, your mind and body may let you know when you’ve pushed yourself to your limits—in the form of stiff joints, achy muscles, sensitive stomachs, mood swings, and forgetfulness. What are some behaviors you can adjust when this happens?
The aging process is associated with the loss of brain cells in the hippocampus (the area of the brain responsible for long-term memory storage). Stressful events correlate with an increase in the production of the glucocorticoids, which can destroy nerve cells in this region. The hippocampus is most sensitive to your sustained stress levels, which can cause increased forgetfulness and memory loss.
What can I do to change this?
Stress is part of life but levels fluctuate. The sudden appearance of stress-related symptoms should trigger behavioral change and self-care. Listen when your body talks and make an appointment with your health provider to plan steps for managing with stress. Make time for exercise, eating right, socializing, and plenty of rest.
Busy individuals often perceive sleep as a waste of precious time. However, studies suggest that sleep deprivation is associated with brain changes that result in impaired attention and reduced ability to sustain complex information processing and performance.
What can I do to change this?
Try to devote more hours every night to sound sleep. Create a sleep-conducive environment in a dark, cool room. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Feeling rested can improve your overall functioning and sense of well being, as well as enable better concentration at work.
Memory impairment is also associated with sleep-disordered breathing. The broad definition of sleep disorder includes apnea, which is the temporary stoppage of breathing, and hyponea, which is a reduction of breathing. These sleep disorders are often associated with the inability to focus, learn, and memorize information.
What can I do to change this?
Noticing a change in daily functioning—such as morning, fatigue despite sleeping at night, the need for daily naps, snoring, and nocturnal motor restlessness—is the first step in changing. Ask a partner to listen to your night breathing. If you determine your breathing is stopping in the night, seek out a healthcare provider.
A common research finding suggests that physically active individuals have sharper mental abilities. Physical activity seems to have a positive impact on brain function. The Nurses’ Health Study of 18,766 women noted that increased exercise was associated with improved cognitive scores.
What can I do to change this?
Find a motivation. Identify a person, pet, or event that is paramount in your world: maybe you want to have the stamina to play with your kids and grandkids, or you are concerned about who will care for your pet if you have a heart attack. Get an “exercise buddy,” who you won’t want to leave stranded at the gym or park waiting for you!
The National Institutes of Health’s consensus is that some recreational drugs can alter the processing of information in the brain. For instance, overexposure to the active chemical compounds in marijuana (cannabinoids) has resulted in memory loss.
What can I do to change this?
Concentrate on the negative consequences of using drugs, such as the expense, mistakes at work, decline in personal hygiene and stability, and faltering intimate relationships. Use these alarms to seek help; denial is a typical reaction to substance abuse. Accepting the loss of control associated with addiction and acknowledging the need for change is the first step in healing.
Forgotten pills, lost lab work notices, and missed medical appointments are risk factors for medical instability. Elevated sugars from diabetes, increased blood pressure from hypertension, and chronic abuse of prescription medications not only affect your body but your brain function as well.
What can I do to change this?
Try keeping your prescriptions and appointment reminders in the same place; maybe in your kitchen. Check them every day and mark them on your calendar. This regular attention to your health puts you in the driver’s seat, with your healthcare provider as the passenger. Together you will have a better chance of remembering to take a pill or get a screening. And your brain will become better organized as well.
The bottom line: Adopting healthy behaviors in midlife can help your brain function at its best. Healthy behaviors require effort to maintain, but you will benefit both personally and professionally from the vitality which results.
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