hChoices Maximize Your Memory - Amazon S3 · Improve Your Memory § Concentrate –Learning takes work –Develop a habit of actively paying attention –Just by concentrating on

1Optimal wellness through technology, education and social engagement

Optimal wellness through technology, educationand social engagement

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Maximize Your Memory


How the Brain Works

§ Your brain is your most powerful organ and has three main parts:– Cerebrum: takes up the most space and is

involved in remembering, problem solving, thinking, feeling, and controlling movement.

– Cerebellum: near the back of the head and is responsible for coordination and balance.

– Brain stem: connects the brain to the spinal cord and controls functions such as breathing, digestion, heart rate, and blood pressure.


How the Brain Works

§ With each heartbeat, blood is carried to the brain for use by the brain cells.

§ An adult brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells, with branches that connect at more than 100 trillion points.

§ Signals traveling through the network form the basis of memories, thoughts, and feelings.


How the Brain Works

§ Memories and thoughts move through an individual nerve cell as a tiny electrical charge.

§ Nerve cells connect to one another at synapses.

§ When a charge reaches a synapse, it may trigger the release of tiny bursts of chemicals called neurotransmitters.

§ The neurotransmitters travel across the synapse, carrying signals to other cells.


What is Alzheimer's Disease?

§ Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys a person's memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate, and carry out daily activities.

§ As Alzheimer’s progresses, individuals may also experience changes in personality and behavior, such as anxiety, suspiciousness or agitation, as well as delusions or hallucinations.

§ There are now more than 5 million people in the United States living with Alzheimer’s disease.


Alzheimer’s Changes the Brain

§ Unfortunately, neurons are the primary type of cells destroyed by Alzheimer's disease.

§ Alzheimer's disease disrupts both the way electrical charges travel within cells and the activity of neurotransmitters.


Alzheimer’s Disease Stages

§ Stage 1: No impairment

§ Stage 2: Very mild decline

§ Stage 3: Mild decline

§ Stage 4: Moderate decline (mild or early stage)

§ Stage 5: Moderately severe decline (moderate or mid-stage)

§ Stage 6: Severe decline (moderately severe or mid-stage)

§ Stage 7: Very severe decline (severe or late stage)



§ Stage 1: No impairment – Unimpaired individuals experience no memory problems and

none are evident to a health care professional during a medical interview.

§ Stage 2: Very mild decline – Individuals may feel as if they have memory lapses, especially in

forgetting familiar words or names, or the location of keys, eyeglasses or other everyday objects. But these problems are not evident during a medical examination or apparent to friends, family or co-workers.

9Optimal wellness through technology, education and social engagement 9

Alzheimer’s Disease Stages§ Stage 3: Mild decline

– Friends, family or co-workers begin to notice deficiencies and problems with memory, or concentration may be measurable during a detailed medical interview.

– Common difficulties include:• Word -or name- finding problems noticeable to family or close

associates• Decreased ability to remember names when introduced to new people• Performance issues in social or work settings noticeable to family,

friends, or co-workers• Reading a passage and retaining little material• Losing or misplacing a valuable object• Decline in ability to plan or organize



§ Stage 4: Moderate decline (mild or early stage) – A careful medical interview detects clear-cut deficiencies in the following

areas:• Decreased knowledge of recent occasions or current events• Impaired ability to perform challenging mental arithmetic-for

example, to count backward from 75 by 7s• Decreased capacity to perform complex tasks, such as planning

dinner for guests, paying bills, and managing finances• Reduced memory of personal history• Affected individuals may seem subdued and withdrawn, especially in

socially or mentally challenging situations


Alzheimer’s Disease Stages§ Stage 5: Moderately severe decline (moderate or mid-stage)

– Major gaps in memory and deficits in cognitive function emerge. Some assistance with day-to-day activities becomes essential. At this stage, individuals may:

• Be unable during a medical interview to recall such important details as their current address, telephone number, or the name of the college or high school from which they graduated

• Become confused about where they are or about the date, day of the week, or season

• Have trouble with less challenging mental arithmetic; for example, counting backward from 40 by 4s or from 20 by 2s

• Need help choosing proper clothing for the season or the occasion• Usually retain substantial knowledge about themselves and know their own

name and the names of their spouse and children


Alzheimer’s Disease Stages§ Stage 6: Severe decline (moderately severe or mid-stage)

– Memory difficulties continue to worsen, significant personality changes may emerge and affected individuals need extensive help with customary daily activities. At this stage, individuals may:

• Lose most awareness of recent experiences and events as well as of their surroundings• Recollect their personal history imperfectly, although they generally recall their own name• Occasionally forget the name of their spouse or primary caregiver but generally can

distinguish familiar from unfamiliar faces• Need help getting dressed properly; without supervision, may make such errors as putting

pajamas over daytime clothes • Experience disruption of their normal sleep/waking cycle• Need help with handling details of toileting • Have increasing episodes of urinary or fecal incontinence• Experience significant personality changes and behavioral symptoms, including

suspiciousness, delusions, hallucinations, or compulsive behaviors such as tissue shredding• Tend to wander and become lost



§ Stage 7: Very severe decline (severe or late stage)– In the final stage of the disease, individuals lose the ability to respond to

their environment, the ability to speak and, ultimately, the ability to control movement.

• Frequently individuals lose their capacity for recognizable speech, although words or phrases may occasionally be uttered

• Individuals need help with eating and toileting and there is general incontinence of urine

• Individuals lose the ability to walk without assistance, then the ability to sit without support, the ability to smile, and the ability to hold their heads up.


Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease

§ Memory loss

§ Difficulty performing familiar tasks

§ Problems with language

§ Disorientation to time and place

§ Poor or decreased judgment

§ Problems with abstract thinking

§ Misplacing things

§ Changes in mood or behavior

§ Changes in personality

§ Loss of initiative


Alzheimer’s Disease: Risk Factors

§ Age – Most individuals with the disease are 65 or older. – The likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s doubles about every five years

after age 65. – After age 85, the risk reaches nearly 50 percent.

§ Family history– Research has shown that those who have a parent, brother, sister, or

child with Alzheimer’s are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s. – The risk increases if more than one family member has the illness. – Either genetics or environmental factors or both may play a role.


Alzheimer’s Disease: Risk Factors You Can Influence

§ Head Injury – Protect your head and limit the chances of falls.

§ Heart-Head Connection– Monitor your heart health and treat any problems including high

blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and high cholesterol.

§ General Healthy Living– Watch your weight, avoid excess alcohol, stay socially active, and

exercise both your body and mind.


Think About the Future: Exercise Your Brain

§ Learning Slower– It takes longer for the average older person to take in new

information and retain it, but all evidence suggests that if an older person takes the time to learn something well, he or she will remember it as accurately as someone decades younger.

– Many older people think they are forgetting things more easily; in fact, what is happening is they are not learning them as well in the first place.


Improve Your Memory

§ Concentrate

§ Make learning conscious and deliberate

§ Don’t overload your circuits

§ Make a mental picture

§ Use all of your senses


Improve Your Memory

§ Concentrate– Learning takes work– Develop a habit of actively paying attention– Just by concentrating on what you want to remember, your memory will

improve

§ Make learning conscious and deliberate– Make a point of thinking to yourself that you want to remember

something– Repeat what you want to remember to yourself

• e.g. I am parking my car on level 2 near the green pole with the letter A on it.


Improve Your Memory

§ Don’t overload your circuits– When two sets of information are in direct competition, older

people tend to select one to remember and one to ignore.– Younger people try to remember both even though they might not

remember them equally well– Make a list or a note

§ Make a mental picture– This is more important in familiar places than in unfamiliar places.– You are more likely to pay attention in unfamiliar places


Improve Your Memory

§ Use all of your senses– A combination of sight, sound, and tactile memories are easier to

remember.– Can you remember your last vacation?

• What was it like?• Think of the experience using multiple sense


Improve Your Memory

§ Learn new information and engage in the complex and novel– Activities which provide the greatest value to the brain

• Challenge the brain• Stimulate leaning• Require practice• Promote synaptic density


Improve Your Memory

§ Embrace change in your daily life– Sit at a different chair around the dinner table– Sleep on the other side of the bed– Brush your teeth with your other hand


Develop Habits to Exercise Your Mind

§ Talk to someone daily

§ Change the scenery; get out of the house

§ Play games: crossword puzzles, cards, sudoku

§ Write your feelings and thoughts for the day

§ Use the library

§ Celebrate what you can do!

§ Attend educational seminars and classes

§ Unlock your imagination

§ Remember it is never to late to learn something new!


Exercises

§ Pick an item around the house and name ten things it could be– Associate an item to an uncommon use.

§ Put yourself in the situation when you read– Use all of your senses and write down what you experience

§ Break your daily patterns



§ Remembering Names– Names are the most difficult things to remember, because they

are arbitrary.– Make an association with the name.

• Don’t focus on who the person is or what they do• Focus on the name and make an association to the name• It is best to use an association which is clear and resonant to

you.



§ Remembering Names– Pay close attention– Try to repeat the name– Make an association on the spot

• e.g. You meet John.• “Oh yes John, you live in Charleston, right near Bunker

Hill.” Now the person becomes John from Bunker Hill.*

* Keep Your Brain Young by Guy McKhann, M.D.


3 Factors That Characterized ThoseWho Maintained Their Mental Abilities

§ They were more mentally active.

§ They were more physically active.

§ They maintained a sense of effectiveness in the world.– They felt like they were contributing to the family and the world– They generally felt good about themselves

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hChoices Maximize Your Memory - Amazon S3 · Improve Your Memory § Concentrate –Learning takes work –Develop a habit of actively paying attention –Just by concentrating on