120 PREVENTIONAUS.COM.AU
Around 244
Australians
are being
diagnosed
with
dementia
each day.
Lifestyle
changes
of er real
opportunities
to keep your
memory
sharp.Did
you
know?1
UP-END DAILY
ROUTINES
Challenge your brain by fi nding an
alternative route to work, brushing your
teeth with your non-dominant hand,
wearing your watch upside down –
anything that requires conscious ef ort.
Our brains thrive on lifelong learning,
novelty and being challenged. “New
learning stimulates the release of brain
fertilisers which leads to neurogenesis,”
says neuroscientist Dr Nicola Gates,
author of A Brain For Life (ABC Books).
Neurogenesis, she explains, is the
formation of new brain cells, which
enhances our ability to form memories
and learn new information.2
MINIMISE
BRAIN STRESS
Take 10 minutes to fi nd permanent homes
for everyday items such as your keys,
purse, phone, glasses and shoes. You’ll avoid
the stress of hunting for them and testing
your memory unnecessarily. When you
grab your keys each day, use the action as
a cue to ask yourself an automatic string
of checks: “Do I have my phone, glasses
and fresh snacks?” Memory aids like this
sharpen the brain by lessening the load
it has to carry, explains Gates.3
TELL YOURSELF
A GOOD YARN
To remember your to-do list, come up with
a rhyme, song or visual story to link it all
together. The more creative the imagery,
the more memorable it will be. For example,
if you need to buy eggs and stamps and to
pick up the dry cleaning, you might picture
yourself holding a big egg with a stamp on it,
and the egg slips, cracking on your pants, so
you have to go to the cleaners. “Exerting that
mental energy creates a cognitive framework
that helps you retrieve the information later,”
explains Alzheimers expert Dr Gary Small,
director of the UCLA Longevity Centre.4
PLAY TO WIN
Try your hand at a brain training
game. Over the past few years there has been
an explosion of so-called ‘brain-training ’
games and apps. And while researchers have
yet to establish exactly how much brain
training is needed to keep your mental
powers limber, clinical trials have found
these games can improve memory, even
in people suf ering dementia. What’s more,
when subjects were measured several years
later, they still enjoyed better brain function
than the control group who hadn’t done
any brain training. A lzheimers Australia
has developed a free app, BrainyApp (visit
brainyapp.com.au).