Neurologist Richard Restack shares everyday methods and recommendations for knowing when it’s necessary to consult a professional.
We all forget some things from time to time. Who hasn’t happened who doesn’t know where he left the keys to the house? Don’t you ever remember where you parked the car? These are sporadic forgetfulness without concern, but when memory loss becomes more frequent, you need to pay attention to it.
While there is no guarantee that memory loss or dementia will be prevented, there are some activities that may help. This is the case of neurologist Richard Restack of the George Washington Hospital School of Medicine and Health, who, through one of his books (The Complete Guide to Memory: The Science of Strengthening Your Mind / The Complete Guide to Memory: The Science of Memory) Strengthening) has shared simple everyday methods and recommendations for knowing when it is necessary to consult a professional. According to The New York Times, these are the expert’s 7 keys to avoiding memory loss over the years:
1.- Pay more attention, There are times when attention problems get confused with memory lapses. According to Restak, if you forget the name of someone you met at an event, it could be because you were talking to several people at the time and didn’t pay attention while mentioning the name.
The technique the expert recommends in these cases: To remember information such as a name, you have to pay attention and imagine the word or associate it with an image.
2.-
Challenge the memory on a daily basis. To do this, Restack proposes that daily tasks such as making a shopping list use memory, rather than writing it down on a mobile or on a piece of paper.
Tip: When you arrive at the supermarket, avoid taking the list out of your pocket right away and try to remember as many products as possible.
3.-
mind games, ReStack highlights bridge or chess as “excellent” for memory. However, the expert also shared some of his favorite games to boost memory:
– There must be several players and one of them thinks of a place, person, object, movie… and the rest must guess it through interrogation.
– Use pen and paper to write down the heads of government in sequence and then try to say them backwards, starting with the current position.
4.-
read more novels, Restak assures that during the many decades he has been treating patients, he verified that the narrative requires the reader’s active dealing with the text from beginning to end. “You have to remember what the character did on page 3 until you got to page 11,” he confesses.
5-
beware of technology According to Restak, it can destroy psychic abilities. “Why bother focusing, focusing, and visualizing something when a cell phone camera can do all the work for you?” He warns. Furthermore, it highlights that today people can check their email while watching Netflix, talking with a friend or walking down the street. All this prevents, they say, concentration on the present moment.
6.- Consult a professional first
emotional states, He says that mood is an important element in what is remembered or forgotten, so he recommends seeing a mental health professional if you feel it is necessary. In addition, they also pointed out that depression, among other psychological conditions, can impair memory capacity.
7.-
Assess whether memory loss is worrisome, To be aware of what this means, Raystack gave the following example: “It’s quite common not to remember where you parked your car in a huge garage full of vehicles. However, this mistake Knowing how you got to the parking spot in the first place indicates potential memory problems.”
