TORONTO - Clair Beaulne has a challenge for everyone who worries they're losing their memory: try ditching speed dial and memorizing your most important phone numbers.
"The 20 people you call all the time, you would be even faster if you knew their numbers by heart," says Beaulne, a consultant based in Chelsea, Que. "It's good practice."
Beaulne says many people who attend her seminars on how to improve memory, from young adults to baby boomers, tell her they are most concerned about forgetting names, misplacing objects, keeping track of tasks and remembering presentations.
Using memory strategies, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and an active mind can help keep brain power in top shape, she says.
Dr. Nicole Anderson, a Toronto researcher in cognitive rehabilitation at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, says that using external aids like lists, agendas and PDAs aren't necessarily crutches that make memory weaker.
Research shows that writing things down strengthens recall by adding the visual memory of the item to the "inner voice, or inner auditory memory" of what needs to be remembered, Anderson says.
Internally, when we have to wing it without external aids, Anderson says retention can be improved by thinking about the meaning of information and associating it with things you already know.
Beaulne teaches a series of memory tricks that rely on association and visualization.
The "method of loci," an imagery technique, involves linking a familiar location with a list of things that need to be remembered.
When memorizing a presentation, for example, Beaulne pictures herself placing cues for each topic she wants to cover on different pieces of furniture in a room in her house.
The peg method, which can be used to remember lists, directions, or other things, also relies on this kind of mental imagery. First, Beaulne instructs, create a rhyming list of words, such as one-bun, two-shoe, three-tree and so on, up to 10, 20 or more words.
Imagine you've got a list of items to pick up at the store, and the first one is a box of envelopes, Beaulne says. By creating images in your mind to link each thing you need to buy with your peg list, the box of envelopes can become an envelope with a bun in it.
"The tendency people have is to create very boring images," Beaulne says. "That's not fun for the brain ... if it's funny or crazy you will remember it ... and it would imprint on your memory better if you created a nice image."
While memory strategies learned during a seminar or from a book are handy on a day to day basis, most practitioners in the field emphasize keeping the brain active.
Maria Martinez, a social worker at the Memory Clinic at Toronto Western Hospital, a clinic with specialized services for people with memory loss and various types of dementia, says they discuss different mental fitness activities with their clients.
It can be as simple as reading and discussing what they've read, keeping up with hobbies, doing word puzzles, Sudoku and jigsaws, enjoying cultural activities, trying new things, varying one's routine, and maintaining a social life, Martinez says.
Anderson agrees: "We know from research that staying cognitively active, challenging your brain is a good thing. People who are more cognitively active perform better on cognitive tests, are less likely to develop dementia, and a whole host of things."
A word of caution, though: Sudoku and crossword puzzles only use the brain in one particular way, Anderson says. The key is to stimulate the brain with new activities.
Toronto scientist Dr. Carol Greenwood, also at Baycrest, conducts research on how general health and diet contribute to brain function and decline. Taking steps to minimize diabetes and heart disease can help maintain mental ability, because these conditions are "huge contributors to cognitive decline as we age," she says.
"Eating breakfast is important, no matter your age," adds Greenwood. In her research with healthy people over age 65, people who ate complex carbohydrates for breakfast - like whole grain cereals and breads - got "the memory boosting impact of the carbohydrate."
But those who ate a simple carbohydrate, like white bread "actually experienced a memory decline after that."
Greenwood recommends a diet that includes Omega-3 fatty acids, fruits and vegetables, particularly those that are high in anti-oxidants, and enough water to keep hydrated.
If a memory problem isn't linked to depression or a neurological disorder, or early onset of dementia like Alzheimer's, the memory may simply be sluggish because people haven't been doing all they can to register, retain and retrieve information.
"Most people who have great memories use strategies," Beaulne says. "It becomes natural."
People expect to have the memories they had when they were still in school, Beaulne adds, but they forget that back then, they took the time and effort to remember things and study - if they weren't cramming madly at the last minute.
But today, Beaulne says, people might be relying on technology too much and getting out of practice.
"You've got to use strategies. You've got to do something. You can't just dump information in your head and expect your memory to remember."
