It's good for memory - Memory Enhancement

 

It's good for memory - Memory Enhancement

    Eating fish can help you remember better... Doing crossword puzzles allows you to have an elephant memory... True and false truths are numerous when it comes to memory! Sleep, drugs, stress... Doctissimo takes stock of several preconceived ideas that it is sometimes better to forget.

Many beliefs circulate about the means or substances that improve memory or, on the contrary, about what harms intellectual performance. Here are some widespread claims and what it really is...

A restful sleep is essential so as not to forget

Sleeping well is indeed essential to memory. It is during the REM sleep phases, when the brain activity of the night is at its maximum intensity, that neurons classify and organize the information received during the day. If we miss one of these two or three nocturnal phases, this real consolidation of our memories is very disturbed.

Doing crossword puzzles improves memory

The brain is not a muscle: doing crossword puzzles or holding lists of words by heart will not "inflate" your memory. On the other hand, intellectual work stimulates and maintains memory: reading, writing, understanding, communicating, everything is good to maintain the neural pathways of memory. Because a "lazy" neuron disappears more easily than a "maintained" neuron.

Eating fish is beneficial

Contrary to popular belief, the beneficial effect of fish (rich in phosphorus) on memory has not been proven. Ditto for magnesium or calcium. That said, anything that is good for the body is good for the brain, and therefore for memory. A healthy and balanced diet will play an important role in the brain's diet, providing it with all the nutrients necessary for its proper functioning.

Smoking a joint is less harmful to memory than drinking alcohol

If they are not equal before the law, neither are drugs before memory. Alcohol in high doses can lead to irreversible damage to neurons in the brain after a few years. In severe alcoholics, long-term memory impairments due to brain damage have been demonstrated. Cannabis, on the other hand, affects short-term memory and does not induce a priori lesions. Its effect on memory ceases when consumption stops. Ecstasy induces disorders in the memory of recent events and causes irreversible damage to certain categories of neurons.

Stress can make you forget

In high doses, stress has adverse effects on memory. The stressed produce an excess of glucocorticoids, which would eventually alter the hippocampus, an organ of the brain that "orchestrates" memory. Some great depressives and Vietnam veterans have an atrophied hippocampus. In small doses, it would affect short-term memory.

Don't say you have "a goldfish memory" anymore

The myth that goldfish forget everything after 3 seconds would be totally false. A study by the Israeli Technion Institute of Technology in Israel shows that fish can remember certain sounds, especially those related to food. After testing the sound diffusion at the time of giving them food, the researchers released the fish into a river and found that they returned after broadcasting the sounds again.

Antidepressants can cause amnesia

In the large family of benzodiazepines (Valium, Temesta,...), each behaves differently towards memory. Some will act on the memorization of new information, others on semantic memory, or on episodic memory. But if you don't remember who you spent the evening before yesterday, don't worry: the effect on memory stops when you stop treatment.

In addition to preconceived ideas, several factors certainly diminish memory skills. Diseases such as Alzheimer's have a direct impact on memory. Age is also an important factor, but its effects can be limited, especially through regular intellectual activity. Reading Doctissimo's articles every week, for example, should preserve your memory for a long time!