How Vitamins Can Help Memory Loss
It’s a well-known fact that our memory can trend toward the unreliable as we age. The specifics of how difficulty remembering things happens is different from case to case. While these are common and generally nothing to worry about, they’re worth paying attention to. Our long-term and short-term memory both begin to suffer as the years go by. While momentarily forgetting where we parked may be a minor inconvenience, forgetting how we arrived at the store is worrying indeed. Knowing that memory lapses tend to become more common, you may be wondering if there’s a way to slow the advance.
How Age-Related Memory Loss Happens
You’ve had a minor memory lapse if you’ve ever realized that you’ve forgotten where you’ve placed your keys as you brew your morning tea. These lapses in recall happen to people of every age, with a tendency to become more common as we get older. They’re nothing to truly worry about, though they can be a warning sign if they happen frequently. Think about your lifestyle first before you start worrying that you’re experiencing the beginning of a serious problem. Do you eat properly? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you one of the countless Americans with ADHD? It’s important to rule out all the known reasons you may be having lapses in memory before becoming worried.
When we think about our memory, we tend to think of it in general terms. The truth is that our memory is divided into two separate sectors:
- Short-Term Memory – Tracks anything that occurs in the last 30 seconds. At this point, our memories generally transfer over into long-term memory.
- Long-Term Memory – This is the cold storage of our memory. All evidence supports the idea that our LTM has a functionally unlimited storage space. The methods by which we recall things stored here are the subject of ongoing study.
One of the mysteries of our memories is why some important memories can get lost while other, less consequential ones can be recalled with ease. The truth is that the large majority of our life is stored in recesses we’ll likely never recall on purpose. If you’ve ever had a memory suddenly bubble that you thought long-forgotten, or can’t seem to forget something you’d rather was gone, you know what we mean.
Both our short-term and long-term memory can slowly decay over time. It may be more difficult for us to switch between tasks and become a bit more forgetful. Things we know like the proverbial back of our hand may suddenly become difficult to recall. It can be limited to a few words that are always “right on the tip of our tongue” or, in serious cases, involve significant memories like our wedding or children’s names. One warning sign concerning memory problems is a vocabulary that seems to be diminishing.
Can Multivitamins Help?
There have been ongoing studies researching ways to preserve or even restore our memory from loss. One study was conducted over a period of three years and revealed that taking a multivitamin daily provided significant protection against memory loss. Those who took the multivitamin showed a 60% reduction in loss of cognition over those who didn’t. Clearly, daily multivitamins provide meaningful defense against the advance of memory loss.
