Brain Power Tips

As women age, they will naturally enter a state referred to as menopause. The menstrual cycle will start to change and diminish and many women are confused by what is happening to them. There is often a fear that menopause is a sign that you are elderly and your mind will start to diminish. Let’s examine how memory loss, menopause and anxiety all fit together.

Women can begin to experience symptoms of menopause as early as 40 or as late 60. There is a good chance that most women have not experienced a change in their body since puberty, so the experience is – in many ways – completely new to them. Not knowing exactly how your body is changing and not having control over those changes often leads many women to feel mild anxiety problems.

Getting older is sometimes hard to deal with. When an observable change occurs, like the changes that occur during menopause, women can enter a slight depression. There was recently a study conducted at the University of Rochester’s Memory Disorders Clinic which found that many women overstate the problems that they experience during menopause, including memory loss. Menopause can have a big effect on the hormones that a woman feels, and if anxiety strikes it is difficult to feel positive. The study found that the women were not purposely lying about their memory loss, but they actually felt like their mind was not as sharp as it use to be. However, according to testing their minds were just as sharp as when they entered menopause.

So, if you are about to enter menopause, there is little chance that you should worry about memory loss. Menopause is a totally natural process and with the help of medication from your doctor, you may be able to control some of the common symptoms.

Women who are approaching menopause should be asking questions about what they will soon experience. Something that they are likely to come across is the possible link between menopause and memory decline. If you are in this situation, you should know a little bit more about the truth of what is happening.

When a woman’s sex hormones begin to decline, they enter a period called menopause that signals the end of their childbearing abilities. This state is often coupled with many different emotions and feelings. Women are unsure what, exactly, will be happening to their bodies.

A study performed at the University of Rochester’s Memory Disorders Clinic in 2006 reveals that pre-menopausal women’s stress about possible memory loss may be all in their head. The study followed 24 women, ages 40 to 60 who were approaching menopause and memory, mood and personality tests were given to them. By the time the women reached menopause, many of them said that they believed they were experiencing lapses in memory. But based on the ongoing testing, only one of them ever experienced any actual memory decline.

Why would they feel like their memory had decreased? Well, 15 of the 24 women experienced mild-to-moderate anxiety. When we are feeling anxiety, we tend to have a bleak outlook about things. This is common for women going through menopause – the fact that they are experiencing changes in their body for the first time since puberty often causes some discomfort and confusion.

The best thing that you can do is be totally informed about what will happen to your body when you enter the menopause phase of your life. Your body will change, but it is a completely natural process that can be treated to some degree. You should speak with your doctor about any other concerns that you may have concerning menopause and memory.

Amnesia memory loss can be suffered because of any number of reasons. But the most common is physical injury. The way that the memory loss is treated will depend on why it is being experienced in the first place.

Amnesia memory loss will most likely be treated by a trained psychologist that will attempt to make the patient connect with the memories that are still inside of their head. It is important for a psychologist to understand exactly why the patient is suffering. To gather this information, they will often interview friends and family members of the patient. From time to time, it may even be necessary for hypnosis to be involved in treatment.

However, patients can sometimes experience amnesia that is so severe that there is no hope in recovering lost memories. There are also instances when Alzheimer’s Disease patients have experienced amnesia like memory loss. This kind of damage is often permanent and irreversible. The best thing for doctors to do in a situation like this, is to attempt to stop the spread of further memory loss.

It is important to understand the differences between short term memory problems and amnesia memory loss. Short term problems can be the result of stress or it can be a result of getting older. You would not want to treat this condition in the same way as amnesia – which occurs when the actual memories are affected by something. It can be the result of physical injury or sometimes the result of mental defense mechanisms that can literally erase painful memories.

Amnesia memory loss is a serious subject. It does not have to relate to recent memories. Sometimes people find that they are unable to recall events that happened several years ago and the can still be referred to as amnesia.

Statins, memory loss and controversy seem to go hand in hand. Anytime that there is a study done to disprove the fact that statins cause memory loss, there is another study that shows evidence that there is a connection. So, what is the truth about statins in relation to memory?

First, let’s get a grasp on what statins are. They are a type of drug that is used to treat high cholesterol. Those medications that hear advertised on the television talking about lowering ‘bad’ cholesterol are statins. Zocor and Lipitor are two commercially process statin medications.

I Understand Statins, Memory Fits In Somehow?
There is a growing body of debate as to whether statins cause memory loss in patients with prescriptions. There have been many reports of this all over the United States. But, there is very little, if any, medical evidence to show that statins are the cause of any type of memory problems. As of right now, the medical community seems to firmly stand behind the use of statins in the treatment of cholesterol problems.

There is also an increasing amount of research that suggests that the elderly may actually experience an increase in memory because of statins. A new study done at the University of Michigan School of Public Health shows that elderly people who were prescribed statins were about half as likely to show evidence of memory loss due to dementia as their counterparts who were not prescribed any type of statin drug.

You should feel comfortable and secure discussing any or all of your concerns with a doctor who is familiar with statins. Memory loss is a serious subject – if you have cholesterol problems and you believe that a statin prescription is in your near future, it might be a good idea for you to find out all that you can.

Diabetes is surely a serious condition. With blood glucose at levels that are not healthy, the brain of patients may be affected in different ways. One of the most commonly spoken of problems deals with memory loss and diabetes. Doctors have always suspected that there was some kind of connection between the two and a new study reveals the truth.

There is definitely a connection between memory loss and diabetes, according to one study performed at Columbia University Medical Center in 2008. Using high resolution brain scans, researchers were able to pin point the exact area of the brain that is most associated with age-related memory loss – it is called the dentate gyrus and it is part of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is the larger area of the brain that is associated with memory and learning.

The study found that the dentate gyrus was affected by abnormal blood glucose levels. Since this is an are concerned with memory loss, this confirmed to researchers that unhealthy blood glucose levels are related to a drop in memory. This suggests that even people that do not have diabetes should maintain a healthy blood glucose level to avoid problems with memory.

So if you are concerned about the connection between memory loss and diabetes, what should you do? You should do your best to stabilize and maintain healthy blood glucose levels. Of course, that is not always an easy task for a diabetes patient. So the best advice may be to exercise regularly and raise your physical fitness level if at all possible.

Cardiovascular health has been linked to both better memory and healthy blood glucose levels. So, you should try to perform a comfortable amount of cardio exercise at least three times each week. After several weeks, you will begin to stabilize healthy blood glucose levels and problems with memory loss and diabetes will minimize.