Wakeful resting boosts memory

I saw the  following in my Mind, Mood & Memory newsletter from Massachusetts General Hospital and thought it fairly important - especially with so many of us going back to school. You might want to show this to the student in your household.

Here’s the article:

To fix information firmly in your mind, try taking a brief rest after learning it. The simple act of giving your brain a respite - while awake - can lead to better memory, according to a study published in the Jan. 28 issue of the journal Neuron. Earlier research has shown that memory consolidation occurs during sleep, but this is the first study to demonstarate that it also takes place during resting.

“The research suggests that slowing down our fast-paced lifestyles and taking time for reflection and relaxation may help our brains perform better,” says Cornelia Cremens, MD, MPH, a geriatric psychiatrist at MGH.

The resarchers asked 16 adult volunteers to view paris of images (e.g., an object and a face, or an object and a scene) without informing the study participatns that they would be asked to remember the images later. Following the image-viewing, volunteers were instructed to rest for a time without falling asleep and think about whatever they liked.

After the rest period, the participants underwent testing to determine how well they remembered the imge pairs. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure the volunteers’ brain activity before, during, and after the testing. Brain scans revealed that while the participants were viewing the images and again while they were resting, they showed increases in activity between the hippocampus ( a key memory region of the brain) and the neocortex, where processing of images occurs. There was a significant correlation between brain activity during image-viewing and uring resting if the images were well remembered later, but little correlation if the images were not memorable, suggesting that brain activity in the resting phase was related to memory consolidation.

Participants who showed strong brain activity correlations between iage-viewing and resting also did better on the memory test later compared to participants with weak correlations, the researchers found.

“Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned,” said Lila Davachi, PhD, an author of the study. “This is something we don’t appreciate much, especially when today’s information technologies keep us working round-the-clock.”

8 Resolutions toward a better brain for 2010

I was reading in the Massachusetts General Hospital ‘Mind, Mood & Memory’ today and their experts offered some pretty common sense tips that are in keeping with current brain research discoveries -particularly how to keep your brain as active and sharp as possible well into old age.

Dealings with some elderly friends and relatives this year have served to remind me about the importance of keeping the brain as healthy as the body. It won’t matter how healthy your body is, if the brain is impaired. Depression won’t be far behind when you know you’re not performing up to snuff.

The good news is that you can take charge at any point in the process - sometimes with some help - and stop, reverse or mitigate trends toward cognitive impairment.

Here’s what the experts recommend:

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Got insomnia? There's a simple, safe and free prescription.

It’s called meditation. I occasionally get bouts of insomnia, either not being able to fall asleep within about the first half hour of going to bed, or staying asleep. It’s a real pain, especially when you have to get up early the next morning. The anxiety over getting a restful nights sleep can make getting your ‘zzzzz’ even harder.

I’ve tried various prescription and over the counter remedies and the best I’ve come across is still meditation. This way you’re using your bodies own natural capabilities to promote relaxation and then sleep. New studies are proving that I’m on the right track.

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