A Neurologist’s Tips to Protect Your Memory

    As we age, our memory declines. This is an
ingrained assumption for many of us; however,
according to neuroscientist Dr. Richard Restak, a
neurologist and clinical professor at George
[5] Washington Hospital University School of Medicine
and Health, decline is not inevitable.

    The author of more than 20 books on the mind,
Restak has decades’ worth of experience in guiding
patients with memory problems. “The Complete
[10] Guide to Memory: The Science of Strengthening Your
Mind,” Restak’s latest book, includes tools such as
mental exercises, sleep habits and diet that can help
boost memory.
    Yet, Restak ventures beyond this familiar
[15] territory, considering every facet of memory — how
memory is connected to creative thinking,
technology’s impact on memory, how memory
shapes identity. “The point of the book is to
overcome the everyday problems of memory,”
[20] Restak said. Especially working memory, which falls
between immediate recall and long-term memory,
and is tied to intelligence, concentration and
achievement. According to Restak, this is the most
critical type of memory, and exercises to strengthen
[25] it should be practiced daily. But bolstering all
memory skills, he added, is key to warding off later
memory issues. Memory decline is not inevitable
with aging, Restak argues in the book.
    Ultimately, “we are what we can remember,”
[30] he said. Here are some of Restak’s tips for developing
and maintaining a healthy memory.
    Pay more attention.
    Some memory lapses are actually attention
problems, not memory problems. For instance, if
[35] you’ve forgotten the name of someone you met at a
cocktail party, it could be because you were talking
with several people at the time and you didn’t
properly pay attention when you heard it.
    “Inattention is the biggest cause for memory
[40] difficulties,” Dr. Restak said. “It means you didn’t
properly encode the memory.” One way to pay
attention when you learn new information, like a
name, is to visualize the word. Having a picture
associated with the word, Restak said, can improve
[45] recall. For instance, he recently had to memorize the
name of a doctor, Dr. King, (an easy example, he
acknowledged). So, he pictured a male doctor “in a
white coat with a crown on his head and a scepter
instead of a stethoscope in his hand.”
[50]    Find regular everyday memory challenges.
    There are many memory exercises that you can
integrate into everyday life. Dr. Restak suggested
composing a grocery list and memorizing it. When
you get to the store, don’t automatically pull out
[55] your list (or your phone) — instead, pick up
everything according to your memory. “Try to see the
items in your mind,” he said, and only consult the list
at the end, if necessary. If you’re not going to the
store, try memorizing a recipe. He added that
[60] frequent cooking is actually a great way to improve
working memory.
    Once in a while, get in the car without turning
on your GPS, and try to navigate through the streets
from memory. A small 2020 study suggested that
[65] people who used a GPS more frequently over time
showed a steeper cognitive decline in spatial memory
three years later.

    Play games.
    Games like bridge and chess are great for
[70] memory, but so is a simpler game, said Dr. Restak.
For instance, Dr. Restak’s “favorite working memory
game” is Twenty Questions — in which a group (or a
single person) thinks of a person, place or object, and
the other person, the questioner, asks 20 questions
[75] with a yes or no answer. Because to succeed, he said,
the questioner must hold all of the previous answers
in memory in order to guess the correct answer.
    Another of Restak’s tried-and-true memory
exercises simply requires a pen and paper or audio
[80] recorder. First, recall all of the US presidents, starting
with Biden and going back to, say, Franklin Roosevelt,
writing or recording them. Then, do the same, from
F.D.R. to Biden. Next, name only the Democratic
presidents, and only the Republican ones. Last, name
[85] them in alphabetical order. If you prefer, try it with
players on your favorite sports team or your favorite
authors. The point is to engage your working
memory, “maintaining information and moving it
around in your mind,” Restak wrote.
[90]     Read more novels.
    One early indicator of memory issues,
according to Dr. Restak, is giving up on fiction.
“People, when they begin to have memory
difficulties, tend to switch to reading nonfiction,” he
[95] said.
    Over his decades of treating patients, Dr.
Restak has noticed that fiction requires active
engagement with the text, starting at the beginning
and working through to the end. “You have to
[100] remember what the character did on page 3, by the
time you get to page 11,” he said.
    Beware of technology.
    Among Dr. Restak’s new sins of memory, two
are associated with technology.
[105]     First is what he calls “technological distortion.”
Storing everything on your phone means that “you
don’t know it,” Dr. Restak said, which can erode our
own mental abilities. “Why bother to focus,
concentrate and apply effort to visualize something
[110] when a cellphone camera can do all the work for
you?” he wrote.
    The second way our relationship with
technology is detrimental for memory is because it
often takes our focus away from the task at hand. “In
[115] our day, the greatest impediment of memory is
distraction,” Dr. Restak wrote. Many of these tools
have been designed with the aim of addicting the
person using them. As a result, we are often
distracted by them. People today can check their
[120] email while streaming Netflix, talking with a friend or
walking down the street. All of this impedes our
ability to focus on the present moment, which is
critical for encoding memories.
    Determine whether there is cause for concern.
[125]    Throughout his career, Dr. Restak has been
asked by dozens of patients how they can improve
their memory. But not all memory lapses are
problematic. For instance — not remembering where

you parked your car in a crowded lot is pretty
[130] normal. Forgetting how you arrived at the parking lot
in the first place, however, indicates potential
memory issues.
    There is no simple solution to knowing what
should be of concern, Dr. Restak said — much of it is
[135] context-dependent. For instance, it’s normal to
forget the room number of your hotel, but not the
address of your apartment. If you’re concerned, it’s
best to consult with a medical expert.

Adapted from: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/06/

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Why so few nurses are men

  Ask health professionals in any country what the biggest problem in their health-care system is and one of the most common answers is the shortage of nurses. In ageing rich countries, demand for nursing care is becoming increasingly insatiable. Britain’s National Health Service, for example, has 40,000-odd nurse vacancies. Poor countries struggle with the emigration of nurses for greener pastures. One obvious solution seems neglected: recruit more men. Typically, just 5-10% of nurses registered in a given country are men. Why so few?

  Views of nursing as a “woman’s job” have deep roots. Florence Nightingale, who established the principles of modern nursing in the 1860s, insisted that men’s “hard and horny” hands were “not fitted to touch, bathe and dress wounded limbs”. In Britain the Royal College of Nursing, the profession’s union, did not even admit men as members until 1960. Some nursing schools in America started admitting men only in 1982, after a Supreme Court ruling forced them to. Senior nurse titles such as “sister” (a ward manager) and “matron” (which in some countries is used for men as well) do not help matters. Unsurprisingly, some older people do not even know that men can be nurses too. Male nurses often encounter patients who assume they are doctors.

  Another problem is that beliefs about what a nursing job entails are often outdated – in ways that may be particularly off-putting for men. In films, nurses are commonly portrayed as the helpers of heroic male doctors. In fact, nurses do most of their work independently and are the first responders to patients in crisis. To dispel myths, nurse-recruitment campaigns display nursing as a professional job with career progression, specialisms like anaesthetics, cardiology or emergency care, and use for skills related to technology, innovation and leadership. However, attracting men without playing to gender stereotypes can be tricky. “Are you man enough to be a nurse?”, the slogan of an American campaign, was involved in controversy.

  Nursing is not a career many boys aspire to, or are encouraged to consider. Only two-fifths of British parents say they would be proud if their son became a nurse. Because of all this, men who go into nursing are usually already closely familiar with the job. Some are following in the career footsteps of their mothers. Others decide that the job would suit them after they see a male nurse care for a relative or they themselves get care from a male nurse when hospitalised. Although many gender stereotypes about jobs and caring have crumbled, nursing has, so far, remained unaffected.

(www.economist.com, 22.08.2018. Adaptado.)

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