The incidences are becoming numerous. You’re about to mention a name and suddenly realize you can’t recall it. “It’s at the tip of my tongue,” you mutter embarrassedly. “Happens to me all time,” a sympathetic listener responds. You’re suffering from “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI). And so do a billion others.While one could easily dismiss this as a collective “senior moment,” society is facing phenomena never experienced before: a non-stop assault on the senses brought on by rivers of data, a proliferation of media and advertising, all propelled by faster living, copious multitasking, plus a growing reliance on digital memory devices.
Scientists note that average scores on memory tests decline steadily after age 25. By midlife, memory erosion accelerates, with humans losing on average 1% of brain volume each year.
And there’s growing evidence that cellphones, calculators, speed-dialing, GPS and other memory-saving aids have reduced the need for mental acuity, causing the brain to deteriorate at a faster pace than ever before.
Research by psychologist Denise Park at the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana shows that adults who multitask frequently have more memory complaints than their parents in their 70s.
With memory lapses on the upswing, the brain fitness business is booming. Since its launch in May 2005, Nintendo has sold 31 million copies worldwide of its über-popular Brain Age videogames for the DS player. Both games were inspired by Tohoku University Professor Dr. Ryuta Kawashima’s work in neurosciences.
But Nintendo isn’t the only “edutainment” player leveraging the memory trend. On U.S. television, a game called “Amnesia,” had players trying to recall as many details as possible of one’s past life. “There’s more and more evidence that exercise staves off memory loss,” notes Dr. Daniel Press, neurologist at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “In some ways, exercise is as good as any intervention we have in terms of helping people with mild memory loss from getting worse.”
National Institutes of Health research shows that older adults with mild memory impairment can benefit from cognitive training, although not necessarily in areas reliant on memorization.
San Francisco-based vibrantBrains, which calls itself “A Health Club for Your Brain,” lets participants work on such skills as memory, reasoning, visual scanning, word recall and quantitative facility using games and exercises. Lifespan reports that Americans will spend $80 million this year on brain exercise products, compared to just $2 million in 2005.
That’s good news for companies like reQall, which offers a $3-a-month reQall Pro subscription service that helps you remember to-dos by e-mailing and texting reminders. The company also offers a free service, which dispenses with the location-based features offered by the Pro service. n Lear’s Where Did I Leave My Glasses?
For some, these memory aids don’t go far enough. A growing number of people are using prescription drugs like Ritalin — which was designed to treat hyperactive children — to boost alertness and brain power. Up to a fifth of adults, including college students and shift workers, may be using these types of cognitive enhancers, a Nature poll of 1,400 consumers found.
And the use of cognitive-enhancing drugs is spreading to an ever younger generation. According to University of Cambridge Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology Barbara Sahakian, 17% of students at some U.S. universities already admit to using Ritalin.
Looming on the horizon are far more promising drug discoveries. The biotech industry is developing new therapies that can cure such diseases as Alzheimer’s — treatments that are bound to lead to the world’s first “lifestyle” drugs that deal with forgetfulness.
Pointing to a future where memory will be fully “customizable,” researchers in Brooklyn, N.Y. recently reached a major milestone with the ability to erase certain memories using an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain that hold specific types of memory, such as emotional associations, spatial knowledge or motor skills.
This type of biotech weaponry will be a welcome addition to the current arsenal used to combat the growing decline in memory retention. We’ve dubbed this new trend in wonder drugs “Memory Protection” — because much like computers, which require memory protection to prevent crashes, human beings appear increasingly prone to “memory leaks,” as techies call PC errors.
The memory protection market could produce the biggest lifestyle drug yet, because who wouldn’t want to stroll down memory lane faster?
Lainie Liberti is a recovering branding expert, who’s career once focused on creating campaigns for green – eco business, non-profits and conscious business. Dazzling clients with her high-energy designs for over 18 years, Lainie lent her artistic talents to businesses that matter. But that was then.
In 2008, after the economy took a turn, Lainie decided to be the change (instead of a victim) and began the process of “lifestyle redesign,” a joint decision between both her and her 11-year-old son, Miro. They sold or gave away all of of their possessions in 2009 and began a life of travel, service, and exploration. Lainie and her son Miro began their open-ended adventure backpacking through Central and South America. They are slow traveling around the globe allowing inspiration to be their compass. The pair is most interested in exploring different cultures, contributing by serving, and connecting with humanity as ‘global citizens.’
Today Lainie considers herself a digital nomad who is living a location independent life. She and her son write and podcast their experiences from the road at Raising Miro on the Road of Life.
