Memory loss, most of us, at least a couple of times in our lifetime, will have sudden sparks of memory loss like forgetting the name of a person we have recently met or forgetting an appointment. Sometimes, it may be one of our daily chores that we forget to do. One important factor to consider here is that as we age, like the rest of the body, our brain also starts losing its capabilities. Age-related memory loss happens gradually and it should not be confused with sudden and severe cognitive decline associated with more serious neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer disease. Many factors can affect natural memory loss such as lifestyle, diet and stress, as each of these can have both a positive and negative effect on memory, mood, and overall cognitive function.

Just like our energy, metabolism, and body, our brain is at its best in our 20’s. As we grow older, right from our 30’s, our brain starts losing cells at a faster rate than it can make new ones and the production of key neurotransmitters begins to decline. Further damage may be caused by a deficient supply of nutrients, decreased oxygen to the brain, and lack of antioxidants to fight free radical and oxidative damage.

Premature Brain Aging

Deficient supply of nutrients, including antioxidants and oxygen, decreases your natural neural protectors, lowers the rate of removal of toxins from the brain and increases the rate of brain cell death. This leads to a drop in cognitive functioning, memory loss and absentmindedness. Natural aging of the body, and hence our brain, might get accelerated or decelerated based on our diet, exercise, lifestyle and stress levels. Such factors can cause premature brain aging, a condition you can protect yourself from with proper levels of neural nutrients and protective antioxidants. A healthy and balanced diet high in Omega 3 fats, phospholipids and essential brain vitamins, proper exercise, both physical and mental are all very important to keep the brain cells active, protected and healthy.

Our lifestyle, like diet, drug and alcohol abuse can also lead to extreme premature aging of the brain. Stress of any kind, physical and emotional is extremely detrimental to brain health, since this paves the way for depression and cognitive decline.

Our brain is very rich in phospholipids, compounds that have both fatty acids and antioxidants, that form the components of the cell membrane. These phospholipids, mainly phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylcholine, are very important for a healthy brain. Not only do they help maintain integrity of the brain cells, they also regulate the traffic of nutrients and chemicals moving in and out of the brain. Phospholipids like phosphatidylcholine, form as a major source of Choline, for the production of the neural transmitter acetylcholine. Due to high concentrations of these lipids, the brain is extremely susceptible to lipid peroxidation, a damaging oxidation process of fats not unlike cooking oil becoming rancid. Since the brain is the control center of the body, it becomes extremely important to keep it protected, clean from harmful metabolic wastes, and neurotoxins.

Avoid Neurotoxins to Protect your Mind and Memory

A family of neurotoxins called excitotoxins plays a critical role in the development of neurological disorders, including migraines, dementia, premature brain aging, ALS, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's disease. Significant clinical research has shown that excitotoxins can kill brain and nerve cells, leading to neurodegenerative disorders. In simple terms, excitotoxins as the name reflects engages the special nerve receptors in your brain, and over excites them leading to their destruction. Yet the immediate and long-term danger of these neurotoxins goes unchecked as some of the most common excitotoxins are in our food.

Have you ever had a MSG (monosodium glutamate) headache? Well MSG is a sodium salt of glutamate, and glutamate (although an important neurotransmitter at healthy levels) in food additives spikes your body's natural levels, and in turn enters your brain where is can do significant damage to brain cells. Additional neurotoxins you should avoid include aspartame (sweetener in many diet products), yeast extract, textured protein, protein extract. The best way to avoid neurotoxins is to eat foods in their most natural, unprocessed state.

1) Avoid Neurotoxins
Neurotoxins are very damaging to the brain, a specific group called excitotoxins actually engages your brain cells and can over stimulate them to the point your brain cells begin to die due to the hyper activity.
Many neurotoxins can be found in our food, have you ever had a MSG headache? What do you think is happening while your head hurts? Common excitotoxins found in our food are monosodium glutamate, aspartame (sweetener in many diet products), yeast extract, textured protein, and protein extract. Excess consumption of these food additives can cause memory loss and brain damage.

2) Fitness & Exercise - Moderate exercise is key!
Studies have shown moderate exercise on a frequent basis can improve your overall memory and recall Read more on the study.
The improvement in your blood circulation from exercise also improves blood flow to the brain, and studies in mice have shown that exercise actually increased the production of new brain cells. But make sure it is moderate as a recent study has shown that excessive rigorous exercise (where you heart feels like it is going to burst out of your chest, and your lungs are on fire) actually has a negative impact on memory health. Putting such high levels of physical stress and strain on the body actually causes oxidative stress and damage.

3) Take Neuralox daily.
The brain is vital to our existence and quality of life, why not protect it from harm. Neuralox Triple action formula protects the mind, nourishes the brain, and enhances your memory. Take Neuralox Advanced Memory Formula - Try Risk Free for 21 days.

4) Life Style, Quit Smoking,Avoid Drug and Alcohol abuse
Quit Smoking
Research published in the American Journal of Public Health shows that smokers over the age of 40 have a much faster rate of memory loss than non-smokers. Dr. Marcus Richards and his team at the University College in London studied the effects of smoking on memory loss. The researchers found that cigarette smokers in their 40s and 50s had much lower scores on these memory and concentration tests compared with non-smokers and the scores were even lower for those people who smoked the most cigarettes a day. The researcher suspect that it’s high blood pressure, a common side effect of smoking, that may cause brain damage, early signs of dementia and subsequent memory loss. Another possibility is that toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke could also be the cause of direct damage to the brain.
Go to American Journal of Public Health for more information of the study http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/93/6/994

Avoid Drug use
Studies have long shown the connection of pot smoking (marijuana) with impairment of memory function. Now even more brain damaging drugs are prevalent such as Ecstasy or more commonly known as “E”. Studies have shown that memory function can be permanently impaired by MDMA, the active ingredient in “E”. Ask anyone who has ever taken “E”, what they feel like the next day, the words dumb and slow are very common. How can anyone think these mind drugs are not doing damage to our brain?

Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol abuse is a serious condition for many reasons. One reason is that alcohol abuse can lead to several types of memory loss. Alcohol has significant impact on the brain's ability to make and retain memories. It creates a barrier for memory formation and memory recall, inhibits our brain function, and negatively impacts our ability to think clearly. Ever drink a little too much and not remember what happened while you were drunk? These are called “brown outs” and “black outs”, which can caause permanent gaps in your memory. Any form of alcohol related memory loss is a sign of excessive alcohol consumption. A serious consequence of excessive drinking can be the development of alcohol dementia, which is also known as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome.

More on Wernicke-Korsakoff http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/wernicke_korsakoff/wernicke-korsakoff.htm

5) Exercise for the brain
This concept is really starting to take off as there are more and more products to stimulate the brain in the form of online games and computer based puzzles. Without getting into the technical how, simply the more you use your brain the better trained it is to function. Ask any newly retired person after a year away from work, if they feel they have lost a little of the mental edge, most will say “yes”. From staying on top of multiple daily deadlines to a less stressful schedule, an individual may not be as sharp as they were when their minds were being challenged and used to capacity. There are exciting products to keep you mind sharp, but some oldies are still great.
1) Play cards, Bridge is a fantastic mind challenge so is Poker
2) Chess is a great strategic game, Checkers not as much.
3) Cross words and puzzles are very convenient and make you think.

Also try the online brain training sites like Fitbrains.com or Lumosity.com - Free Trial. So turn off the TV and do a Sudoku puzzle. Remember, when it comes to memory Use it or lose it.

You can try Lumosity.com's memory enhancing Puzzles and Brain games for FREE, click here