Remember When

A column by Supervisor Alex Gromack

 

Memory has always been an interesting topic.

 

How we remember things and how those memories shape us and our world views have been the themes of great novels, plays, movies, popular songs and of course scientific studies.

 

Some memories bring joy others bring sadness.

 

One night we can be sitting with a group of friends around the dinner table laughing our fool heads off as we listen again to the often told story about that deep sea fishing trip where the only thing Joe caught was his pants. 

 

The next night we are sitting by ourselves, weeping as we remember just how much we miss Joe.

 

The emotional impact of our memories can be quite strong, sometimes almost as strong as the actual event.

 

Our memories are like a picture show in our heads. Sometimes it is a silent movie with black and white scenery. Other times it’s an I Max production with sound by Bose.

 

I’m not sure if animals have memories. I guess they might but there’s no question that having memories is part of being human.

 

Aging seems to take a toll on our memories. Perhaps that’s because we have far more things to remember when we’re sixty than we did when we were fifteen or maybe it’s because we have far more things we would like to forget.

 

Either way, at a time in our lives when we tend to look back in an attempt to make some sense of our past we may find it harder to remember it.

 

 

There are a number of ‘strategies’ out there claiming to reverse the process of memory loss. Most of the marketing is aimed at the ‘over the hill’ gang. Age, unlike the speed of light in a vacuum, is a relative thing. Where you stand on the hill determines who is over it.

 

Many of these strategies are based upon what you eat and how often you eat it.

 

There are certain food groups that are touted like fish and vegetables. Then there’s ginkgo biloba to name just one of many supplements, guaranteed to improve your memory or your money back. Now, if you could just remember where you bought it!

 

Of course there are some more scientific approaches out there. Take for example a recent research study conducted in Germany the results of which were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

That study showed a diet that restricted caloric intake by 30% during a three month period actually increased a study group’s verbal memory score by 20%.

 

Dr. A. Veronica Witte, leader of the study team at the University of Munster said, “To our knowledge, the current results provide the first experimental evidence in humans that caloric restriction improves memory in the elderly.”

 

So now, finally, science has come to our rescue and given us a real choice.

 

We can spend our ‘golden years’ walking around remembering just how hungry we are or we can spend them forgetting when we last ate.