Page 70 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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Maintain your water and fluid (nonalcohol) intake.
Eat fruits and vegetables, which are vital sources of antioxidants.
Take a multivitamin tablet daily.
Supplement with vitamin E and consider vitamins A and C as well.

Keep Exercising

Even very old people can benefit from a rigorous exercise program. Maria Fiatarone, a geriatrician at
Tufts University, published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in which a hundred
frail, elderly nursing home residents (averaging eighty-seven years old) were randomized (equal
chances of entering one treatment condition or another, like tossing a coin and seeing if it's heads or
tails) to be in an exercise program that included progressive resistance weight training, intensive
nutritional supplementation, a combination of the exercise program and nutritional supplementation,
or a comparison (control) group that did not receive weight training. Compared to the control group,
people in the exercise group more than doubled their leg strength in eight weeks. Perhaps even more
important, nutritional supplementation alone did not do much good for physical strength and
stamina, but the exercise plus nutritional supplementation group performed as well as the exercise
only group.

The results of this study were striking, and the advantages of regular exercise are now universally
accepted as part of any good health program, regardless of age. A recent study by Kramer and
colleagues (1999) also produced impressive results: in 174 previously sedentary people sixty to
seventy-five years old, regular walking led to improved performance on cognitive tests of executive
function (memory was not systematically assessed in that study). As with diet, exercise should be a
lifelong effort and not cease abruptly when you reach fifty or sixty or seventy. The body is a
dynamic system and needs constant physical pruning and reshaping to perform optimally.

Physical Fitness Leads to Mental Fitness

In addition to its effects on the body, physical exercise also leads to “mental fitness”— improved
cognitive performance, including memory. A clinical study showed that elderly people who
completed a ten-week walking program showed significantly superior mood and