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	<title>Health &#38; FamilyCategory: Memory &#124; Health &#38; Family &#124; TIME.com</title>
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	<description>A healthy balance of the mind, body and spirit</description>
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		<title>Health &#38; FamilyCategory: Memory &#124; Health &#38; Family &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Not Just Child&#8217;s Play: Video Games Could Slow Mental Decline</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/03/video-games-are-not-just-childs-play-gaming-could-slow-mental-decay/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/03/video-games-are-not-just-childs-play-gaming-could-slow-mental-decay/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 May 2013 16:20:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive decline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=86022</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The quick-thinking skills required in video games may be more helpful than crossword puzzles in slowing or even reversing declines in brain function that come with aging. Researchers from the University of Iowa report in the journal PLoS One on a study of 681 healthy adults over the age of 50 who were assigned to play either a video game called Road Tour or complete a computerized crossword puzzle. The video game required players to identify an image of a car, displayed only fleetingly at the start of the game, to a similar image as well as a matching road sign from a series of constantly changing options, most of which are red herrings. With each successive stage of the game, players received less time to complete their matches, so they needed to rely on their quick-thinking and processing skills to complete the game. After playing for 10 hours, either in the lab or at home, players gained the equivalent of three years of cognitive &#8220;reserve,&#8221; according to the researchers&#8217; calculations, when they were tested on mental skills a year later. That meant that these players showed cognitive functions that could hold off declines in memory and other executive functions such as planning and reasoning for about three years compared with those who completed crossword puzzles. And the more training the participants got with the game, the better; those who played for an additional four hours seemed to hold back cognitive decline by about four years. (MORE: Brain Exercises Better Than Drugs in Preventing Cognitive Decline) Compared with the group that completed crossword puzzles, the video-game players also scored higher on tests of concentration, were able to switch more ably between different tasks, and process new information more quickly. It&#8217;s not the first study to link video games to improved cognitive function, but most previous studies relied on brain-teaser games like Brain Age that specifically tap into executive-function skills. Road Tour required more rapid mental processing, rather than deeper intellectual thought, but still demonstrated benefits in not only preventing decline<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=86022&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/154769380.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Mediterranean Diet Improves Memory, But Not In Diabetics</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/01/med-diet-and-memory/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/01/med-diet-and-memory/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 20:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alzheimer's Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diet & Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive impairment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diabetes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mediterranean diet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[olive oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omegea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://timewellness.wordpress.com/?p=85758</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The largest study to date on the effects of eating omega-3 fatty acids confirm that foods high in the fats can preserve memory and cognitive functions only in people without diabetes. Health experts hold up the Mediterranean diet as likely the best way to eat to stay healthy into old age. High in fruits and vegetables, as well as grains and oils low in saturated fats, the diet is linked to lower risk of heart attacks, stroke, childhood asthma and cancer. (MORE: It’s the Olive Oil: Mediterranean Diet Lowers Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke) A study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Athens, Greece now shows that people around age 64 who primarily ate a Mediterranean diet, which is high in omega-3 fatty acids, may also have a lower risk of memory loss. Because there are no pharmaceutical cures or treatments for memory loss or dementia, the researchers say such lifestyle behaviors that can slow or prevent cognitive decline are important strategies for keeping the brain sharp. The 17,478 African-American and Caucasian men and women were part of the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, and they answered questions about their dietary habits, including how well they stuck to the principles of the Mediterranean diet and avoided red meats and dairy products. The volunteers also agreed to take tests to measure their memory and cognitive abilities over an average of four years. Seven percent of the study participants developed cognitive impairments during the study period of about four years. Among the healthy participants, those who most consistently ate a Mediterranean diet were 13% less likely to develop memory and thinking problems. (MORE: Mediterranean Diet Linked to Lower Child-Asthma Risk) The same benefit did not apply, however, to the 17% of people with diabetes; among those with diabetes, people who followed the Mediterranean diet were 30% more likely to show signs of cognitive impairments during the study than those who didn&#8217;t follow the diet. Among non-diabetics, the participants who ate<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=85758&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/01/med-diet-and-memory/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Diet</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/diet-fitness/diet-diet-fitness/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/200424268-001.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">200424268-001</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Want to Hold On to a Memory? Make a Fist</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/29/grasping-memory-with-both-hands/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/29/grasping-memory-with-both-hands/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hand clenching memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[improving memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[memory encoding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[memory recall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recall]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=85726</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Getting a grip — literally — by clenching your right fist before remembering information and your left when you want to remember it can boost your recall, according to the latest study. This strange trick may work because clenching your hands activates the side of the brain that handles the function — in right-handed people, for instance, the left side of the brain is primarily responsible for encoding information and the right for recalling memory. (If you are left-handed, the opposite applies.) To test this idea, researchers led by Ruth Propper of Montclair State University in New Jersey studied 50 right-handed college students, mainly women. They were given a list of 36 words to remember and a small pink ball to clench. One group clenched the ball twice for 45 seconds, each with their right hands before memorizing the words, then did the same with their left hands before writing down as many words as they could recall; another group performed the same task but reversed the order of the fists they made. Two other groups used the same hand each time, one group using the left and the other the right. A final group didn’t clench the ball at all but held it gently in both hands each time. The group that started with the right hand — and activated the left side of their brains, which helps encode memory, and then clenched their left hand, activating the right side of the brain during recall — performed the best on the memory test. “The findings suggest that some simple body movements — by temporarily changing the way the brain functions — can improve memory,” Propper said in a statement describing the results, which were published in the journal PLoS One. Participants recalled an average of 10 words if they clenched their right hand for encoding and left for recall, which was four more than those who used the opposite clenching pattern. (MORE: A New Way to Curb Drinking? Planting False (Bad) Memories of a Bender) And as odd as it<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=85726&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/29/grasping-memory-with-both-hands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/115049937a.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">115049937a</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Brain Exercises Better than Drugs in Preventing Cognitive Decline</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/15/mental-exercises-are-most-successful-at-preventing-cognitive-decline/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/15/mental-exercises-are-most-successful-at-preventing-cognitive-decline/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:30:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Exercise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supplements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brain teasers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive decline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mental exercises]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=84667</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With an aging population, rates of dementia will only climb, yet doctors have few effective strategies for addressing the worst symptoms. Mild cognitive impairment, in which older adults show lapses in memory and other mental functions that aren&#8217;t serious enough to impair their daily activities, affects about 10% to 20% of those over age 70. Each year, about 10% of these people will progress to develop dementia, a more serious form of impairment that can drastically affect their independence and ability to function. But despite the growing proportion of the population that may be affected by these conditions, an analysis published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that there are few effective options for treating the condition. The researchers reviewed 32 randomized controlled trials, in which patients were randomly assigned to either an intervention such as drugs to control cognitive decline, herbal remedies, physical activity or mental exercises including crossword puzzles; or left to continue living their lives without any changes. By comparing the various methods of treating cognitive decline, the scientists hoped to come up with some ranking of how effective the various interventions were. MORE: Heart Disease Test May Predict Dementia Better Than Cognitive Tests They did not find strong evidence to support medications such as donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor designed to help brain chemicals keep neural circuits involved in cognition active. Studies have long hinted that such prescription drugs are only minimally effective in staving off the symptoms of dementia, but with so few medications to treat dementia available, many physicians continue to prescribe the medications since they can help some patients to improve recall. There was also little evidence supporting the effectiveness of natural remedies such as the herbal supplement ginkgo, the  hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), or vitamin B and omega-3 fatty acids. The majority of the studies found these remedies had little to no effect on improving scores on memory tests or other evaluations of cognitive functions. (MORE: Brain Aging: What’s Nintendo Got to Do With It?) Studies investigating the role of estrogen and testosterone therapy showed<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=84667&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/15/mental-exercises-are-most-successful-at-preventing-cognitive-decline/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/bb4691-002-1.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>A New Way to Curb Drinking? Planting False (Bad) Memories of a Bender</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/12/false-memories-can-change-drinking/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/12/false-memories-can-change-drinking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alcohol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alcohol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[drinking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elizabeth Loftus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[false memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vodka]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[white wine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=84469</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Researchers are exploring the possibility that convincing drinkers they had a bad experience with liquor &#8212; even if they didn&#8217;t &#8212; could lead them to drink less. As surprising as it sounds, dozens of studies now show that it is relatively easy to create false childhood memories. By using suggestive techniques such as presenting apparently personal information or having family members claim that false memories are true, up to 40% of people can be convinced that they experienced events that did not occur. Such studies [PDF] have planted memories of experiences as bizarre as witnessing a person possessed by demons — complete with foaming mouth and vomited hair— or as mundane as having been lost at a mall. The experiments were initially done in the context of court cases like those in which people were wrongly accused of committing Satanic ritual abuse at daycare centers. They showed that traumatic, but false, memories could be implanted. This line of research raised questions about so-called &#8220;repressed memory therapies,&#8221; which were popular during the 80s and 90s and purported to extract memories so traumatic that people were subconsciously suppressing them. The research showed that suggestive techniques used in those treatments resulted in recall that was inaccurate. But if traumatic experiences could be falsely planted, then researchers began wondering if they could seed false memories to trigger helpful, rather than harmful responses. &#8220;After decades of studying the creation of false memories, a few years ago we started to ask what are the repercussions,&#8221; says Elizabeth Loftus, professor of psychology at the University of California in Irvine. &#8220;If I plant a false memory in your mind, does it affect later thoughts, intentions or even behaviors?&#8221; To find out, she and her colleagues began studying eating. &#8220;We got particularly excited when we got people to have false memories of eating fattening food and [later], they didn’t want to eat it,&#8221; she says. For example, people to believe they were sickened during childhood by contaminated peach yogurt ate less of it when they were offered the food<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=84469&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/3089-000087a.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Heart Disease Test May Predict Dementia Better than Cognitive Tests</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/03/heart-disease-test-may-predict-dementia-better-than-cognitive-tests/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/03/heart-disease-test-may-predict-dementia-better-than-cognitive-tests/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:30:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heart Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive decline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dementia risk score]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dementia test]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[framingham risk factors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart disease risk score]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart disease test]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=83787</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[They may not seem to share much in common, but similar mechanisms could be driving the two conditions. In recent years, researchers have documented an intriguing connection between heart disease risk factors and cognitive decline; those with poorer circulation who were at higher risk of developing heart disease also seemed to show more signs of dementia and cognitive problems than those with healthier hearts. In the latest study on the association, published in the journal, Neurology, scientists from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research found that tests for heart disease were better at predicting memory problems than those that measured dementia. (MORE: Obese in Middle Age? You May Suffer Faster Cognitive Decline Later On) At the beginning of the study, the researchers calculated the heart disease and dementia risk scores for 7,830 men and women around age 55 using three different tests. They used two measures of heart disease and stroke risk, which factored in age, blood pressure, high blood pressure treatment, levels of HDL, LDL and total cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and the presence of an irregular heart beat. The dementia risk score, called the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) included age, education, blood pressure, BMI, total cholesterol, how much exercise the participants received and whether they had a gene associated with dementia. Over 10 years, the scientists tested the volunteers three times on cognitive abilities that assessed their reasoning, memory, verbal fluency, vocabulary and global cognition. At the end, all three of the risk scores &#8212; for heart disease, stroke and dementia &#8212; successfully predicted decline in cognitive tests over 10 years. Those with higher heart disease risk showed a 14 point drop in cognitive abilities in all areas except for memory when compared to those with lower risk for heart disease. But the dementia risk test did not foretell declines in memory or other cognitive functions. That suggests that the heart disease and stroke tests, which measure blood circulation and brain aging, may be better markers of cognitive function than the dementia test, which takes into account education and possible<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=83787&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/110165599.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>Two Studies Find Promising New Ways to Detect Alzheimer&#8217;s Earlier</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/12/two-studies-find-promising-news-ways-to-detect-alzheimers-earlier/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/12/two-studies-find-promising-news-ways-to-detect-alzheimers-earlier/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:30:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alzheimer's Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[amyloid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[amyloid plaques]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beta-amyloid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[biomakers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sleep]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=82052</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sleep patterns and markers in spinal fluid may hint at the first signs of the neurodegenerative disorder. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 5 million Americans have Alzheimer&#8217;s disease, and while there are no effective treatments, experts believe detecting the disease early can help patients to strengthen memory and cognitive functions and potentially slow down the buildup of brain plaques that are the hallmark of the condition. Two studies, both published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, hint at potentially encouraging ways to identify those who might be at risk, at the earliest possible stages of the disease. (MORE: Study Shows Alzheimer’s Protein May Not Spread Like a Virus) In one study from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, researchers found that levels of the protein amyloid, which makes up these plaques, were correlated with poor sleep quality. Previous studies in animals showed that animals that slept less tended to develop more plaques, but it wasn&#8217;t clear whether poor sleep can contribute to the formation of amyloid plaques, or whether the buildup of these deposits causes disturbances in sleep. To study the connection further, the scientists asked 145 cognitively normal individuals aged 45 to 75, who were enrolled at the Alzheimer&#8217;s disease research center, to keep a diary of their sleep patterns for two weeks. The volunteers recorded when they went to bed, when they woke up in the morning, how many naps they took and whether they felt sleepy during the day. The scientists had the advantage of already having samples of the participants&#8217; spinal fluid, so they could also match up the sleep records with the level of amyloid protein in the brain of each patient. All of the participants slept about the same amount, but there were stark differences in the quality of that sleep. Thirty-two participants showed higher levels of amyloid buildup that was classified as preclinical Alzheimer&#8217;s disease and also had worse sleep quality. These volunteers were less likely to spend time their time in bed in restful, deep<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=82052&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/12/two-studies-find-promising-news-ways-to-detect-alzheimers-earlier/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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	<primary_category>Alzheimer&#039;s Disease</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/alzheimers-disease/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/160487623.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>Bees&#8217; Needs: Caffeine to Improve Memory</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/08/bees-needs-caffeine/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/08/bees-needs-caffeine/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:45:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environmental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[caffeine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[colony collapse disorder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[honey bees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pollination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recall]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=81684</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It turns out humans aren&#8217;t the only ones getting a buzz from coffee. Caffeine can improve memory among honeybees and lead to better plant pollination, according to a recent study published in the journal Science. Researchers led by Geraldine Wright, a professor of neurobiology at Newcastle University in the UK, found that the nectar of citrus flowers, such as those of grapefruit and lemon plants, as well as coffee flowers that produce the &#8216;arabica&#8217; species used for espresso and filter coffees contain low doses of caffeine. To entice bees to feed on these flowers, Wright and her team trained the insects to associate food with the smell of the flowers. They also trained another group of bees to feed on nectar from the flowers that was sweetened with a sugar, but not did not contain caffeine. After 24 hours, the bees trained on the caffeinated flowers returned to these these plants three times as often as those trained on the sweetened flowers returned to their uncaffeinated plants. (MORE: Why Smart Humans — and Honeybees — Live Longer) &#8220;Remembering floral traits is difficult for bees to perform at a fast pace as they fly from flower to flower and we have found that caffeine helps the bee remember where the flowers are,&#8221; Wright said in a statement. Such enhanced recall led to more effective pollination since once bees that consume the caffeine nectar, they continue to look for more coffee plants to pollinate, suggesting that the caffeine in the nectar played a role in improving the bees&#8217; foraging abilities as well. VIDEO: The Buzz About What&#8217;s Killing the Bees According to Wright, bees rely on their ability to learn and remember floral signals in order to find food. They use the information they gather about scents and colors associated with reward to seek out certain flowers and spread pollen from flower to flower within the same plant species. &#8220;This is good for the plant species because this kind of behavior in the pollinator means plants have more offspring. By enhancing their<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=81684&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/83598709.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>Can&#8217;t Do Math? How the Brain Makes Tradeoffs in Favoring Some Skills Over Others</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/07/cant-do-math-electric-stimulation-of-the-brain-may-help-but-comes-with-a-price/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/07/cant-do-math-electric-stimulation-of-the-brain-may-help-but-comes-with-a-price/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 15:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brain stimulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive enhancement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[improving math performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mathematics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[neuroscience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transcranial electric stimulation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=81675</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Enhancing one area of the brain means activity in others may suffer. In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers showed that improving mathematical performance by electrically stimulating certain parts of the brain led to impairments in others regions — and vice versa. The scientists, led by Roi Cohen Kadosh of Oxford University, used a technique called transcranial electric stimulation (TES), a non-invasive procedure that previous studies linked to improved cognitive skills when applied to specific brain regions. Electrodes placed on the scalp use low levels of electric current to stimulate nearby brain areas, triggering a slight tingling, but not painful, sensation. Nineteen young adults, divided into three groups, participated in the study. One group received 20 minutes of stimulation on both sides of the head over the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), a brain area critical for processing numbers.  A second group was stimulated similarly over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which is involved in learning more generally.  The third group received fake stimulation: they felt the same tingling sensation as the real thing, but experience no significant brain effects. MORE: Amphetamine Spurs Slackers to Work and Workers to Slack — at Least For Rats Following the stimulation on each day, over the course of six days, the participants were trained for two hours a day to recognize symbols that the researchers assigned to stand for specific numbers, similar to learning numerals in a different language.  First, they were tested on how fast they could identify which of the two new symbols stood for a larger amount. Later, they performed the same task, but with a twist: one of the symbols was presented in a larger font than the other, but did not necessarily always represent the larger amount. The volunteers had to identify either the larger or smaller sized symbol while ignoring the numerical meaning of its amount that they had just learned. While it seems that would be easy, and the participants could ignore the numerical value of the symbols while focusing only on their physical size, those<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=81675&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Brain</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/brain/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/130404795a.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
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		<title>How Facebook Improves Memory</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/01/how-facebook-improves-memory/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/01/how-facebook-improves-memory/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:30:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[distraction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enhancing memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[memory loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[older adults]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[remembering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=81346</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Checking status updates on Facebook may be just the distraction your memory needs. Facebook and other social media are generally considered distractions, rather than aids, to building memory. Interrupting whatever you&#8217;re doing to check your status or watch that cute cat video seems unlikely to help you retain the information you need, particularly for older people whose attention can be more fragmented. But new research suggests that certain kinds of distractions can actually help memory among the elderly — and that Facebook itself may also enhance recall. Renée Biss of the University of Toronto explored the surprising fact that when older adults are distracted from a task, they unknowingly retain more irrelevant information than younger people do. To determine whether this tendency could be tweaked to improve memory for important information, she and her colleagues designed a recall experiment designed to distract participants from remembering what they had seen. The research, published in the journal Psychological Science, involved more than 200 older adults with an average age of 67 or 68 and younger adults who were 19 to 20 years old on average, in Canada. In a series of experiments, participants tried to memorize a list of 20 words and were tested on them almost immediately afterward. Then they were told that there would be a second surprise test 15 minutes later. (MORE: Do E-Books Make it Harder to Remember What You Just Read?) During those 15 minutes, they were shown line drawings on a computer screen and asked to push a button when the most recent picture was exactly the same as the preceding drawing. Some of the drawings had some of the words from the list on them, while others had nonsense words: participants were told to ignore the words and simply identify the matching pictures. Only 10 of the words from the list were repeated so that researchers could determine if recall for these words was better than for those that were not included. (MORE: Why You&#8217;re More Likely to Remember a Facebook Status Than a Face)<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=81346&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/158635368.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
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		<title>Finding the Link Between Sleep and Senior Moments</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/28/finding-the-link-between-sleep-and-senior-moments/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/28/finding-the-link-between-sleep-and-senior-moments/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sleep]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[memory loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[senior moments]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[slow waves]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=78920</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s no secret that our ability to remember things dulls as we get older. Now researchers have some clues about why that happens. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, found a connection between disrupted sleep — common among the elderly — and memory loss. Their work suggests that as we age, we no longer experience the same deep sleep of our youth and in turn generates fewer of the slow brain waves that are critical for a sharp memory. Slow waves are involved in transferring short-term memories from the hippocampus into long-term memories stored in the prefrontal cortex. According to the authors, normal adults spend a quarter of each night&#8217;s sleep in deep, non-rapid-eye-movement sleep, during which these slow waves are generated. (MORE: Even Brief Exercise Can Improve Memory in Older Adults) The study found that slow waves are created in the middle frontal lobe of the brain and the shrinkage of this region among older adults may be linked to their struggle to experience deep sleep. In older adults, this deteriorating sleep quality interferes with the ability to store memories properly overnight, causing some to be overwritten by new ones. In the latest work, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists compared sleep and memory skills among 18 healthy adults in their 20s and 15 healthy elderly adults, primarily in their 70s. All were asked to learn 120 tricky word pairings and were tested on their ability to recall them. The younger group scored about 25% better than the older group. The participants then slept for eight hours while the researchers collected images of their dozing brains using electroencephalograms, or EEGs. Their memories were tested again after their slumber, this time while their brains were imaged using functional and structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans. These can detail which areas of the brain are active during specific tasks, and the researchers discovered that the second time around, the younger group scored better by about 55%. (MORE: To Boost Memory, Shut Your Eyes and Relax) The scans also highlighted a strong link between the degree of middle-frontal-lobe-brain<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=78920&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Sleep</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/sleep/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/153383239.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>Why You&#8217;re More Likely to Remember A Facebook Status Than a Face</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/17/why-youre-more-likely-to-remember-a-facebook-status-than-a-face/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/17/why-youre-more-likely-to-remember-a-facebook-status-than-a-face/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:23:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook post]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook status]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[status]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=78122</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Remember a year ago, when the cousin of your college roommate posted a Facebook status that she got engaged? Sure you do. In fact, according to a recent study, you remember that Facebook status more than a line from a book or a stranger&#8217;s face. Even if the quips are from complete strangers, new research published in the journal Memory &#38; Cognition found these Facebook posts are about one and a half times more memorable than sentences in books and two and a half times more memorable than faces. (MORE: Who Wields The Most Influence On Facebook?) To understand how we process information absorbed from social media, researchers from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Scranton asked 280 undergraduates to read 100 sentences pulled from Facebook pages, 100 sentences extracted from books — none of which were more than 25 words long — and a series of pictures of human faces. The participants were then prompted with the same phrases and pictures and asked to recall which ones they had seen previously. Which were more memorable? The students remembered more of the Facebook posts than either the reading passages or the faces. And because the scientists removed extraneous punctuation, leaving only words, the sharper recall wasn&#8217;t due to  smiley emoticons, writing in all caps or those ubiquitous multiple explanation points to &#8220;I&#8217;m having the BEST day EVER!!!!!&#8221; that pepper Facebook writings. Instead, the researchers speculate that Facebook posts&#8217; unforgetableness could be related to their coherency and &#8220;gossipy&#8221; tone. It&#8217;s easier to recall a chatty or witty post about the antics of someone&#8217;s cat, for example, than it is to remember a line from Great Expectations. To test this, the research team repeated the experiment using news headlines from CNN, lines from CNN stories about either breaking news or entertainment, and reader comments. The headlines were recalled better than random sentences from the stories, and entertainment headlines were more memorable than those from news stories. But of all the bits of text, what the participants remembered the most were the readers&#8217;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=78122&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/307_facebook.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">307_Facebook</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>Loneliness, Not Living Alone, Linked to Dementia</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/11/loneliness-not-living-alone-linked-to-dementia/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/11/loneliness-not-living-alone-linked-to-dementia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:27:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alzheimer's Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Connection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[loneliness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social isolation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social support]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=75880</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, there is a difference. Why one is more likely to trigger serious memory problems? In a study published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery &#38; Psychiatry, Tjalling Jan Holwerda of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam found that participants who reported feeling lonely — regardless of how many friends and family surrounded them — were more likely to experience dementia than those who lived on their own. The scientists focused on nearly 2,200 older adults living in Amsterdam, ages 65 to 86, who did not show signs of dementia and were not living in institutions like nursing homes, and visited them twice over three years. About half of the participants lived alone and 20% reported feelings of loneliness. Almost two-thirds of the elderly in the study were women. Prior research suggested that having a supportive social network is linked with positive health outcomes, from psychological health to physical health, while lacking such support can be harmful. Indeed, a growing body of studies find that loneliness itself can kill, typically by raising blood pressure and increasing risk for heart disease and stroke. High blood pressure is also a risk factor for dementia. (MORE: The Reason You&#8217;re in Love With Material Possessions? Loneliness) The Dutch study found that after adjusting for other relevant factors like age, feeling lonely raised the risk of dementia by 64%. The research didn&#8217;t distinguish between Alzheimer&#8217;s, which accounts for 90% of dementia, and other types of the mind and memory-robbing illness. But the authors caution that the results cannot prove loneliness causes dementia: in fact, the opposite could be true since dementia and its resulting changes in mood and brain function may contribute to some of the social withdrawal of loneliness. “[L]oneliness may be a behavioral reaction to diminished cognition,” the authors write in discussing their findings, because people who are losing their memories may withdraw from others, either due to embarrassment or confusion about how to handle social situations resulting from their brain impairment. (MORE: Feeling Alone Together: How Loneliness Spreads) There is also the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=75880&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/11/loneliness-not-living-alone-linked-to-dementia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Social Connection</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/social-connection/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/136104625lonelinesscrop.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Elderly man alone on park bench</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/0a5ac57e99124922fa628492ad3db6b2?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Even Brief Exercise Can Improve Memory In Older Adults</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/27/even-brief-exercise-can-improve-memory-in-older-adults/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/27/even-brief-exercise-can-improve-memory-in-older-adults/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Nov 2012 15:59:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alzheimer's Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diet & Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Exercise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=74770</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A daily dose of exercise is good for both mind and body, but how much is enough? To find out, researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) examined more than 50 adults between the ages 50 to 85, half of whom had memory deficits and half of whom were mentally healthy. They divided the participants into two groups—one that exercised on a stationary bike for six minutes and another that did not. All provided a saliva sample, and to test their memory, were shown 20 images of animals and nature scenes. An hour after the exercise group worked out at 70% of their maximum ability, the volunteers were given a  surprise memory test to recall as many images as they could from the previously viewed set. (MORE: Exercise Trumps Brain Games in Keeping Our Minds Intact) Compared to the participants who did not exercise, all of the exercising participants, regardless of whether they had cognitive impairments or not, showed improved memory after their short spin on the bicycle. &#8220;We saw significantly better recall in the exercise group than in the non-exercise group,&#8221; says lead study author Sabrina Segal, in the UCI postdoctoral program. &#8220;This was particularly significant in cognitively impaired participants who almost doubled their recall improvement.&#8221; The researchers, who published their results in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, believe the benefit may be tied to an exercised-induced brain chemical called norepinephrine, which has a strong influence on memory. By examining the saliva samples, which the exercise group provided both before and after their exercise sessions, the researchers found that immediately following their workout, the exercise group had high levels of the enzyme salivary alpha amylase, a biomarker for norepinephrine. The link was even higher in participants who started out with cognitive deficits. Previous research with drugs that influence norepinephrine levels showed that increasing norepinephrine can improve memory, while blocking it impairs recall. &#8220;What&#8217;s exciting to us about this is that not only did exercise increase the biomarker for this brain chemical, but we saw more of this chemical released and with that, better recall. This<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=74770&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/27/even-brief-exercise-can-improve-memory-in-older-adults/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/108328275.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/dd9dc95ff828efb70c16a5a509a75150?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Exercise Trumps Brain Games in Keeping Our Minds Intact</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/23/exercise-trumps-brain-games-in-keeping-our-minds-intact/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/23/exercise-trumps-brain-games-in-keeping-our-minds-intact/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alzheimer's Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=72112</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s inevitable that as we age, our brains get smaller. Nerves die off, losing their connections, and that leads to a thinned out network feeding our thinking functions. But brain shrinkage isn&#8217;t inevitable, according to the latest study of elderly adults. In recent years, as more research reveals the benefits of staying both physically and mentally active into the golden years, health officials have been urging older people to exercise more and stay mentally engaged by maintaining a rich network of friends and family connections and by learning new skills to keep their brains sharp. Crossword puzzles, learning a new language, playing board games — anything that requires some thought can do the trick. VIDEO: A Faster Stride Predicts a Longer Life But researchers wanted to know whether physical activity or mental activity was better at keeping cognitive functions intact, or whether there was something about the combination that helped elderly stay sharp. So in the new study, researchers examined the medical records of 638 people from Scotland born in 1936. At age 70, the participants filled out questionnaires detailing their exercise habits as well as how often they engaged in stimulating mental and social activities. When they turned 73, the scientists took MRIs of their brains and matched their size, as well as any changes in the volume of white matter, which makes up the web of nerves that connect various brain regions, to the volunteers&#8217; questionnaire answers. (MORE: Mind Your Reps: Exercise, Especially Weight Lifting, Helps Keep the Brain Sharp) The participants reported a range of physical activity, from household chores to heavy exercise or playing competitive sports several times a week. Over the three years, those who exercised the most had the largest brains, and showed the least shrinkage in white matter compared to those who were the least active, suggesting regular exercise in old age could protect the brain from age-related decline. Those who reported engaging in more intellectual pursuits didn&#8217;t show the same benefit. &#8220;People in their seventies who participated in more physical exercise, including walking several<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=72112&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/23/exercise-trumps-brain-games-in-keeping-our-minds-intact/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Aging</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/aging/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/121111609.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">121111609</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/dd9dc95ff828efb70c16a5a509a75150?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>To Boost Memory, Shut Your Eyes and Relax</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/25/to-boost-memory-shut-your-eyes-and-relax/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/25/to-boost-memory-shut-your-eyes-and-relax/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:45:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Laura Blue</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=64563</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Forget brain-training exercises, 12-hour shifts and those long, uninterrupted, caffeine-fueled study binges. When you really need new information to sink in, you can&#8217;t skimp on taking breaks, new research suggests. That&#8217;s the message from a soon-to-be-published study by psychologists and neuroscientists at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, who asked a small group of normally aging elderly men and women to recall as many details as possible from two stories they were told. Following one of the stories (but not always the same one for all the participants), the men and women were instructed to relax, take a brief break and close their eyes for 10 minutes in a dark room. Following the other story, those same participants were instead distracted with a new task, spotting the differences between pairs of nearly identical images. Overall, the study participants remembered many more details of whichever story they heard before they were told to rest — and their striking memory boost persisted even a full week out after the story-telling. Take heed, students, doctors and anyone else who has to process large amounts of information: the elderly may worry most about memory, but given what we know about how memories form, these new findings have implications for people of all ages. (MORE: Quizzes — but Not Pop Quizzes — Help the Brain Learn) Previous research has already shown that both the young and the old have better recall of, say, a list of words if they&#8217;re allowed to rest for a few minutes in between learning the words and then regurgitating them. What this latest study adds, however, is evidence that a few minutes of wakeful rest may have an effect even on long-term memory consolidation. In fact, when we first encounter new information, it seems, we are probably &#8220;just at a very early stage of memory formation,&#8221; according to Michaela Dewar, the research fellow who is first author on the new study. &#8220;Further neural processes have to occur after this stage for us to be able to remember this information at<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=64563&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/25/to-boost-memory-shut-your-eyes-and-relax/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/rest.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/rest.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/rest.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">rest</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/a069e8b4ff0dc386def0882f71bbfee6?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Laura Blue</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<title>When Dementia Derails Your Parent’s Finances</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/06/when-dementia-derails-your-parents-finances/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/06/when-dementia-derails-your-parents-finances/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:45:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Suzanna de Baca</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alzheimer's Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Death & Dying]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family & Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Longevity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[personal finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power of attorney]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=61146</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Not long ago, I had coffee with my friend Jill whose father had recently passed away. He had suffered from dementia for more than a year, but no one picked up on it until the disease had progressed and her dad had stopped tending to household finances. Bills were unpaid, investments were in disarray and random payments had been made to charities he’d never supported before. Jill had spent long hours trying to unravel and correct the financial chaos he’d inadvertently created in the months before he died. According to a recent report by the Alzheimer’s Association, 1 in 8 elderly Americans currently suffer from some form of dementia, and more than 15 million Americans provide some sort of care to affected individuals. As Time’s cover story details this week, many baby boomers are finding themselves responsible for making health care decisions for their parents. But boomers are also stepping in to help with financial matters. In many cases, this means taking over money management duties or paying for expenses out of their own pockets. The time and money involved can be significant. (MORE: Five Tips for Families Facing End-of-Life Care) With some proactive planning, you can help your parents stay on track financially and ensure that their desires for their financial legacy are respected and carried out. Taking the following steps while your aging parents are still healthy can help protect their finances and lay the groundwork for a transition in financial management should your parent develop dementia or other illness. 1. Talk about finances now. While your parents may hesitate to talk about money, or tell you to butt out of their business, it’s important to broach the topic. If you’re worried about having this conversation, consider coming at it by bringing up the national health care debate or discussing a friend’s situation like Jill’s. Then gently inquire whether your parents have made arrangements for long term care or if they have sufficient retirement income and respectfully offer assistance with managing their finances. 2. Set up automatic bill payments.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=61146&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Family</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/family-parenting/family/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/hl_dementia_0605_blog.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">hl_dementia_0605_blog</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">suzannadebaca</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Does a Better Memory Equal Greater PTSD Risk?</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/15/does-a-better-memory-equal-greater-ptsd-risk/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/15/does-a-better-memory-equal-greater-ptsd-risk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 19:00:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[genetics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PKCA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[post traumatic stress disorder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ptsd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rwanda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rwandan genocide]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trauma]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=59533</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A good memory is typically seen as a powerful advantage, an aid to intelligence and socializing.  But when experience is traumatic, this asset may become a serious liability, according to new research on survivors of the Rwandan genocide. Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland studied a gene for a protein called PKCA, which is known to be involved in the encoding of emotional memories.  In healthy Swiss adults, a variant called rs4790904 was found to be associated with visual memory. There are three versions of rs4790904:  AA, AG and GG.  In one experiment including over 700 healthy adults from Switzerland, people with the AA variant had better recall of happy or otherwise emotionally positive and neutral images.  A brain imaging experiment including nearly 400 Swiss adults also linked the AA version with improved memory for pictures with either a positive or negative emotional tone. Researchers then studied the same gene in 347 adult Rwandan refugees who were living at the Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda.  All of them had been exposed to the trauma of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which had forced them to flee their homes.  Around 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100 days during the genocide, when Hutu militias and gangs attacked the minority Tutsi population and those sympathetic to them. Thirty-nine percent of the refugees had current symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder marked by a sense of repeatedly re-experiencing the emotional and physical sensations linked to the trauma, often triggered by sensory reminders of the event, like sudden loud noises.  People with PTSD typically try to avoid these cues, which can result in isolation and increased distress. Rwandan refugees with the AA variant were more likely to have PTSD than those with the other versions of the gene — particularly symptoms of re-experiencing the traumatic event, like flashbacks.  Avoidance of trauma reminders was also more common in those with the AA version. According to the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings point to a “genetic<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=59533&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/15/does-a-better-memory-equal-greater-ptsd-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/memory.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/memory.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">Human Brain</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/0a5ac57e99124922fa628492ad3db6b2?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Study: Computer Use Combined with Exercise May Protect Memory</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/02/study-computer-use-combined-with-exercise-may-protect-memory/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/02/study-computer-use-combined-with-exercise-may-protect-memory/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 11:02:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alzheimer's Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[computer use]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Exercise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mayo Clinic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MCI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[memory loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mild Cognitive Impairment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[moderate exercise]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=58583</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sitting in front of a computer screen may seem like inactivity, but it could be giving your brain a workout. It may even help protect your brain from cognitive decline, Mayo Clinic researchers say. In a new study, the researchers found that people who reported using the computer and participating in moderate physical activity — like walking or swimming — were less likely to experience age-related memory loss, compared with people who did either of the activities on its own. &#8220;The results were over and above what we expected, but not surprising,&#8221; says lead researcher Dr. Yonas E. Geda, a physician scientist with Mayo Clinic in Arizona. &#8221;We know physical exercise is independently associated with brain function and mentally stimulating activities are also independently associated with brain function. Combing the two makes sense.&#8221; (MORE: Can Household Chores Help Prevent Alzheimer’s?) Geda and his colleagues studied 926 people aged 70 to 93 in Olmstead County, Minn. The participants filled out questionnaires about the frequency of mentally or physically stimulating activities over the previous year. Based on the responses, researchers singled out computer use, as opposed to other brain-challenging activities like reading or crafts, due to its popularity. The researchers then compared the participants&#8217; responses to their cognitive health. Among the participants who did not exercise or use a computer, 20.1% were cognitively normal and 37.6% had signs of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a stage of cognitive decline between normal age-related memory loss and Alzheimer’s dementia. Among those who participated in moderate exercise and used a computer, 36% were cognitively normal and 18.3% showed signs of MCI. The participants&#8217; physical exercises were defined as mild, moderate or vigorous. Mild exercise included bowling and stretching, moderate activities included hiking and tennis, and vigorous exercise referred to jogging or biking uphill. Although those who combined computer use and frequent moderate exercise were least likely to have MCI, Geda says that any kind of exercise — as long as you do it regularly — has benefits. Many previous studies have also linked physical activity with a lower<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=58583&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/108315357.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">108315357</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>Do E-Books Make It Harder to Remember What You Just Read?</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/14/do-e-books-impair-memory/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/14/do-e-books-impair-memory/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:30:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ebooks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kindle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[textbooks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=55260</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I received a Kindle for my birthday, and enjoying &#8220;light reading,&#8221; in addition to the dense science I read for work, I immediately loaded it with mysteries by my favorite authors. But I soon found that I had difficulty recalling the names of characters from chapter to chapter. At first, I attributed the lapses to a scary reality of getting older — but then I discovered that I didn’t have this problem when I read paperbacks. When I discussed my quirky recall with friends and colleagues, I found out I wasn&#8217;t the only one who suffered from &#8220;e-book moments.&#8221; Online, I discovered that Google&#8217;s Larry Page himself had concerns about research showing that on-screen reading is measurably slower than reading on paper. This seems like a particularly troubling trend for academia, where digital books are slowly overtaking the heavy tomes I used to lug around. On many levels, e-books seem like better alternatives to textbooks — they can be easily updated and many formats allow readers to interact with the material more, with quizzes, video, audio and other multimedia to reinforce lessons. But some studies suggest that there may be significant advantages in printed books if your goal is to remember what you read long-term. VIDEO: Trippy Video: Inside the World Series of Memorization Kate Garland, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Leicester in England, is one of the few scientists who has studied this question and reviewed the data. She found that when the exact same material is presented in both media, there is no measurable difference in student performance. However, there are some subtle distinctions that favor print, which may matter in the long run. In one study involving psychology students, the medium did seem to matter. “We bombarded poor psychology students with economics that they didn’t know,” she says. Two differences emerged. First, more repetition was required with computer reading to impart the same information. Second, the book readers seemed to digest the material more fully. Garland explains that when you recall something, you either<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=55260&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Memory</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/memory/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/ereader.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
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