Occasionally forgetting where you put your keys or a friend of a friend’s name is normal at any age. However, memory loss is not a normal or unavoidable part of aging.
The brain doesn’t hold on to information it doesn’t find important, so you can actually train your brain to help retain information better and improve long-term brain health. This can include playing research-backed brain games like Brain HQ or Cognifit or doing crosswords or Sudoku.
The power of sleep, meditation, and giving your brain enough breaks also shouldn’t be overlooked and can help improve your memory ASAP.
What you eat also impacts brain health. Diets that focus on fiber, fruits, and vegetables (therefore antioxidants), and healthy omega-3 fats can help protect the brain from inflammation and early cognitive damage. But most people don’t get the nutrients they need from diet alone.
Multivitamins are used by many people to help fill the gaps in what their diet may be lacking. Researchers of a study published in 2023 found that taking a daily multivitamin helped older adults enhance their memory recall and maintain better cognitive health overall.
In this study, over 3,500 adults over 60 were randomly assigned to take either a standard multivitamin or placebo for three years. Even after just one year, those taking the multivitamin had significantly better recall. At the end of three years, those taking the multi had a clear slowing of cognitive aging by years. Here’s a list of our favorite multivitamins.
