Bad Habits = Bad Memory

There are plenty of things that I didn't keep a record of because I thought I'd always remember, like my children's first steps, the last time I spoke to my dad, and the day I bought my first house. Nowadays, I park in the same location at the grocery store so that I can remember where I've parked the car. How much of my lost memories can be attributed to bad habits?

Studies are constantly appearing which have us worried about the habits we form in our daily lives. It may have to do with drinking too much, smoking, not getting enough sleep, not eating the right foods, or too much stress. There’s always something that we should change to become healthier.

Those bad habits may also be instrumental in hindering your brain health – memory, in particular. Alzheimer’s disease is a constant concern among the aging baby boomer population and it’s now sixth in the cause of American deaths.

Although Alzheimer’s disease is mostly considered a disease of the elderly, bad habits that you develop early on can begin a domino effect which can harm your brain and make it easier to become affected by memory diseases.

Here are some habits which can greatly affect your memory and the health of your brain:

• Poor diet – A poor diet can take a toll on your brain as well as your body. You may not be able to see the effects on the brain as you can with the body, but the harm is happening is subtle ways such as difficulty in focusing, bad memory recall and cognitive functioning.
• Smoking – Everyone should know of the harm that smoking can cause to the brain, but smoking can also be a factor in the decline of memory between the ages of 40 and 50 years old.
• Lack of sleep – When you don’t get enough sleep at night, you may feel as if you’re in a fog during the day. If this condition becomes chronic, you run the risk of damaging the neural pathways of the brain which may affect memory recall.
• Lack of exercise – Your brain can mimic the body when you don’t exercise enough. The hippocampus portion of the brain which is responsible for memory storage may become sluggish and your cognitive and recall brain functions may be impaired without the proper amount of exercise.
• Alcohol and drug use – Some people may have conditions which require prescription drugs for treatment, but overuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs can greatly impair your ability to remember things. Alcohol consumption may also destroy cells of the brain and make it more difficult to build them back up.

Other reasons to change bad habits are the effects they may have on your body. Heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer, and diabetes may also occur if your bad habits aren’t under control.

Many people make new year's resolutions and hope to correct bad habits; however, studies show that by the second week of February, 80% of people have given up on their resolutions. Don't let that be you...it's important for your overall health and wellness.

For me, I'm doing a better job with meal planning, maintaining my exercise schedule, and working on getting better sleep.

Here's to releasing bad habits!

Cheers!

Lisa

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