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Posted on 06/28/2025 9:01:04 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
A straightforward nightly activity may act as a memory-boosting tool, a new study has revealed.
Writing down just five events from the day significantly improved memory performance in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and healthy older adults the following day.
This intervention, which involves recalling and documenting daily experiences, offers a cost-free and easily implementable approach to enhancing memory function.
The RESTED-AD Study (Remote Evaluation of Sleep To Enhance Understanding in Early Dementia) investigated the effects of autobiographical recall on memory performance utilizing 26 participants in two groups—with and without early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia or mild cognitive impairment.
They engaged in a word recognition task on two separate occasions. In one instance, participants were asked to write down five autobiographical events before bedtime. The following morning, when asked to recognize the previously shown words, the results indicated improved memory performance in both groups when the bedtime recall exercise was included.
Dr. Jonathan Blackman explained: "On the nights when participants wrote down events from the day, both the people with AD and healthy older adults did better in the memory task with the AD group benefiting even more.
"We do not believe that this has been demonstrated before in human studies and it holds promise as a drug-free intervention to enhance memory performance in healthy older adults and those with Mild Cognitive Impairment or dementia due to Alzheimer's disease."
While the study did not find a direct link between the bedtime recall exercise and sleep-related brain activity, there are other possible explanations. For example, the recall exercise may have stimulated areas of the brain involved in memory just before bedtime leading to improved memory performance in other tasks.
This approach stands out due to its simplicity and accessibility.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
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Almost like writing a simple daily journal.
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My dad is 81 and he’s having a real hard time finding his nouns. As a recent example, he was trying to tell me he tripped over the door to his dishwasher. Even though he was staring right at it, he couldn’t come up with the word “dishwasher”. I had to fill in the blank for him after he had give me enough of a description (”you put your knives and forks in it”) for me to understand what he was talking about.
I bought him some crossword puzzles and some “circle the word” puzzles but so far he hasn’t tried any of them. The man has a Ph.D in information science and a Master’s in Mathematics. It’s disheartening to see him like this.
He invented a whole new symbolism and methodology for modeling constraints in relational database relationships (I should know, I was his copy editor for his Ph.D. thesis). Seeing him like this is both disheartening and frightening.
Could it be small vessel disease? We have a relative who has that and found that their nutrition seems to be a factor. Apparently having a protein powder, active forms of the B vitamins, antioxidants and multiminerals has been really helpful.
In sum, some things that look like one problem that may be intractable may actually be another with good options.
There are a few other supplements this person is now taking that could be helping, too. It was amazing the new level of memory and talking was the last time talking with this person, from the prior times.
Eliminating all simple sugars can also be helpful, and increasing fiber sources, too.
Let’s see, got out of bed, ate, watched TV, ate, went to bed.
That’s 5 right?
How do you do this exercise? I just started doing it mentally and within a minute was up to 100 big and small events.
* Got out of bed.
* Scrubbed night guard
* Filled CPAP reservoir with water
* Made bed
* Morning toilet
* Showered and shaved
* Washed hair with Duke Cannon shampoo
* Got out new Dial soap bar and Irish Spring bar from cabinet
* Put soap bars in shower
* Recharged batteries in Wellue sleep ring. Synced ring to phone.
* Flossed teeth, then brushed. Scrubbed tongue.
* Brushed hair
* Got laundry basket out with week’s dirty clothes
* Threw one old, worn-out pair of underwear
* Got dressed in khaki shorts, fresh yellow crew neck tee shirt and brown belt
* Took laundry basket downstairs
* Separated whites from colored clothes
* Ran colored clothes through washer first
* Filled coffee pot
* Ground some coffee beans
* Filled Traeger pellet smoker.
* Replaced foil on grease tray. Cleaned two grills in sink.
* Topped off pellet bin
* Got out rib tips and coated with rub
* Filled smoke tube with mixture of pellets and apple wood chips.
* Fired up Traeger. Set at 250F. Lit smoke tube with propane torch.
* Big picture — dinner with friends at Randy & Vee’s house
Etc. You get the idea. I can remember hundreds of things I did today. Where do you draw the line on too big or too small?
I don’t believe so. My dad has no symptoms of heart disease.
Wow, great find! I have also read that playing music from their youth helps ease thr anxiety of ad patients, as does decorating a room in period materials (something they recognize from younger years) not sure why that is- I wish we had known it when caring for a relative with it.
I enjoyed that. What a fun list to post. Hope you enjoyed the rib tips.
It is terrible, we went through it- horrible disease or condition. There’s quite a bit of helpful advice now on the net- we didn’t know anything about it when we had to deal with it. Had to ,earn by making mistakes, many actually. We just didn’t know what was going on. Thought in the beginning the person was just being difficult on purpose- later we found out what was wrong an how to handle it.
AS THE Who song goes, I hope I die before I get old.
I find that I have to train for older age: physical, mental, spirtual too, probably. Working at keeping some high-tech things familiar.
Some of that high-tech work is tough, because of un-expected, furniture movements and security changes in the MacOS - so some sub-routines no longer work (and I did not include notes for every occasion, re “What this sub-routine does” - duh). So, I have had to dig deep.
I keep an Algebra book in the car, so I can study while getting the oil changed. IOW, I (try to) develop tools for my older age.
I don’t want to die before I get old, but I do want to leave something behind before I do. I’m 55, so there’s no time to waste. I’ve chosen to write. I’ve published one book on Amazon KDP and I hope to publish another before year’s end (and I have a hundred pages written of a third one). I don’t know if it constitutes leaving the world better than how I found it, but I’m doing my best.
Looking back, it’s a bit ironic. I made my career in software engineering. The army personnel flying Chinooks are flying something that has a bit of me in it. Same for Navy personnel who use certain comms. But I’ve always wanted to write, so after being laid off that’s the path I’m pursuing.
We took them over to the friend's house and they were a huge hit. It was a last minute cook for me today -- the tips were left over from the rib cook yesterday. I'd never done rib tips before and I was real pleased with how they turned out. There were only a couple pieces left at the end. I learned a good lesson on the ribs yesterday, too -- do not spritz them five times with a 1:1:1 combination of pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar and water. There's an enzyme in pineapple juice called "bromelain" that tenderizes meat. The meat literally fell off the bones all by itself since I accidentally over-tenderized them. In future cooks, three spritzes max and cut back the pineapple juice.
My wife made a great Key Lime Pie. Our hosts served all sorts of good freshly made sushi. Great company. He lives out in the woods and has a family of deer that he feeds who joined us for dinner and gave quite a show. Momma and six yearlings were all butting heads and chasing each other away from the food. Great fun watching the deer cavort. The sunset over the mountains with the huge puffy white clouds was spectacular tonight, too.
It was a good day. Seems like the old memory banks are still working pretty well.
Engage with your father! Converse with him! Ask him to help you recall details from your childhood! Don't let it appear as though you were subjecting him to an exercise! Play word games with him!
Good luck, and keep up the good work!
Regards,
LOL me too! I’m editing my book now (long tedious process lol). I haven’t looked into setting up kdp yet, as I just started writing a few more things ago. It has kept me plenty busy and mind active, that’s for sure
You might want to check out Reedsy. It’s sort of a one-stop-shop that provides resources for writers, from editors to cover designers, publicists, etc. It made my life a lot easier.
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