Train Your Brain: How to Maximize Memory Ability in Older Adults

"Train Your Brain" was written to provide older adults, and the people who work with them, with practical and scientifically based suggestions and interventions on how to maintain and even improve memory ability. Researchers have found that certain lifestyle factors predict the likelihood of developing memory problems. Most chapters begin with research summaries, followed by practical suggestions for taking advantage of the identified factors that affect memory. The book also contains information and suggestions for people interested in starting a cognitive enhancement program in an assisted living facility, senior center, or medical setting. Two chapters, 'How Memory Works' and 'How the Brain Works', provide readers with a foundation of knowledge so they can get the most out of subsequent chapters. The author presents the 'Use It or Lose It' theory of memory and aging and the overwhelming evidence that cognitive stimulation is associated with better memory ability; he also provides information on how nutrition, physical exercise, mood, stress, and sleep all affect memory. The book contains cognitive enhancement activities, with instructions, that can be used to create a memory enhancement program for oneself or others. However, even all of this information won't help the older adult who is unmotivated to make the necessary behavioral changes, so the author includes information on how to motivate people to do the things that can improve their quality of life and their ability to make new memories.

Robert G. Winningham, Western Oregon University