How can I improve my memory?

In addition to healthy eating, you can exercise your brain and improve memory by exercising your body, as well as doing mental exercise to stimulate your memory. Watch Neal Barnard, MD, discuss how both types of exercises keep your mind sharp.

Transcript

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Researchers at the University of Illinois showed that when people have a good, brisk walk for about 40 minutes 3 times a week, the parts

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of the brain that are involved in memory actually increase in size. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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In addition to healthy eating, we can also exercise the brain in two ways. The first is lace up your sneakers.

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Researchers at the University of Illinois showed that when people have a good brisk walk for about 40 minutes 3 times a week, the parts

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of the brain that are involved in memory actually increase in size. This part of the brain is called the hippocampus.

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It's the part that decides whether something is going to be remembered or forgotten. And after a year of three times a week exercise,

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they have a hippocampus-- is measurably bigger. Why? You're getting oxygen to the brain. You're getting nutrients to the brain. Secondly, mental exercises-- so let's

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say we watch documentaries, read the newspaper, do a crossword, do the Sudoku, learn a foreign language.

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If you're using all of these things, the connections between the brain cells are not just a rickety little bridge.

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It's a big superhighway. And that protects your memory into the future. So exercise your body.

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That helps the brain. But you can exercise the brain directly with a little mental stimulation. You put it all together-- you're protecting your mind.