Mater

I don’t know enough - or anything, to be honest - about the male brain, except that it is supposed to be bigger than the female brain. You’d think - as it surely holds more usable grey matter - that there would be more going on in there than within the mere female brain, but with a few exceptions, somehow I rather doubt it.

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Now I’ve actually put pen to paper, so to speak, and voiced that opinion, I realise how flawed it is. As none of us use more than a fraction of our brain cells anyway - I think the most recent estimate was that we on average use three percent of them - it doesn’t really matter what size our brains are. What matters is that we try to utilize what we’ve got, and ‘back up’ frequently.

There is no doubt in my mind that brain shifts occur throughout our lives. By this I mean that we utilize different parts of our brains, depending on which stage in life we’re at - and sometimes we run into trouble.

We all know that once you start a keep fit regime which includes building muscle, you’d better keep at it. Lapse, and all that muscle will turn to useless fat - not to put too fine a point on it. The brain is the same, in my experience. Mine was definitely at its best when I was multi-tasking. But those days are gone. I have been known to beg my family to let me do one thing at a time as my poor brain goes into overdrive.

By what I have been told, and have read, men are more analytically able and spatially aware than women (but I don‘t necessarily agree), because they concentrate on one thing at a time. Apparently it’s the way they’re wired. Well, I thought I was wired differently, but all of a sudden - no, scrub that, over the last few years - my multi-tasking has gone down the pan. Too many things at once and I want to put my hands over my ears and chant ’nah-nah-nah!’

Memory is another thing that I find troublesome. I wonder if men get the same problem at a certain time in their life? My husband certainly doesn’t. He remembers things down to the finest detail, whenever they occurred, excepting significant dates, such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries. We’re coming up to our 35th anniversary in a few months and he hasn’t a clue. He just knows it’s been a long time! I find it handy to keep all these dates jotted down, but my husband only uses a pen to mark cars and other interesting items for sale in the AdTrader.

Now if my husband started getting confused and mixing up memories, or forgetting answers to general knowledge questions, I’d be seriously worried. As for me, that would be entirely normal. No need to panic. It’s just her age. Well, yes and no.
There are many outside factors that play a part in our health, and that includes the health of our brain. The brain needs constant hydration, feeding and stimulation. Use it or lose it - but look after it, too.

Prior to a car accident I did all the household shopping, mainly on a once weekly basis. I had a certain amount in my purse and no debit or credit card to back it up should I overspend, so I added up as I shopped and thus was never short once I got to the till. Apparently, adding up as you do the shopping is very good for the brain. I don’t do it any more. A - because I don’t have to and B- because my husband now comes along to help. I can’t chat and add up simultaneously, not any more.

Lists are good too. I used to write a lot of them, but there doesn’t seem to be the need for them now. I’d forget the lists anyway.

I do remember my pin numbers, even my bank id no for internet banking (but it took me a year or more before it well and truly lodged in there), but I’m terrible with my passwords. Having taken the advice of not using the same password for different functions, I now mix them up on a daily basis. I have noted these things down in code, but as I’m not a code breaker, that was a foolish thing to do.

Then there’s crosswords - always a good exercise for the brain. Trouble is, I can only do the simple ones these days, and even there I get stuck. At least my husband can help me out with the general knowledge ones, but somehow that gains his brain, not mine. I used to do the Times crossword, now I like the one on the back page of the Daily Mail, or in the Saturday Supplement. Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

So what about supplements, to enhance the memory function? Well, there’s Gingko Biloba. I took that for a while, but then forgot… Sage is supposed to be good both for memory and judgement. But don’t rush out into the garden and start chewing the old garden variety. That can be toxic in large amounts. What you want is the Spanish kind. I haven’t found it yet. I keep forgetting to ask in the Health Food shop whenever I’m in town. Then there’s Omega - 3 essential fatty acids, to be found in oily fish, but also in fish oil supplements. We all remember the Cod Liver Oil of our childhoods. My husband still takes it. Hence his power of recall, perhaps.

Natural supplements is one thing, but I do not believe that artificial supplements can do us any good. But I might of course be wrong. I often am.

There’s a list of things ‘to do’ to keep your memory in shape, if only I could remember where I put it. Let’s see:

Eat plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit (blueberries are particularly good) and fish (oily). I can do that.

Get rid of stress. Well, not quite all, because some stress is actually good for us and enhances brain function. (I could do with lowering my stress level on a day-to-day basis, I suppose.)

Sleep well. (I‘ve got used to sleepless nights.) Sufficient sleep helps to preserve you memory.

Drink plenty of water, to keep hydrated. The brain needs it as much as the rest of your body. ( I will try to remember that, whenever I visit the kitchen.)

Cut back on alcohol. (No problem. I don’t drink.)

Stop smoking. (I don’t smoke.)

Keep sharp and alert, keep the grey cells in action with crosswords, sudoku and the like, add up, keep lists, learn a new language. (I studied New Testament Greek a few years ago and now I’ve forgotten it all - I think. But I do use two languages daily. Does that count, I wonder?)

Learning of any kind is good. Learning to play the saxophone, perhaps? (I always wanted to, but have run out of puff.)

And last, but not least, and possibly most important: Exercise. Walking at a brisk pace, gardening for thirty minutes, cycling and jogging (but don’t pound the tarmac roads; that’s bad for your feet, your knees and your back, I‘ve been told) are all good.

And that’s telling me. All I need now is a magic wand to make all that exercise possible. Or remember to put all that other advice into action, to counterbalance the fact that I’m not (yet) able to exercise.
As I said to my mother once, some years ago: ‘Don’t forget to remember to remind me to remember….’ (And I wondered why she laughed!)