Is your memory serving you well? Always there when you need it, alert and sharp, never missing a clue? Good for you! Either you are still quite young - under 30 - or you take such a good care of yourself that it is only logical your "hard disk" is at its prime.

Are you embarrassed by your memory? Not able to retrieve a name of someone you should know? Forgetting the birthday of one of your best friends? Or "just" looking for hours where you left your car key? Join the growing club of people who feel their memory is slipping and therefore they must be growing old because in the old days they were as sharp as a knife, memory-wise. Maybe it is time for some brain training?

Our memory can be our best friend or an aggravation. It is aggravating to run after yourself like one step behind all the time, puffing and sweating to cover up that you are not coping like you did and thus spending valuable energy that you so badly need for other things. And to think you are only in your mid-fifties... What else does the so-called old age have for you in store?

Having a bad memory can be physically invoked by two things we are bound to overlook. You might be drinking too much alcohol or you might be suffering from depressions. And with depressions we mean the real diagnosed ones, not just a dip in your life that is easily to overcome if you give it a few weeks or months. The really depressed person cannot blame circumstances or people; the depression is in his brain. Depressed people cannot concentrate like they should; hence their memory is one of the first inside-victims.

By drinking too much alcohol we do not mean you staggering through the streets with a bottle in a brown paper bag. Nor do we think of the lone drinker in a dark bar downing one whiskey after another. Those are the lost cases anyway. No, we think of you and me, having a nice drink (or two) before dinner, one or two glasses of wine with dinner and maybe a night cap later in the evening. No problem at all. Right. You are not drunk, not causing anyone any harm or hassle. In the morning you are as rested as can be, ready for the new day.

And yet this is what we mean by "too much alcohol" in regard to your memory. One or two glasses a day is the max as far as alcohol is considered to be not damaging your memory and therefore your brain. You can do all the brain training you want to, hoping to stir up your memory, as long as you do not cut down on your intake of alcohol, you might be wasting your time and energy. Does that sound harsh to you? Wait till you see the effects of this measure!

Why Brain Training?

The brain needs care just like the body

New scientific research shows that we can improve the health and function of our brains with the right mental workouts. In a study funded by the National Institute of Health, scientists found that memory, reasoning and processing speed can be improved by brain training. Moreover, they found that cognitive improvements persisted for at least five years!