Memory Protection: Brain Training

While one could easily dismiss this as a collective “senior moment,” society is facing phenomena never experienced before: a non-stop assault on the senses brought on by rivers of data, a proliferation of media and advertising, all propelled by faster living, copious multitasking, plus a growing reliance on digital memory devices.

Scientists note that average scores on memory tests decline steadily after age 25. By midlife, memory erosion accelerates, with humans losing on average 1% of brain volume each year. And there’s growing evidence that cellphones, calculators, speed-dialing, GPS and other memory-saving aids have reduced the need for mental acuity, causing the brain to deteriorate at a faster pace than ever before.

Research by psychologist Denise Park at the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana shows that [www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-08-06-memory-cover_x.htm adults who multitask frequently have more memory complaints than their parents in their 70s.

With memory lapses on the upswing, the brain fitness business is booming. Nintendo has sold 17.4 million units worldwide of its über-popular Brain Age videogame for the DS player, and another 13.7 million copies of Brain Age 2. Both games were inspired by Tohoku University Professor Dr. Ryuta Kawashima’s work in neurosciences.

But Nintendo is not the only “edutainment” player leveraging the memory trend. On U.S. television, there’s a game called “Amnesia,” where players try to recall as many details as possible of one’s past life. “There’s more and more evidence that exercise staves off memory loss,” notes Dr. Daniel Press, neurologist at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “In some ways, exercise is as good as any intervention we have in terms of helping people with mild memory loss from getting worse.”

National Institutes of Health research shows that older adults with mild memory impairment can benefit from cognitive training, although not necessarily in areas reliant on memorization.

San Francisco-based vibrantBrains, which calls itself “A Health Club for Your Brain,” lets participants work on such skills as memory, reasoning, visual scanning, word recall and quantitative facility using games and exercises. Lifespan reports that Americans will spend $80 million this year on brain exercise products, compared to just $2 million in 2005.

That’s good news for companies like reQall, which offers a $3-a-month reQall Pro subscription service that helps you remember to-dos by e-mailing and texting reminders. The company also offers a free service, which dispenses with the location-based features offered by the Pro service.

For some, these memory aids don’t go far enough. A growing number of people are using prescription drugs like Ritalin — which was designed to treat hyperactive children — to boost alertness and brain power. Up to a fifth of adults, including college students and shift workers, may be using these types of cognitive enhancers, a Nature poll of 1,400 consumers found.

And the use of cognitive-enhancing drugs is spreading to an ever younger generation. According to University of Cambridge Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology Barbara Sahakian, 17% of students at some U.S. universities already admit to using Ritalin.

Looming on the horizon are far more promising drug discoveries. The biotech industry is developing new therapies that can cure such diseases as Alzheimer’s — treatments that are bound to lead to the world’s first “lifestyle” drugs that deal with forgetfulness.

Pointing to a future where memory will be fully “customizable,” researchers in Brooklyn, N.Y. recently reached a major milestone with the ability to erase certain memories using an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain that hold specific types of memory, such as emotional associations, spatial knowledge or motor skills.

This type of biotech weaponry will be a welcome addition to the current arsenal used to combat the growing decline in memory retention. We’ve dubbed this new trend in wonder drugs “Memory Protection” — because much like computers, which require memory protection to prevent crashes, human beings appear increasingly prone to “memory leaks,” as techies call PC errors.

The memory protection market could produce the biggest lifestyle drug yet, because who wouldn’t want to stroll down memory lane faster?

Bron: Ubertrends: Tracking the future of the consumer lifestyle