We Can Preserve Our Memory By Clearing Our Stress — Here's How

Home—that was Ann's favorite place.

It didn't matter that her tiny 1860s farmhouse wasn't anybody else's idea of a forever home, or that the carpet and paint had a little wear and tear on them, or that she and her three dogs and four cats had to manage with cramped quarters. The place was definitely rough around the edges—a little like me, she thought—yet it was stout. It had heart and a solid foundation. Most of all, it was home. 

Before turning in for the night, ending another hectic day that bounced from working with special needs kids in nearby Boulder, Colorado, to managing her "zoo" (Ann had a weakness for stray pets), she stole a few quiet moments on her front porch. Besides, she couldn't sleep anyway, couldn't shut off her anxious mind. Nothing new. Ann settled into a comfy chair and pressed a steaming mug of "herbal something" to her lips. The aromas of passionflower and lemongrass never failed to carry away the usual smells of the horse ranch she lived by—leather, hay, smoldering fire pits, musky stables.

Ann took a long, slow sip and then gazed at the Colorado sky.

"Perfect," she whispered to herself. Endless blue had given way to countless stars. Intense white lights skipped and danced around milky clusters of yellow and purple. Shooting stars raced across the horizon.

For Ann, this regular nightly treat had a way of captivating her thoughts, resetting her focus, and reminding her, "All is good." Yet, lately, the middle-aged Coloradan didn't feel like her usual self. She couldn't shake a whole new set of worries: her faltering memory and growing anxiety.

Why am I in this crazy fog? she asked herself. I can't hold a thought in my head. And I'm exhausted all the time.

Even worse, Ann had been forgetting things—not just keys and sunglasses but big things like meetings and people's names. She took another sip of tea and began talking out loud to herself: "This stuff isn't doing its job anymore. Isn't passionflower supposed to be calming?"

Sometimes the scariest place to be is in the safety of our own home, especially when our minds are reeling with countless "what-ifs," robbing us of the rest and tranquillity we need. That was the strange new reality my friend Ann was trying to navigate. The first thing I encouraged her to do (after suggesting an evaluation from a PCP to ensure no underlying pathology was involved) was see her family physician and get to the root of her anxiety. The second was to launch a daily mind-body-emotions regimen that has made a difference in my life. 

My own story, depicted in my book, Ultimate Memory Magic, proves that it's never too late and we're never too old to improve our health. Serious heart conditions, debilitating diseases, sky-high blood pressure, out-of-control cholesterol, obesity—regardless of the issue—we can take that first step and do something positive to reclaim our bodies. It's the same with our minds.

We can preserve and even enhance our memory and other aspects of mental function. Concentration, alertness, and the ability to focus can be strengthened, leading to improvements in problem-solving ability, productivity, and even IQ.

Here's the first thing we need to understand: Our mind, body, and emotions are interconnected. Obviously, I inhabit a physical body. And the health of my body is connected to my emotional self, as well as my "soulful" self. So, in order to get back a sharp mind and get on the path to good health, I need to treat my entire body. Those obsessive thoughts—the judgmental ones and the negative self-talk that goes on inside my head—can affect how I feel. This, in turn, can affect my body.

I came up with my own stress-reducing technique that combines a mental workout with meditation. I call it "Memitation." Officially, it's the act of reviewing memorized information in quiet thought while focusing on breathing. Here's how I do it: With my eyes still closed and continuing to breathe deeply, I recall facts, figures, or other information I've committed to memory. For example, I memorized all 50 U.S. states in alphabetical order. So, I began recalling the name of each state, starting from the beginning of the alphabet: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware.