Brain health experts suggest habits to preserve memory

Experts suggest several lifestyle habits to help preserve memory and cognitive sharpness. While many cognitive skills, such as multitasking and processing speed, tend to peak around age 30 and decline subtly thereafter, maintaining brain health is linked to specific lifestyle choices.

Key recommendations include maintaining a proper diet, ensuring quality sleep, engaging in regular physical activity, and staying socially active. Experts also warn against 'digital amnesia,' a phenomenon where over-reliance on digital devices and the internet leads to forgetting information because individuals expect technology to remember it for them.

Sara Mednick, a professor of cognitive sciences at the University of California, Irvine, notes that learning and recalling new information activates the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Relying too heavily on external sources like smartphones can weaken these brain areas. She advises attempting to recall information manually before searching for answers online to keep the brain engaged.