Two Ways to Improve Your Memory: Eat Berries and Turn Off the TV

Geezer recalls reading something, earlier today, about how he might improve his memory. Oh yes, now he remembers. One route to more accurate recall appears to be dietary. According to Foodconsumer.org, researchers at Tufts University divided 60 young male rats into three groups. One group was assigned an ordinary diet without any berries, the second an ordinary diet with strawberry extract and the third an ordinary diet with blueberry extract. After two months, half the rats were subject to radiation to speed up the aging process while the other half were not, then all the rats were subject to a Maze test and a chemical test for dopamine.  Foodconsumer reports that the rats who were radiated, but on a diet without any berry extract performed worse among the three groups in the maze test and they had lowest levels of dopamine. Rats who were radiated, but on a diet with berry extract performed as well as those who were not radiated.

Hate berries but still want to improve your memory? Try turning off the TV. The Scientific American tells us about an online survey of almost 30,000 people who were asked about a range of habits, such as alcohol consumption, television viewing and reading habits. Sciam reports that those who drank less than two alcoholic drinks a day performed better at all memory tasks, and people who did crosswords were better at remembering shopping lists and recalling names, while eating fish once a week improved the ability to remember shopping lists. It also found that television viewing had the main impact on results.
Take the test here.