Declutter Your Mind for Better Memory in Older Age

Memory lapses in older age are unfortunate but commonplace. However, scientists have now come to realise that older people may simply have an overly cluttered mind as a result of all the experiences and information accumulated in the course of a lifetime.

Now, new research from Concordia University confirm that when performing tasks older people have the disadvantage of a lot of irrelevant information going around in their heads.

The results have been published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. offering fresh insights into memory and ageing and proposing some excellent solutions.

Mervin Blair, main author of the study and PHD student in Psychology at Concordia, said: "The first step of our study was to test the working memory of a younger and older population and compare the results. In our study, working memory refers to the ability of both retaining and processing information."

Sixty people took part in the study. Half of them were an average age of 23, while the other half were on average 67. Each person was asked to perform a task involving working memory and had to process and recall various pieces of information.

Mr Blair, who is also a member of the Centre of Research in Human Development, said that the results of the study showed that older people had a reduced memory compared to the younger group and that younger people "were better than the older adults at recalling and processing information."

It was found that poor ability to reduce the clutter of information correlated with a poorer memory in older adults who find it difficult to keep irrelevant information at bay, which then adversely affects other mental abilities.

For people who find it difficult to remember information it is vital to focus well and reduce mental clutter.

Mr Blair advised: "Reduce clutter. If you don’t, you may not get anything done."

However, this is easier said than done in older age and particularly so in times of stress. The answer appears to lie in relaxation exercises and meditation, which empty and refresh the mind. Optimal brain function can be achieved into old age by engaging in lots of mental stimulation - it is excellent to, for example,learn a foreign language when older as well as playing an instrument and enjoying crosswords and exercise.

Finally, it has been found that a good, active social life will stimulate the mind and delay the ageing process further.

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