Caffeine Has Positive Effect On Memory

Whether it's a mug full of fresh-brewed coffee, a cup of hot tea, or a can of soda, consuming caffeine is the energy boost of choice for millions who want to wake up or stay up.

Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found another use for the popular stimulant: memory enhancer.

Michael Yassa, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins, and his team of scientists found that caffeine has a positive effect on our long-term memory. Their research, published by the journal Nature Neuroscience, shows that caffeine enhances certain memories at least up to 24 hours after it is consumed.

"We've always known that caffeine has cognitive-enhancing effects, but its particular effects on strengthening memories and making them resistant to forgetting has never been examined in detail in humans," said Yassa, senior author of the paper. "We report for the first time a specific effect of caffeine on reducing forgetting over 24 hours."

The Johns Hopkins researchers conducted a double-blind trial in which participants who did not regularly eat or drink caffeinated products received either a placebo or a 200-milligram caffeine tablet five minutes after studying a series of images. Salivary samples were taken from the participants before they took the tablets to measure their caffeine levels. Samples were taken again one, three, and 24 hours afterwards.

The next day, both groups were tested on their ability to recognize images from the previous day's study session. On the test, some of the visuals were the same as those from the day before, some were new additions, and some were similar but not the same.

More members of the caffeine group were able to correctly identify the new images as "similar" to previously viewed images rather than erroneously citing them as the same.

The brain's ability to recognize the difference between two similar but not identical items, called pattern separation, reflects a deeper level of memory retention, the researchers said.

"If we used a standard recognition memory task without these tricky similar items, we would have found no effect of caffeine," Yassa said. "However, using these items requires the brain to make a more difficult discrimination—what we call pattern separation, which seems to be the process that is enhanced by caffeine in our case."

The memory center in the human brain is the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped area in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. The hippocampus is the switchbox for all short- and long-term memories. Most research done on memory—the effects of concussions in athletes, of war-related head injuries, and of dementia in the aging population—focuses on this area of the brain.

Until now, caffeine's effects on long-term memory had not been examined in detail. Of the few studies done, the general consensus was that caffeine has little or no effect on long-term memory retention.

The research is different from prior experiments because the subjects took the caffeine tablets only after they had viewed and attempted to memorize the images.

"Almost all prior studies administered caffeine before the study session, so if there is an enhancement, it's not clear if it's due to caffeine's effects on attention, vigilance, focus, or other factors," Yassa said. "By administering caffeine after the experiment, we rule out all of these effects and make sure that if there is an enhancement, it's due to memory and nothing else."

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 90 percent of people worldwide consume caffeine in one form or another. In the United States, 80 percent of adults consume caffeine every day. The average adult has an intake of about 200 milligrams—the same amount used in the Yassa study—or roughly one cup of strong coffee per day.

Yassa's team completed the research at Johns Hopkins before his lab moved to the University of California, Irvine, at the start of this year.

"The next step for us is to figure out the brain mechanisms underlying this enhancement," Yassa said. "We can use brain-imaging techniques to address these questions. We also know that caffeine is associated with healthy longevity and may have some protective effects from cognitive decline like Alzheimer's disease. These are certainly important questions for the future."

Too little sleep, and too much, affect memory

When it comes to memory, sleep is a Goldilocks issue: both too much and too little aren’t good. Aim for “just right,” says a new report from the Harvard-based Nurses’ Health Study.

“Our findings suggest that getting an ‘average’ amount of sleep, seven hours per day, may help maintain memory in later life and that clinical interventions based on sleep therapy should be examined for the prevention of [mental] impairment,” said study leader Elizabeth Devore, an instructor in medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, in a news release.

A group of women taking part in the Nurses’ Health Study were asked about their sleep habits in 1986 and 2000, and were interviewed about memory and thinking skills three times over a later six-year period. Devore and her colleagues observed worse performance on brain testing among women who slept five hours or fewer per night or nine hours or more, compared with those getting seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Their findings were published online in theJournal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The researchers estimated that undersleepers and oversleepers were mentally two years older than the women who got seven to eight hours of shut-eye a night.

Beyond memory

Although this study couldn’t prove that getting too little or too much sleep causes memory and thinking problems, it’s in line with other work showing the potentially harmful effects of poor sleep. Previous research has linked poor sleep with higher risks of heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, and depression.

How might sleep affect memory? People who are persistently sleep deprived are more likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and narrowed blood vessels. Each of these can decrease blood flow inside the brain. Brain cells need a lot of oxygen and sugar, so blood flow problems could affect their ability to work properly.

Poor sleep could affect the brain in another way. Sleep-deprived mice develop more deposits of a protein called beta amyloid in the brain compared with mice allowed to sleep normally. In humans, beta amyloid deposits in the brain are linked to declines in memory and thinking and also increase the risk of dementia.

What about people who sleep too much? People who spend more than nine or 10 hours a night in bed often have poor sleep quality. So for both too little and too much sleep, the important number may be the hours of quality sleep.

Another possibility is a two-way street between sleep and memory: sleep quality may affect memory and thinking, and the brain changes that cause memory and thinking problems may disturb sleep.

Getting better sleep

Here are 12 tips for getting better sleep:

• Establish a regular bedtime and a relaxing bedtime routine—examples might include taking a warm bath or listening to soothing music.
• Use your bed only for sleeping or lovemaking. Avoid reading and watching television in bed.
• If you can’t fall asleep after 15 to 20 minutes, get out of bed and go into another room. Do something relaxing, such as reading quietly with a dim light. Don’t watch television or use a computer, since the light from their screens has an arousing effect. When you feel sleepy, get back into bed. Don’t delay your scheduled wake-up time to make up for lost sleep.
• Get plenty of exercise. Build up to 45 minutes of moderate exercise nearly every day. Get your exercise early in the day. Try some easy stretching exercises or yoga to relax your muscles and your mind at bedtime.
• Whenever possible, schedule stressful or demanding tasks early in the day and less challenging activities later. This helps you wind down at the end of your day.
• Don’t go to bed hungry, but don’t eat a big meal right before getting into bed. If you want a bedtime snack, keep it bland and light.
• Limit caffeine and consume none after 2 p.m.
• To decrease middle-of-the-night urination, don’t drink any fluids after dinner.
• Avoid alcohol after dinnertime. Although many people think of it as a sedative, it can get in the way of quality sleep.
• Be sure your bed is comfortable and your bedroom is dark and quiet. Consider a sleep mask or earplugs.
• Don’t take long naps during the day. If you need a nap, restrict it to 20 to 30 minutes in the early afternoon.
• Practice relaxation breathing. Use slow breaths, especially when you exhale.

The 3 Secrets to Losing Belly Fat

As a health and wellness coach, the number-one question that everybody asks isn't, "How do I live longer?" or "What can I do for more energy?" It's almost always, "How do I lose this tummy?" In a world where we're bombarded by ads promoting four-, six- and eight-packs, it's no wonder we're obsessed with abs.

While having tight and toned abs is partly genetic, the great news is that there are a number of things that you can do today to firm, slim and define your midsection for good.

1. Drink Green Tea: 

Green tea has been shown to boost the immune system and fight cancer-causing cells in our body, but it also works very well to assist in the burning of excess weight and body fat. The epigallocatechin gallate component in green tea acts as a thermogenic, meaning that it stimulates the fat-burning process. You'd need to drink at least seven cups of green tea per day to get the effects of two to three capsules of a green-tea supplement, so I suggest taking them in the morning to avoid caffeine stimulation later in the day or choose a decaffeinated version.

2. Interval Cardio: 

The good news is that long cardio sessions are over and interval cardio is taking its place. Interval training involves sprinting or pushing the body into an anaerobic state in short bursts of exertion for 20 to 30 seconds with rest periods in between.

When doing interval cardio, there's less oxygen available to the muscles and the body will more quickly fatigue. A 20-minute session of interval cardiovascular exercise just three days per week stimulates the fat stores in our body and works to burn excess weight.
On either the elliptical machine or recumbent bike, do a three-minute warm-up. Increase resistance and sprint for 30 seconds, then reduce resistance again and perform a 90-second cool-down. Do this eight times followed by a two-minute cool-down at the end for a total of 19.5 minutes just three days per week. That's it.

3. Eat More Fat: 

This seems completely contrary to logic, but the latest research shows that by consuming more healthy unsaturated fats, such as coconut, avocado, olive oil, fish, nuts and seeds, not only do we feel satiated longer, but our systems also gets busy stimulating the fat-burning process within our bodies.

Studies have found that those who ate foods higher in healthy fats, such as those found in the Mediterranean diet, had a lower body-mass index. This means less body fat and a leaner frame than those who ate a low-fat diet. They also lost excess weight more easily.

We all want to look and feel our best, and getting there just takes some consistent effort. By following these simple steps and committing to them for a minimum of three months, you are well on your way to a slimmer, tighter and more toned belly -- just in time for summer!