There is no miracle food for optimising your memory. Give the privilege to slow sugars which have an action more spread out in time and stronger than the temporary whip of vitamin C and coffee.

  • Eat bananas

The group B vitamins (B1, B2, B6, and B12) are essential for the good functioning of the brain and the memory. In effect, they sensitively diminish the level of homocysteine, an amino acid which can be toxic for the brain cells. The foods richest in vitamin C are bananas, pears and orange juice, as well as fish and sea food.

  • Stop aspartame

According to a recent American study, aspartame can damage the long term memory, which helps you to remember frequently accomplished tasks (working out a recipe) or a habitual action (taking a magnesium capsule every morning). Luckily, the negative effects aren’t permanent, and you can easily get your memory back by ceasing to consume aspartame.

  • Tea, coffee: don’t abuse them

Caffeine and theine contain tannins which diminish the levels of iron in the blood. And iron is indispensable for the good functioning of the memory. More than four cups a day is excess.

  • Soy, in small doses

A study made on 8,000 Americans (tofu and other soy product enthusiasts) showed that these people suffer from gaps in their memory before others. Irony of sorts: the substance responsible for these blackouts is isoflavan, which can also be very beneficial in protecting us from cancer and heart problems!

  • Relax

An agreeable activity (taking a good bath, listening to music…) stimulates the production of dopamine, the hormone of well being. Also, dopamine has been found to have a positive neurological effect on the part of the brain which is responsible for memory.

  • Sleep, memorize

A Harvard medical school study recently proved that a well rested brain remembers more information than one that has not benefited from enough sleep. It would seem that the brain during the sleep period “de-stocks” and eliminates unimportant information which feeds off it and overloads it unnecessarily.

  • And don’t forget…

…to make your neurons work. After the age of forty, 100,000 nerve cells disappear every day. So at around 80, we are left with about 70% of our neurons, with the condition that we always stimulate them. From the first years of life, the neurons which aren’t called into action degenerate. Later, the neurons which aren’t used much will suffer the same fate.