Anyone found a supplement that helps with memory and focus?

Yes I have. I can’t remember the name of it though. I’ll have to check when I get home.

Coffee.

A healthy diet, regular exercise, fluther and what rarebear said in copious amounts.

Ensure.

There was some work on Lecithin in the 90’s. I haven’t kept up to date with it. Sleep in the number one brain booster. That has been recently shown to be the best brain booster there is. Wonderful things happen to the brain when we sleep. It gets flooded with lymph fluids and they aren’t positive what it does, but they seem to be claiming that it ‘flushes and detoxes’ the brain. I’m sceptical of anything that claims it ‘detoxes’. We know so little about the mechanics of sleep, oddly enough. We do know it is vital and probably more vital than we currently understand.

I’m skeptical of any supplement claiming to help memory.

I’m going to agree with @cazzie that getting enough sleep seems like an obvious way to help optimize memory.

I personally think really focusing on the moment you are in helps. I think multi-tasking, switching from one task to another quickly, back and forth, hampers memory. When I learned about memory there was short term and long term and I remember that memory for what happened just 40 seconds before is easily not maintained if it is not purposely filed away in the brain. I don’t know if this theory has changed over time.

Some people say memory games and exercising the brain with crosswords and other puzzles helps, but I have also heard some studies contradict that.

I’ve also read that blueberries are a memory boosting food.

If you take any sort of medication daily it might be fogging your memory. Drugs like Buspar are known for it, probably other anti-anxiety drugs too. But, not just psych drugs, other medications can have an effect in memory.

@chyna Were you trying to be funny? LOL.

Vitamin B complex and Ginkgo Biloba.

https://sciencebasedpharmacy.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/forget-to-take-your-ginkgo-biloba-turns-out-it-doesnt-matter/

One thing to look into is I remember reading high cholesterol might be linked to memory loss and Alzheimer’s. It sounds plausible to me. If true, more than a supplement, a diet lower in cholesterol might be helpful for those people who have high cholesterol that is reactive to their diet. Some people don’t have high cholesterol even though they eat quite a bit of it.

I’ve taken bacopa supplements, as recommended by my functional medicine doctor. I noticed a marked improvement in focus and memory. It usually takes several weeks to notice a difference.

Ritalin is really good if you can get it. Even helps with weight loss.

@chyna Forgot the name of it. Hilarious!

@cazzie The same thing came to my mind also. Then I dismissed it since it’s more about focus, but I think it’s intertwined.

@cazzie Hell, so does adderall, cocaine and crystal meth
@JLeslie interesting article

@Are_you_kidding_me Thanks. I never read up on it, just heard about studies. I thought maybe the cholesterol and plaque work against memory. Clogging things up and stiffening things. I had read about the statin drugs, but initially I dismissed it out of hand thinking people on statins might have more memory problems because of their previous high cholesterol and I thought I would have to investigate how those studies were done. Then I read there were conflicting studies anyway about statins and memory.

Your article raised other information I hadn’t thought of and wasn’t aware of. Very interesting. Especially the importance of cholesterol for brain function. I’ve also read cholesterol has something to do with vitamin D and I can’t understand the information. I’m interested in it because my cholesterol is high (bad genes, but I can affect it by cutting out cholesterol intake) and my D is incredibly low without supplements. I’m sure a lot of time in the sun would fix it too, but I know a moderate time in the sun like the 20 minutes most days on arms and face is woefully insufficient. I’ve even tried bikini in the sun for 20 minutes three times a week. Not enough.

My dad takes statins and his memory is not great. He blames his medications as part of the problem, but he takes more than just statins. It could just be he has had heart disease related to blockages for almost 30 years and went through bypass surgery, a stent surgery, and a complete tie off of a carotid artery surgery.

I’m in that same boat. I take Vitamin D because it tested low and since taking supplements it’s been fine. My cholesterol is borderline high but not high enough to take the risks associated with statins. I just try to keep my diet and exercise going. I don’t always do the best job but you have to enjoy life too. One “supplement” that has had noticeable positive effects is a couple of spoonfulls of this stuff daily. Keeps my D level optimal, seems to help cholesterol levels and I swear my joints feel better when I am good at remembering to take it.

My cholesterol is very high, not borderline, when I eat a typical American type of diet. I wish I was better at eating better.

I wonder how I got to the ripe old age of 48 without having my cholesterol check.. omg….. it’s a miracle.

@cazzie 48 without health issues is easy, 68 and even 58 not so much. Probably want to at least look

@cazzie Maybe partly due to you living as an adult outside of the US. The US is more obsessed with cholesterol. Some countries don’t think it’s a meaningful number. Also, if you use a GYN rather than a GP or internist for a yearly visit.

I’m pretty sure I was checked at 16, because I was under military care. I doubt any of my peers were. Sometimes the military is ahead. Probably, we are treated like guinea pigs a little bit. Plus, the military has always had requirements for weight, and paid attention to various health parameters. I was just a dependent, but they probably checked certain things for everyone. I was sent to a nutritionist or dietitian, too long ago for me to remember her exact certification or title, for a consultation at the time.