Who are you, again?
posted over 2 years ago, updated 5 minutes later | 0 comments
From time to time, we all have trouble remembering a person's name. I've learned a few tricks over the years, like studying the class roster before back-to-school night and the names in the "CC" box on the email invitation, but mostly, I introduce...
Thyroid tests may not reveal all
posted over 2 years ago | 4 comments
It was more or less by accident that I came upon Dr. Richard Shames. I was looking for research about hypothyroidism. He'd written some books on thyroid and hormonal disorders, and he was saying things that I thought were revolutionary. He wrote a...
Toxic chemicals and their cognitive consequences
posted over 2 years ago, updated about 3 hours later | 3 comments
We don’t go out of our way to ingest toxic chemicals, but it happens every day. When I moved from New York to Los Angeles in the late 1980s, I discovered that gardening, a pursuit I’d enjoyed during brief New England summers, was a competitive spo...
Hunting the Biomarker
posted over 2 years ago, updated about 3 hours later | 0 comments
"Is what I'm experiencing ordinary midlife forgetfulness? Or do these memory lapses signify something more serious—like the first signs of Alzheimer's disease?"
Practically every day, someone asks me these questions. And I wish I had better answe...
Practically every day, someone asks me these questions. And I wish I had better answe...
Hope Springs Eternal
posted over 2 years ago, updated 1 minute later | 1 comment
There’s no such thing as a quick fix—or is there?
I’ve spent much of the last five years researching vitamins and supplements that maximize cognitive ability. In brief, here’s what I know: In order to keep your marbles, you need plenty of antiox...
I’ve spent much of the last five years researching vitamins and supplements that maximize cognitive ability. In brief, here’s what I know: In order to keep your marbles, you need plenty of antiox...
Not So Funny, After All
posted over 2 years ago | 0 comments
I don’t usually send jokes over the Internet (or even tell them very often), mostly because I can’t remember them. This howler arrived last week from my cousin Jodi—who received it from a friend whose father was in the pharmaceutical business. I j...
Mind Your Head
posted over 2 years ago, updated 24 minutes later | 2 comments
I Never Forget a Furry Face
posted over 2 years ago, updated 21 days later | 2 comments
People ask me all the time why they blank on names. One scientist, Marilyn Albert, the director of cognitive neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, told me that the failure to retrieve people’s names is so common that when her researchers select midlife o...
Eighty Is the New Forty
posted over 2 years ago, updated 8 minutes later | 2 comments
Another big barbecue weekend at our house—this time, five couples and most of their offspring—a staggering total of 20 hungry individuals. All afternoon, I cooked chicken and ribs on the grill, barely managing to shower off the smoke before the gu...
Find a Sharper Mind at the Farmers’ Market
posted over 2 years ago, updated about 1 month later | 0 comments
Phew! I’ve just returned from the San Rafael farmers’ market—gorgeous day here, so unusual for August in coastal northern California, where it’s typically foggy until noon. My kitchen counter is strewn with corn and tomatoes, peaches and nectarine...
