Just as studies have shown that stress can have a negative effect on your memory, it’s pretty clear that anxiety can make it harder to remember things, too. We’ve probably all had the experience of trying to remember a name or a word and feeling frustrated about not being able to come up with it. Paradoxically, the harder you try to remember, the less you’ll be able to do so.

So far, that’s pretty normal. Younger people have the same kind of trouble with their memory occasionally, although it may happen more frequently as we get older. It’s what happens next that makes it different for older persons.

Many of my older patients may have a problem with remembering a word or a name, but they go one step further: When they can’t remember something, they start worrying about it. They may interpret the fact that they can’t remember means they have a memory problem, maybe even Alzheimer’s disease!

Sometimes, when people start worrying about a problem, they think of the absolutely worst thing that it could mean. A cloud in the sky, for example, may mean that a tornado is coming. We call that catastrophizing. It’s not good English, but it is pretty clear what it means. It means taking a real problem and magnifying it by exaggerating it to the worst possible outcome.

How do you avoid catastrophizing? When you begin to feel worried or anxious, try to stop and consider alternate explanations for whatever you’re worried about. Could that cloud just mean that there’s a cloud, not that a tornado is coming? Odds are that the answer is yes. Is having trouble remembering annoying. Yes. Does it mean that you have a serious memory disorder or neurological disease? Probably not.

As always, there’s no substitute for a thorough evaluation of your memory by a competent clinician. An evaluation ought to include assessment of your general ability, concentration, and memory. And never forget the importance of taking care of other medical problems, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.

What are the basics? I think they start with essential health care that will make sure your brain is in a health body. Maybe the single most important basic is to take care of your blood pressure. Besides being a risk factor for heart attack, high blood pressure is a risk for stroke. Studies have suggested that high blood pressure is a risk factor memory problems. You should know your blood pressure, and if it’s high, you should discuss it with your doctor. A number of effective treatments are available for high blood pressure. You can find out more about high blood pressure on the web site of the American Heart Association by clicking here.

One risk for memory problems that seems to be more and more common is the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is a group of characteristics that includes abdominal obesity (fat around the waist), problems with blood lipids (the special substances in the blood that carry fats around the blood stream), insulin resistance (your body doesn’t take care of sugar very well), and increases in the substances in your blood that cause blood clots. People with the metabolic syndrome may be at higher risk for diabetes and heart attacks. The American Heart Association also has a good page on metabolic syndrome here. It may be possible to reduce the effects of the metabolic syndrome by maintaining a health weight, getting regular exercise, and following a healthy diet.

We know that the basics include a lot of things we’ve been hearing for years. What has become more clear over the past few years is that there are clear reasons for the links among obesity, low physical activity, and several diseases. One of the most intriguing links is the fact that all these conditions are associated with markers of inflammation in the blood. Inflammatory markers have complicated names like cytokines and interleukins. You don’t have to know all the specific names to know that high levels of these markers go along with memory problems. More and more, then, there’s a clear link between your basic health and your brain’s fitness.

First, I warn everyone that supplements aren’t as well researched as regular drugs. This may mean that some supplements work better than we know. It may also mean that they have side effects that we don’t know about, or that may interact with other supplements or regular prescription drugs. So if you intend to take any supplement, be aware of the risks.

Of all the supplements for brain fitness, one of the most promising is already recommended by the American Heart Association. Omega-3 fish oils have been shown to have benefits for the cardiovascular system. Although it may be possible to get enough fish oil from eating fish several times a week, many people can’t eat fish so regularly or are worried about how much mercury they might get from the fish. Fish oil are readily available as capsules. Depending on your condition, you may want to take from 1 to 4 grams of fish oil every day. You can read the AHA’s recommendations here.

As I mentioned, there is little information about any supplement and brain fitness. In one study, a small group of people with very mild cognitive problems appeared to benefit from fish oil supplements. More and more, it’s becoming apparent that there is a close link between cardiovascular risk factors and brain fitness. This means, I believe, that most of the things we can do to improve cardiovascular health are probably good for the brain. The same blood vessels that are critical to keep blood flowing to the heart and the rest of the body are present in the brain. In fact, the most metabolically active organ in the body is the brain. So anything you can do to improve vascular health is likely to help your brain.

The story is a little more complicated, though (isn’t it always)? Blood sugar is regulated by a hormone called insulin. People who have type II diabetes (the kind that people usually get later in life) have a condition called insulin resistance. This means that the body makes enough, and sometimes too much, insulin. The problem is that the insulin doesn’t have a strong enough effect. This means that the body keeps making higher levels of insulin. Exposing the body to high levels of insulin can cause problems.

In the case of the brain, insulin is very important for its function. Insulin has to cross into the brain from the blood by way of a special mechanism called a transporter protein. When insulin levels are high all the time, the body decreases the number of these transporter proteins, and the brain may not get enough insulin. Some studies have shown that insulin is important in memory function, so a decrease in the number of these transporter proteins may be yet another way that high blood sugar levels can affect memory. While all of these studies are preliminary, they add to what we know about high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and mental functioning.

There are two effective ways of keeping your blood sugar under control: diet and exercise. Following the Mediterranean diet can help, because it emphasizes the kinds of food that will help keep your blood sugar stable. Exercise has been shown to help your body be more sensitive to the effects of insulin. When your body is more sensitive to insulin’s effects, blood sugar levels will be lower and more stable. We know that following the Mediterranean diet and regular exercise can help your memory – their link to blood sugar and blood sugar’s effects on the brain may be why.