CHAPTER 20

MEMORY RESCUE MADE EASY

20 SHORT STORIES OF THE SEAHORSE TWINS, SCARLETT AND SAM

Even though Memory Rescue is based on a simple concept —that the best way to enhance your memory, decrease your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, and rescue your memory from disaster is to prevent all the risk factors that steal your mind —it is backed by powerful neuroscience. In fact, that is why the book points you to more than 1,000 scientific references in the endnotes!

Yet none of the concepts is hard to grasp. To make it even easier, my team and I developed the mnemonic BRIGHT MINDS. Story can be another mnemonic tool to help you remember the book’s takeaways —and stories can be shared with family members of any age. With that in mind, I came up with 20 short stories about Scarlett and Sam, the seahorse twins. Before I introduce you to them, I want you to answer a couple of questions about another type of horse. (At first, these questions might not seem to apply, but be patient and I’ll connect the dots.)

If you had a million-dollar racehorse, would you ever feed it junk food?

Would you ever get it drunk or stoned?

Would you ever ignore it, abuse it, or keep it up all night?

Would you ever prevent it from exercising or allow it to breathe polluted air or drink polluted water if you could help it?

Of course not —unless you wanted to lose every race. Of course not, if you are a thoughtful, intelligent, caring person.

Yet aren’t you worth more? Many people never treat themselves as well as they would treat a valuable thoroughbred, which is why they have trouble winning the races of their lives, whether at school, in work, in their relationships, or when it comes to their health.

As you learned in chapter 2, there is a special seahorse-shaped structure about the size of your thumb on the inside of your brain’s temporal lobes. In fact, there are two of them. Most people don’t even know they exist or consider their importance. One is called the hippocampus, the Greek word for seahorse; the pair are called the hippocampi.

Now, let’s meet Scarlett and Sam, the hippocampi and the stars of this chapter (illustrated below). They are part of your emotional brain and help you feel happy or sad, and bonded to or disconnected from others. They also are one of the main parts of your brain involved in memory. They help you remember where you put your keys and whether you locked the door after you left the house. Your memories also make you who you are. They give you an identity, a family, and a sense of self-worth and purpose. They help you recognize those you love and those who love you. They enable you to remember important life lessons and learn from your mistakes.

Given how important the hippocampi are to your success in life, what is the best way for you to take care of Scarlett and Sam? The super-short stories below are designed to help you remember what makes your hippocampi weak, old, and frail, and how to reverse that trend to ensure they remain strong, vibrant, and healthy. Once again, I’m using the BRIGHT MINDS format you just learned as a framework.

WHAT HURTS AND HELPS SCARLETT AND SAM?

B Is for Blood Flow: Low blood flow is the number one predictor of Alzheimer’s disease.

1. 1. Sam and Scarlett knew that the best way to ensure they got in regular workouts at the gym was to go first thing in the morning. As brother and sister, they could hold each other accountable. But then Sam got hooked on a late-night TV show. He convinced himself that he slept better after laughing along with the comedian host and his guests. Soon Sam was hitting the snooze button just about every morning. That was a problem —and not just because it was irritating Scarlett! Sam needed regular exercise to stay large and powerful. Once Sam realized that his late-night laugh fests were actually sapping his energy, he went back to walking, running, and lifting weights at the gym several times a week. He also made a point to engage regularly in coordination-building activities like dancing and table tennis. Before long, Sam felt younger and more energetic than he had in years.
2. 2. One morning a vendor in the gym lobby was passing out free samples of energy drinks. Sam liked the taste and felt so good after drinking it that he picked up a case the next time he stopped at the grocery store. He started drinking a couple of cans in place of water after every workout. But soon his thinking became fuzzy, and he couldn’t figure out why. Scarlett had been trying to kick her own caffeine habit, so she explained to Sam that she’d recently learned that caffeine (as well as nicotine) lowers blood flow to the brain, which meant the two of them would shrink if they consumed too much of it. They wouldn’t be able to learn or remember as well as they once did either. That frightened them, so they replaced their caffeinated drinks with plenty of fresh, clean water and caffeine-free green tea, which is full of ingredients to keep their blood flow on track.
3. 3. Scarlett went to her doctor, Dr. Amy G. Dala, and found out she had high blood pressure. At first, she didn’t understand how serious it was and didn’t do what her doctor asked of her. When Sam found out, he was very upset. “Don’t you know that as blood pressure goes up, blood flow to the brain and to us goes down?” he asked. “You have to take this seriously!” Upon hearing the urgency in Sam’s voice, Scarlett decided to exercise more and eat better (no more potato chips and other salty snacks). Once she’d made these changes, she was able to get her blood pressure under control without taking medication.

R Is for Retirement/Aging: When you stop learning, your brain starts dying.

1. 4. Scarlett and Sam had been working at the Seahorse Amusement Park for many years. They completed the same assignments —running the arcade, taking tickets, and fixing games —over and over. When they stopped learning and being interested in their work, they started to get smaller and weaker. When they weighed themselves and measured their height, they could see that boredom was making them waste away. They decided to look for new jobs at the park. Scarlett started to sing and act in the park’s plays, and Sam took up the guitar so he could be in the band. As they learned new skills and took up challenging activities they felt passionate about, they started to grow bigger and stronger. They also felt happier.
2. 5. After a family tragedy, Scarlett and Sam withdrew from their friends. They just didn’t feel like being around other seahorses. But the more withdrawn they became, the more they noticed they had started to shrink. That really got their attention, and they started to volunteer at a local school, teaching seahorse children how to read. The sense of purpose and social connection helped them grow larger again.
3. 6. As Scarlett and Sam got older, they slowed down. They stopped exercising, complained about their aches and pains, and stayed home more. Sam often told his children he was too old to exercise, too old to change his unhealthy eating habits, and too old to go dancing, which he had once loved. One day, his son, who was a seahorse physician, started to encourage his dad and aunt Scarlett to do more. He told them that seahorses shrink with age if they’re not serious about taking care of themselves. Not wanting to be feeble and weak, and fearing that they could wind up being a burden on their grown children, they started taking better care of themselves. Now Sam and Scarlett regularly go dancing with their spouses.

I Is for Inflammation: Inflammation comes from the Latin word for “setting a fire.” It destroys your organs and shrinks your hippocampi.

1. 7. Sam struggled for many years with an upset stomach. He loved pizza but was sensitive to wheat and dairy. Whenever he had a slice, he paid for it with belly pain and the feeling of being bloated. As a child, Sam had many ear infections and his doctors gave him lots of antibiotics. Scarlett read that having many courses of childhood antibiotics and being sensitive to wheat and dairy were often associated with something called leaky gut, in which the lining of the intestinal tract becomes more permeable. This allows foreign invaders into the body, which causes inflammation. She encouraged Sam to stop eating pizza and other foods with wheat and dairy. She also recommended that he start taking a probiotic to help recolonize his gut with healthy bacteria. A month after making these changes, Sam felt much better, which helped him to remember to eat right.
2. 8. Scarlett was a busy working seahorse and ate a lot of fast food filled with cheap oils, bread, potatoes, and sugar. She often complained of brain fog and joint pain. After Sam told Scarlett about a new test he’d read about called the Omega-3 Index, she went to her doctor and had the test. It turned out that her Omega-3 Index was very low. Once Scarlett changed her diet and added more omega-3-rich foods, such as shrimp (a seahorse’s natural food), chia seeds, avocados, nuts, and seeds, her problems cleared up.
3. 9. Sam’s friend and coworker Seymour was a clownfish who was so busy that he never took care of his teeth. He had a nice smile anyway, so he didn’t think it was that important. Over time, his gums started to bleed whenever he brushed his teeth. He wondered, though, why his favorite female clownfish never accepted his request for a date. Sam, who was fond of his fun-loving friend, finally told him he had bad breath. Then he added, “Don’t you know that gum disease can cause inflammation in your body and damage your heart and brain?” Seymour got the message and started to floss every night and see his dentist regularly.

G Is for Genetics: If memory problems run in your family, it is critical to be serious about brain health as soon as possible.

1. 10. Scarlett and Sam had a father and grandmother who both lost their memory as they got older. It was very hard on their family. Scarlett and Sam worried that maybe they would lose their memory too. Instead of just being anxious about it, like their cousin Nervous Nancy, they decided to do everything they could to keep their memory strong as they aged, including exercising; learning new things; and eating delicious, healthy food.

H Is for Head Trauma: Your brain is very soft, and it is housed in a very hard skull. The hippocampi sit on the inside of the temporal lobes, next to a sharp bony ridge, making them very susceptible to damage.

1. 11. Sam loved soccer. He had played as a young seahorse, and he even competed on weekends as an adult. He was particularly good at heading soccer balls, even though sometimes it left him feeling dazed and gave him headaches. Scarlett was worried about him. She had read that playing contact sports like football and soccer could cause long-term brain problems. At first Sam made fun of her, saying, “How can I have any fun? Do you want me to play badminton or Ping-Pong?” Because Scarlett loved her twin, she was courageous and said, “Who has more fun, Sam —the seahorse with a healthy brain or the one whose brain is damaged? You are smarter than you are acting. Seahorses who play racquet sports actually live longer than those who play any other sport. Get a Ping-Pong paddle and see if you can beat me. I doubt it!” Smart seahorses protect their brains.

T Is for Toxins: Your brain cannot grow or heal in a toxic environment.

1. 12. Scarlett noticed that her skin was breaking out in rashes more often and that she had felt foggy-headed ever since an oil spill near their home. Her children had rashes, too, and they started to struggle in school. Sam, who lived a few miles away, was not having the same problems, so Scarlett took her children to live with his family. Over the next few weeks they felt better.
2. 13. After the oil spill incident, Sam started to learn more about the effect of toxins on his brain. He read that the grooming products he used might contain toxins with funny-sounding names, such as phthalates and parabens. He was able to download a cool app for his smartphone that could scan the bar codes on his soap, deodorant, and toothpaste and provide ingredient information. He was horrified to learn that most of what he was using was not good for him. He told Scarlett, “What goes on your body goes in your body!” They both used the app and got products for themselves and their families that were less harmful.
3. 14. Scarlett’s oldest son, Frisco, had always been a good student in school but often struggled with anxiety and nervousness. He started smoking marijuana at the suggestion of a friend, who told him it would cure his anxiety. After a few weeks, his grades started to drop, he became more forgetful, and he started to shrink. His mood changed, and he started fighting more with Scarlett. When she found out what Frisco was doing, Scarlett panicked and brought him to see Uncle Sam. Sam showed Frisco brain scans of seahorses who smoked marijuana from a study published in a medical journal. That frightened Frisco, who stopped smoking weed. Uncle Sam taught him to use meditation and exercise to calm his anxiety, which helped him regain his strength and vitality.

M Is for Mental Health: The health of your mind is intertwined with the health of your brain and memory.

1. 15. When Scarlett’s son Frisco started having problems with marijuana, she became very stressed out. She worried, developed tension headaches, had trouble sleeping, and became more withdrawn. The stress was making Scarlett smaller and weaker. Being a twin, Sam always knew when Scarlett was upset. He told her about the effect of stress on her brain and body. Not only did he teach her to meditate and exercise as he’d done with Frisco, he encouraged her to see a seahorse therapist to acquire skills to deal with stress. Once Scarlett began taking care of herself, she felt more relaxed and grew stronger.
2. 16. One of the reasons Sam knew how to help Frisco and Scarlett was that he had gone through a period of depression many years earlier after losing his first wife to a hungry crab. It happened at a time when he was pregnant. (Female seahorses give males their eggs, and the males fertilize them and carry the developing baby seahorses. They can have up to 1,500 babies at a time.) Losing his wife and dealing with the stress of the pregnancy was very hard on Sam. He cried for weeks, had many negative thoughts and low energy, and wondered if life was worth living. Then he realized he had all the babies to nurture, and he went to see a therapist to get help. Using meditation, exercise, and healthy food, Sam began to feel better. He knew his wife would want him to be healthy for their babies.

I Is for Immunity/Infection Issues: Protect your defenses so that they can protect you.

1. 17. It was winter in the part of the sea that Scarlett and Sam called home. The water was very cold, and they hadn’t seen light from the sun for weeks. They noticed they were more irritable with each other, got sick more often, and started to grow smaller and weaker. When they went to their seahorse physician, Dr. Amy G. Dala, she discovered they both had very low vitamin D levels. She explained that vitamin D is a very special nutrient we get from sun exposure; eating vitamin D–rich foods, such as cod liver oil and portobello mushrooms; or taking supplements. It helps keep bones strong and the immune system healthy, and it supports mood and memory. When vitamin D is low, seahorses get weaker and smaller. The doctor gave them a shot of vitamin D to give them a boost and some nutrients to take every day. Within a few weeks, they started to feel better.

N Is for Neurohormone Deficiencies: Hormones keep your brain young and strong.

1. 18. As Sam and Scarlett got older, they seemed to lose much of their energy and strength, even though they tried to eat right and exercise. Their skin became more wrinkled, and their recall of important information was not as good as it had been when they were younger. Dr. Dala checked their important numbers, which revealed that several of their hormones were low, including testosterone in both of them and estrogen in Scarlett. Boosting fiber and eliminating sugar helped, as did weight training and using special supplements and medication. Ensuring their hormones remained at healthy levels helped the seahorses regain their size and strength.

D Is for Diabesity: As your weight and blood sugar go up, the size and function of your brain goes down.

1. 19. While working at the Seahorse Amusement Park, both Scarlett and Sam ate too much of the tasty but very unhealthy food sold there, including corn dogs (with 29 ingredients), pizza, fries, sodas, and cotton candy. Even though the food made them feel good as they were eating it, they often felt sluggish later on. Over time they also noticed each other’s bellies were getting bigger, while they were growing smaller and becoming weaker. Their blood sugar levels went up too. Dr. Dala told them that they were now obese, prediabetic seahorses, and if they wanted to live a long time with healthy brains, they had to change their ways. That got their attention. They began passing up the fast food and started bringing lunches to work. They reminded each other to be more thoughtful about what they put into their bodies. Their bellies stopped bulging, and they grew bigger and stronger.

S Is for Sleep Issues: Your brain cleanses itself when you sleep. Poor sleep causes trash to build up, which can ruin your memory.

1. 20. Sam’s new wife, Sophia, and Scarlett went out for green tea and blueberries together. Scarlett was so happy her brother had found someone new after he had lost his first wife. Sophia was a special seahorse, and Scarlett liked her very much, which was why she was concerned when Sophia told her she was not getting any sleep. Sam snored so loudly that he frequently woke Sophia up. She was worried because he seemed to stop breathing a lot. Scarlett recognized the symptoms of sleep apnea in her brother and talked to him about going to Dr. Dala for a sleep study. It turned out Sam had severe sleep apnea, and once it was treated, he slept much better, as did Sophia. Both of them became happier, healthier, stronger seahorses as a result.

See how easy it can be? Be sure to take care of your seahorses and your whole brain, because they run your life.

Postscript: As I was finishing this book, I had a brain MRI, both to test new quantification software we are using at Amen Clinics and to spot any potential trouble before it happens. The area of my temporal lobes where the hippocampi are housed was in the ninety-fifth percentile, meaning it was bigger than that of 95 percent of the population my age. Good news for Scarlett and Sam. I also had a test done to measure the length of my telomeres —the ends of chromosomes —that we discussed in chapter 6. I may be in my early sixties, but my telomere age is in the early forties. That made me smile.

Is getting healthy hard? I would argue that being sick is much harder. I know my brain and body were not this healthy when I had my first brain scan in 1991. But by living the message of this book, my brain and body are better, and yours can be too.