Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and

Why can't you remember where you put your keys? Or the title of the movie you saw last week? Anyone older than forty knows that forgetfulness can be unnerving, frustrating, and sometimes terrifying. With compassion and humor, acclaimed journalist Cathryn Jakobson Ramin explores the factors that determine how well or poorly one's brain will age. She takes readers along on her lively journey-consulting with experts in the fields of sleep, stress, traumatic brain injury, hormones, genetics, and dementia, as well as specialists in nutrition, cognitive psychology, and the burgeoning field of drug-based cognitive enhancement. Along the way, she turns up fresh scientific findings, explores the dark regions of the human brain, and hears the intimate confessions of high-functioning midlife adults who-like so many of us-are desperate to understand exactly what's going on upstairs.

Preface: Most Precious Possession	p. xi
Your Unreliable Brain: Midlife Forgetfulness Is Embarrassing and Frustrating, but What Does It Mean for the Future?	p. 1
Glitches, Gaps and Gaffes: The Memory-Hungry Crowd Speaks Candidly About Screwing Up	p. 11
Frontal-Lobe Overload: "Too Much Information" Is Just One of the Reasons You Feel Like You're Drowning	p. 23
Blocking, Blanking and Begging for Mercy: Why Words and Thoughts Flee Without Warning	p. 36
Into the Doughnut Hole: What a Brain Scan Can (and Cannot) Tell You About What's Going on Upstairs	p. 45
Swallow This: The Feeding of a Midlife Brain: Essential Fatty Acids, Vitamins, Supplements and Plenty of Glucose	p. 58
Mental Aerobics: From Tedious to Addictive: Options for Exercising Your Neurons	p. 72
Bathing in Battery Acid: Elevated Cortisol Associated with Chronic Stress Is No Friend to Your Hippocampus	p. 85
Yearning for Estrogen: Rejecting Hormone Therapy Could Leave Your Neurons in the Lurch	p. 98
The Vulnerable Brain: The Repercussions of Concussions You Never Knew You Had	p. 109
Cosmetic Neurology: The Potential for Pharmaceutical Cognitive Enhancement Is Vast and Possibly Irresistible	p. 123
Meditation and Neurofeedback: Going in for a Tune-up: Why Tinkering with Brain Waves Can Improve Attention	p. 139
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: Sacrifice Your Slumber and You'll Perform as Well as if You've Had a Few Stiff Drinks	p. 151
Recreational Drugs, Alcohol and Other Neurotoxins: The Cognitive Consequences of What You Smoke, Drink, Eat and Breathe	p. 165
What Your Doctor Forgot to Tell You: Prescription Drugs and "Safe" Over-the-Counter Meds May Account for Your Fogginess	p. 177
The Last Place You Look: Thyroid Low? Blood Pressure High? A Host of Common Midlife Disorders Pack a Cognitive Wallop	p. 189
Staring into the Eye of the Tiger: Deep in the Grip of Alzheimer's Disease at the Age of Sixty, Joanna Graciously Invites Us into Her World	p. 204
Do You Really Want to Know?: As Opportunities for Early Assessment and Intervention Become Available, Will You Embrace Them?	p. 217
Emerging Triumphant: How to Stockpile Neurons: The Habits of the Cognitively Well-Endowed	p. 228
Conclusion	p. 253
Acknowledgments	p. 259
Resources	p. 267
Notes	p. 269
Selected Bibliography	p. 297
Index	p. 301
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife

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