Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife » (Reprint)

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, a journalist for the past twenty-five years, has been published in the New York Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; New York magazine; and the Los Angeles Times, among many other publications. She lives in Northern California.

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.

Publishers Weekly

Memory loss and other cognitive problems are increasingly the bugaboo of aging baby boomers, as well as many of their elders. In her first book, veteran journalist Ramin turns herself into a guinea pig as she seeks ways to restore her own failing memory and growing inability to concentrate. Looking at a wide variety of genetic, biochemical and environmental factors that slow the connections among the brain's 100 billion neurons, especially in the hippocampus, Ramin undertakes 10 interventions, methods of achieving her cognitive enhancement. She logs the ups and downs of medications such as Adderall and Provigil; she looks at dietary supplements and biofeedback. She ends with discussions with experts, such as Nobelist Eric Kandel, about what keeps some people mentally young into old age; the key seems to be having the "mental reserves" gained from challenging one's mind with new kinds of learning such as learning a new language or studying art that use different parts of the brain; the right diet and exercise also help. Overall, the variety of perspectives and the wealth of scientific information Ramin provides, as well as her warm personal style, will reward readers and may well help them stay mentally sharp. (Apr. 1)

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