A straightforward nightly activity may act as a memory-boosting tool, a new study has revealed.
Writing down just five events from the day significantly improved memory performance in individuals with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and healthy older adults the following day.
This intervention, which involves recalling and documenting daily experiences, offers a cost-free and easily implementable approach to enhancing memory function.
The RESTED-AD Study (Remote Evaluation of Sleep To Enhance Understanding in Early Dementia) investigated the effects of autobiographical recall on memory performance utilising 26 participants in two groups - with and without early-stage Alzheimer's Disease (AD) dementia or mild cognitive impairment.
They engaged in a word recognition task on two separate occasions. In one instance, participants were asked to write down five autobiographical events before bedtime. The following morning, when asked to recognise the previously shown words, the results indicated improved memory performance in both groups when the bedtime recall exercise was included.
Co-Lead Researcher Dr Jonathan Blackman explained: "On the nights when participants wrote down events from the day, both the people with AD and healthy older adults did better in the memory task with the AD group benefitting even more.
"We do not believe that this has been demonstrated before in human studies and it holds promise as a drug-free intervention to enhance memory performance in healthy older adults and those with Mild Cognitive Impairment or dementia due to Alzheimer's Disease."
While the study did not find a direct link between the bedtime recall exercise and sleep-related brain activity, there are other possible explanations. For example, the recall exercise may have stimulated areas of the brain involved in memory just before bedtime leading to improved memory performance in other tasks.
This approach stands out due to its simplicity and accessibility. Unlike many existing memory interventions, which can be costly or require specialised equipment, this bedtime exercise can be easily incorporated into daily routines without additional resources.
The study's authors emphasise the need for further research to replicate these findings in larger samples and to explore the underlying mechanisms driving the observed improvements in memory. Nonetheless, the current results hold promise for a low-risk, intervention that could benefit individuals with AD and healthy older adults alike.
Dr Blackman concluded: "There are numerous approaches to improve memory in older people, but most are difficult to access, costly, time consuming or impractical.
"For patients with early or moderate Alzheimer's Disease Dementia there are also medications but these have modest benefit and can also potentially cause side effects.
"If we can show that these study results are repeated and replicated, we think that this could be an easily adopted intervention that could have a meaningful effect on memory."
Paper
A new behavioural intervention to enhance memory in older people–evening autobiographical recall - ScienceDirect by J.Blackman et al in Neuropsychologia
