Today I imagined that I was driving down a dark road. I couldn’t see anything and the headlights of my car had flickered out. This is what my memory has been like over the past few years. I used to be able to conjure up words from my mouth without delay. As time has passed my memory checks out on me when I need it most. Being a writer and having memory loss does not go hand and hand. I refuse to think that it is due to my age because I am still relatively young, I am in my 30’s. I do have a family history of Alzheimer’s disease but, again I am too young to claim the symptoms that rob the mind of what it knows. Not long ago up until my mid 20’s I had expansive cognitive capabilities. When I write my daily blogs sometimes it can be a struggle to think of my own word play and isn’t so much the use of different words that expand my vocabulary, it is everyday sentence structure which effects my ability to allow complete and coherent sentences to flow through my mouth and from my mind. Beyond aging I believe there are three things that contribute to memory loss. Nutrition, lack of sleep and the polluted environment.
I am a huge conspiracy theorist so, I have beliefs that are alternative to the “facts” we are given. I start with nutrition because I have personally experienced the effects mal-nutrition has on the brain. When I mostly eat raw vegetables and fruits I lose weight and I also think clearly. My vocabulary expands and I have very little issues with remembering what I have to say from one sentence to the next. There were a few times in my life when I decided to go vegan. Being a vegan can be one of the greatest and most rewarded challenges we can take in life. For a few months, even during the holidays, my veganism was not an issue. I knew all mal-nutrition that exists in most of the foods we eat are due to hormone injections and other horrors so, it was easy to turn away from anything that was not good for my mind and body. I jumped back into the saddle of not eating well not because of finances but, I live in a city and most cities are deserted form having options that are healthy. In the city you will more than likely see Chinese food restaurants, corner stores that sell salty bags of chips or surgery sweets, pizza shops, liquor stores and most of the markets lead in selling genetically modified products.
Harvard Health Publications conducted a study on memory loss and nutrition. The facts reported left me astonished. The study discovered that the Mediterranean diet have foods that are high in healthy unsaturated fats which includes, olive oil, fish and nuts. This diet has been linked to lower the rates of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease and also mild cognitive impairment. When you go into an inner city minority neighborhood healthy foods are slim-pickens. Most of the fruits and vegetables available are heavily sprayed with pesticides and due to lack of demand, the supply of healthy options in lower income communities remains scarce. The people perish due to lack of knowledge (Hosea4:6). My cognitive functions are strongly rooted in where I come from; my environment.
According to brainfacts.org, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) researchers were able to see a dramatic difference of brain network activity from a brain that was sleep deprived verses a brain that wasn’t. Several brain networks that control cognitive and behavioral functions were negatively affected. I can achieve my greatest-self daily as long as I get enough snooze time. I am more alert, my mood is optimal and I can make quick decisions that won’t negatively impact my life or those apart of it. I know that when I am deprived of sleep I am more emotional and I cannot think of what I have to say and I start downing my intelligence. Having a job where I am forced to step out of the comfort of silence can make my daily tasks challenging. Sometimes when I explain things to my customers or other people I can forget quite easily the subject we are discussing. On the emotional end, I tear myself down. I say to myself that I am ugly and I start adding a load of negatives. I am stoked that I now know how to turn negatives into positives with my spin around wizardry (positive prospects).
The conspiracy for me begins with the idea that we live in a very corrupt society. We all breathe the same air, or do we? I was reading The New York Times article, How Walking in Nature Changes the Brain. There have been studies that proved that the people who live in urban developments have a higher risk for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses. On the other side of the picket fence, those who live in communities where nature is as close as their backdoor are less likely to develop mental disorders (Reynolds). These studies were able to show that urban city dwellers were more likely to development mental disorders. I think that the powers that be know this and keep the truth hidden so people who live in the city will attribute their negative environment to lack of motivation and financial disadvantage. By planting more trees on every city block it can improve the emotional dynamic of the neighborhood.
What we remember takes the throne of who we are to the world with and without and memory is important to happiness because of this. This world is be very abrupt to call people stupid based off what they know. I am judged constantly by others and I know this is something I cannot control. I think the powers that be know that these factors create cultures that are lazy and who are ignorant to see life optimistically. To be absent of the spirit is to live life as a mindless drone. I could be completely wrong but, I do know this: We are all born into a world where systems of separation exist. Absent of the ways of the world we are one, there is no difference. Memory is important just so we don’t lose track of how the world works and how we should all operate within the world.
The only price we pay is going through life figuring out what’s real and what’s fake. I thank you for joining me on this journey today. My own story is the gift I give so, please feel free to share your experiences by adding comments and clicking the like button. Also, follow my journey and feel free to share with the links below.
Remember the truth
Miya
References:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/improving-memory-understanding-age-related-memory-loss
https://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2015/07/22/how-nature-changes-the-brain/?referer=
The Happy Nappy Project 