Are there shortcuts to a good memory? Could simply popping a pill enhance your ability to retain information? For many people, this is an alluring idea -but drugs that target the brain can lead to problems as well as benefits.
In 1972, the first drug with claims to enhance memory was launched. Called piracetam, the drug was developed by a Belgian pharmaceutical company. The lead researcher, C.E. Giurgea, coined the term ‘ noo tropics’ (from the Greek word ‘ nous,’ meaning ‘ mind’) for the new class of drugs. Since then, many extravagant claims have been made for such drugs, but their effectiveness (at least in healthy people) remains unproven.
Often marketed with claims that they revitalize memory and concentration., nootropics aim to enhance specific abilities such as vocabulary skills and mental endurance. However, most of the scientific evidence for such claims comes from studies carried out with animals or with people suffering from a memory debilitating condition, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Transferring results from animal studies is problematic because the typical memory tasks where people seek enhancement – remembering names, for example – cannot be tested in animals. Similarly, while some drugs have been shown to be genuinely effective in people with dementia, there is no reason to expect this benefit to apply to people without such debilitating conditions. Expecting an anti- Alzheimer’s drug to improve your memory is rather like expecting an antiarthritis drug to improve your tennis, irrespective of whether you have arthritis or not.
Combatting severe problems
The most common cause of severe memory loss is probably dementia arising from Alzheimer’s disease. People with dementia are thought to have lower levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, but early treatments – simply supplying large doses of choline in the diet – were not effective. However, drugs such as donepezil (Aricept) and rivastigmine (Exelon), developed in recent years to treat dementia, do seem to slow memory decline and, in some cases, even reverse it for a time. These raise levels of acetylcholine in the brain by inhibiting the enzyme that breaks it down.
Substances that damage memory
While some drugs may enhance memory, others – so-called ‘recreational’ drugs – may cause serious harm. Many such drugs cause memory deficiencies in the short term, followed by apparent recovery when the immediate effects wear off. However, recent evidence shows that more permanent damage is likely. The long-term use of cannabis has been linked to memory loss, paranoia, and lethargy, and there is increasing concern that continued use of Ecstasy may lead to permanent memory loss, anxiety, and serious depression owing to the loss of neurons that release serotonin.
The effects on memory of
another drug, alcohol, is well known. The ‘ morning after the night before kind of memory failure, when you cannot even remember how you got home, is familiar to many people. A drink for ‘Dutch courage’ before a speech or performance is unwise as it is likely to impair the ability to recall information. More seriously, chronic heavy drinking can lead to a permanent deterioration of the memory – and, in extreme cases, to the severe and chronic amnesia of Korsa Koff’s syndrome. There is evidence that even moderate drinking can cause some loss of memory ability in the long term, so it may not be quite as healthy overall as some recent media reports have suggested.
H R T Memory Boost
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may boost the memory of post-menopausal women. Canadian researcher Barbara Sherwin of McGill University in Montreal studied 100 middle-aged women who were plunged into sudden menopause after the surgical removal of their ovaries. Half the group was treated with HRT, while the other half received a placebo.
When the women were later given memory tests, those on the hormone treatment performed as well as they had done before the operation, while those on placebo showed a significant decline in memory performance; Sherwin’s findings tie in with other studies which suggest that estrogen (the main female sex hormone) could help prevent memory loss in age related dementia.
